Backup vCSA vPostgres database, roles and permissions

The VMware KB article (KB2091961) describes the Backup and Restore of the vPostgres Database for Windows and vCSA.

Here are the steps to backup a vPostgres database and export the roles and permissions from a vCSA.

Prerequirements:

• Download and extract the linux_backup_restore.zip (Alternate VMwareKB2091961)
• Download Export and Import scripts (ExportAndImportRoles.zip) Scripts based from Alan Renouf and Luc Dekens
• If you don’t have, install the VMware Power CLI and PowerGUI to execute Powershell scripts
• Disable HA – When I reconnect the ESXi hosts after the restore, with active HA, I got severall timeout errors.

Backup vPostgres Database:

• Transfer the file backup_lin.py to /tmp on the vCSA via WinSCP or e.g. (How to enable/disable BASH on vCSA to transfer files via SCP or e.g.)
  
• Login to vCSA as root
• Make the py script executable chmod 700 /tmp/backup_lin.py
• Execute the script python /tmp/backup_lin.py -f /tmp/VCDB.bak
  
• Transfer the VCDB.bak via WinSCP or e.g. to your workstation.
  

Export roles and permissions:

• Execute the vsphere_RightsRoles_Export.ps1 script with PowerGUI or e.g. and fill in your data
• The script puts a vcenter-permissions.xml file to c:\

If you want to restore the database and import these roles and permissions to a new vCSA, I would suggest to “cleanup” the vcenter-permissions.xml file.
I dropped all sections with “standard VMware Roles”

and all <Permission Entity=…/> rows from the VSPHERE.LOCAL domain.

These entries are already there in a new installation. I just want to add my AD users and groups.

Next possible steps are:

Install a new vCSA (with the same name and IP)

Restore and Import vPostgres database, roles and permissions