backup-fusion.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Fail this script if any commands fail (-e) or if any uninitialized variables are referenced (-u)
set -e -u

# Set the following variables based on your environment
VMX='/path/to/file.vmx'
BACKUP_DIR='/path/to/backup/directory'
VMRUN='/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmrun'
NUM_BACKUPS_TO_KEEP=3

# Make sure the VM gets started even if the backup fails
trap startvm EXIT

START_VM=false
function startvm {
  if $START_VM; then # only start the VM if it was running when we began the backup
    "$VMRUN" start "$VMX"
  fi
}

# *** Shut down the VM if it is running ***
if "$VMRUN" list | grep --quiet "$VMX"; then
  START_VM=true
  "$VMRUN" stop "$VMX" soft
fi

# *** Create the backup file ***
VMWAREVM="${VMX%/*}" # Remove the .vmx filename to get the full path to the .vmwarevm bundle
cd "$VMWAREVM"
tar -czpf "$BACKUP_DIR"/fusion-backup-`date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S`.tar.gz --exclude '*.vmem' *

# *** Delete all but the most recent backup files ***
cd "$BACKUP_DIR"
(ls -t | head -n $NUM_BACKUPS_TO_KEEP; ls) | sort | uniq -u | xargs rm