Export all VMs on an ESX server using the ovftool

export-all-esx-vms-using-ovftool.sh

#!/bin/bash
# This script will export all your VMs from an ESX server using the ovftool
# - Provide the esx ip, esx user, and esx pass
# - Make sure the password follows unicode conventions e.g. the @ sign is %40
# - Also make sure all VMs are reverted and shutdown
# - This does not export snapshots 

# How it works:
#
# runs vim-cmd to get all the vms on the esx server
## filters out the first line to remove the titles
## filters out the 2nd column
# for each of the preceding line's output, save the output to variable $vm
## use $vm as the name of the vm to export
## use $vm as the name of the ova to export to locally

esx="10.59.1.105"
esxuser="root"
esxpass="password"

# ssh root@10.59.1.105 "vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | tail -n+2 | awk '{print \$2}'" | while read vm; do echo "Exporting $vm..."; ovftool --noSSLVerify "vi://root:%40utom%40tion@10.59.1.105/$vm" $vm.ova; done;
# ssh $esxuser@$esx "vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | tail -n+2 | awk '{print \$2}'" | while read vm; do echo "Exporting $vm..."; ovftool --noSSLVerify "vi://$esxuser@$esx/$vm" $vm.ova; done;
ssh $esxuser@$esx "vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | tail -n+2 | awk '{print \$2}'" | while read vm; do
  echo "Exporting $vm...";
  ovftool --noSSLVerify "vi://$esxuser:$esxpass@$esx/$vm" $vm.ova; 
done;

echo "Finished"