VirtualBox Backup

List VMs

vboxmanage list vms
vboxmanage list runningvms

Backup Script

This script exports all VMs to OVA format:

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/virtualbox"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE"

# Get list of all VMs
vboxmanage list vms | awk '{print $1}' | tr -d '"' | while read vm; do
    echo "Exporting $vm..."
    vboxmanage export "$vm" \
        --output "$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE/${vm}.ova" \
        --ovf20
    echo "Done: $vm"
done

echo "Backup complete: $BACKUP_DIR/$DATE"

Export a Single VM to OVA

# Export
vboxmanage export "VM Name" --output /backup/vm-name.ova

# Export with OVF 2.0 format
vboxmanage export "VM Name" --output /backup/vm-name.ova --ovf20

Import OVA

# Dry run (show what would be imported)
vboxmanage import vm.ova --dry-run

# Import
vboxmanage import vm.ova

# Import with custom settings
vboxmanage import vm.ova \
    --vsys 0 \
    --vmname "New VM Name" \
    --memory 2048 \
    --cpus 2