I have been using ghettoVCB for some time. It is working on its own, and doing its job right. Basically it is a script (you can start regulary from crontab), which first makes temporary snapshot, then backup of that snapshot, and finally temporary snapshot is removed. I have not noticed any problems, even VM-restoring works as expected. It can backup even running VMs, and can create compressed backups too. So if you are looking for automatic backup solution, ghettoVCB might be the right tool for you. Once you edit its configuration file and set it run regulary, you can forget about it (till the next time you need to restore some VM)...
Instead of Veeam you could also try Trilead VM Explorer or Thinware vBackup. Both are free and said to work even with free ESXi (hypervisor). I personally tested just Trilead VM Explorer some time ago, and it worked well. Seems to me to be better suited for one-time backups...
VMware Front Experience: Free backup for free ESXi: Thinware vBackup vs. Trilead VM Explorer