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Instance Snapshots

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InstanceSnapshots InstanceSnapshots

There are two methods of taking snapshots of instances, depending on whether they are image-backed or volume-backed. 

Image-backed instances

To take a snapshot of a  image-backed instance for later recovery or replication, one must create an image based on the current VM.  The list of VMs/servers than can be used for the snapshot can be found with:

openstack server list

And, to create the image snapshot of a running VM with name or id <server> use the command

openstack server image create --name <image_name> <server>

where:

• --name <image_name>: the name for the new image snapshot
• <server>: the name or id of your server / VM to be backed up.

In order to see the list of images, including the recently created snapshot, one can run

openstack image list

and the specific details of the created image can be found

openstack image show <image_name>

It is recommended, though not mandatory, to shut off the server before making a snapshot of it, to make sure all the data has been flushed to disk. This can be done with the command

openstack server stop <server>

and after the snapshot it can be restarted with

openstack server start <server>

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Then, to create a snapshot of one of the volumes, dofollow the instructions on how to take a snapshot of a volume below.

One can also store the VM configuration for later recovery, simply by exporting the details of the instance to a file, for example with

openstack volumeserver snapshotshow create [--force] --volume <volume> <snapshot_name>

with:

• --force :  create the snapshot even if the volume is attached
• –volume <volume> : the name or id of the volume to be backed up
• <snapshot_name> : the name of the new volume snapshot

To see the list of all snapshots in your cloud, or the snapshots from a specific volume, run

openstack volume snapshot list [--volume <volume>]

and to get the details of a specific snapshot

openstack volume snapshot show <snapshot_name>

It is recommended to detach the volume from the server before making a snapshot, to avoid potential crashes. This can be done with the command

openstack server remove volume <server> <volume>

and it can be reattached after the snapshot with

openstack server add volume <server> <volume>

Note that in order to make a snapshot without detaching the volume the --force  flag must be provided. The snapshot or backup of an attached volume is crash consistent.

One can also store the VM configuration for later recovery, simply by exporting the details of the instance to a file, for example with

openstack server show <sever> > instance-config.txt

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<sever> > instance-config.txt

Instance Backups

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InstanceBackups InstanceBackups

Image-backed instances

One can perform a full backup of an image-backed instance with

openstack server backup create <name_or_id> --name <backup_name>

with <name_or_id> the name or id of the instance to back up and <backup_name> the name of the backup to create.

As before, the list of backups can be browsed with

openstack image list

and it is recommended to stop the server before the backup.

Volume-backed instances

Performing a full backup of a volume-backed VM requires backing up the root volume. As before, identify the root volume of the VM, and then perform a full backup, as explained in the instructions below.

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Backing up Volumes

Volume Snapshots

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VolumeSnapshots VolumeSnapshots

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