An interesting VM backup script for VMware ESX(i)

Features of ghettoVCB.sh, a VMware ESX(i) backup script

Online back up of VM(s)
Support for multiple VMDK disk(s) backup per VM
Only valid VMDK(s) presented to the VM will be backed up
Ability to shutdown guestOS and initiate backup process and power on VM afterwards with the option of hard power timeout
Allow spaces in VM(s) backup list (not recommended and not a best practice)
Ensure that snapshot removal process completes prior to to continuing onto the next VM backup
VM(s) that intially contain snapshots will not be backed up and will be ignored
Ability to specify the number of backup rotations for VM
Output back up VMDK(s) in either ZEROEDTHICK (default behavior) or 2GB SPARSE or THIN or EAGERZEROEDTHICK format
Support for both SCSI and IDE disks
Non-persistent NFS backup
Fully support VMDK(s) stored across multiple datastores
Ability to compress backups (Experimental Support – Please refer to FAQ #25)
Ability to configure individual VM backup policies
Ability to include/exclude specific VMDK(s) per VM (requires individual VM backup policy setup)
Ability to configure logging output to file
Independent disk awareness (will ignore VMDK)
New timeout variables for shutdown and snapshot creations
Ability to configure snapshots with both memory and/or quiesce options
Ability to configure disk adapter format
Additional debugging information including dry run execution
Support for VMs with both virtual/physical RDM (pRDM will be ignored and not backed up)
Support for global ghettoVCB configuration file
Support for VM exclusion list
Ability to backup all VMs residing on a specific host w/o specifying VM list
Implemented simple locking mechenism to ensure only 1 instance of ghettoVCB is running per host
Updated backup directory structure – rsync friendly
Additional logging and final status output
Logging of ghettoVCB PID (proces id)
Email backup logs
Rsync “Link” Support
Enhanced “dryrun” details including configuration and/or VMDK(s) issues
New storage debugging details pre/post backup
Quick email status summary
Support for ESXi 5.0 NEW!