using ovftool to copy images from esxi to esxi

#install ovftool

# connect to system and check current virtual machines
ovftool vi://root:<password>@<ip-address>/

#shut down VM's which you want to copy

#disable ssl verification if you need to, you can this with the following operations if you need to
ovftool --noSSLVerify

#copy from one esxi host to another esxi host which has the same network names
ovftool vi://root:<pass>@<ip-address>/"<VM Name>" vi://root:<pass>@<ip-address>

#example with different network names
ovftool --net: "<src-net-name>"="<dst-net-name>" vi://root:<pass>@<ip-address>/"<VM Name>" vi://root:<pass>@<ip-address>

#backup directly to local ova
ovftool vi://root:<pass>@<ip-address>/"<VM Name>" vCenter.ova