Connect to the ESXi host containing the virtual machine targeted for backup. 
A side-effect of this step is determining the arrangement and description of virtual machines on the host.

Tell the host to take a snapshot of the target virtual machine, using the vSphere API. Use the

quiesce

flag, but not the

memory

flag, which is incompatible with

quiesce

. The virtual machine continues to run, while the snapshot provides a static (quiesced) view.

Capture the virtual disk data and virtual machine configuration information (

vim.vm.ConfigInfo

).

On the ESXi host, use the VDDK (programming in C or C++) to open and read the virtual disk and snapshot files. Copy them to backup media, along with configuration information.

Tell the host to delete the backup snapshot, using the vSphere API.