vzdump.adoc

   1 include::attributes.txt[]
   2 ifdef::manvolnum[]
   3 PVE({manvolnum})
   4 ================
   5
   6 NAME
   7 ----
   8
   9 vzdump - Backup Utility for VMs and Containers
  10
  11
  12 SYNOPSYS
  13 --------
  14
  15 include::vzdump.1-synopsis.adoc[]
  16
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20 endif::manvolnum[]
  21
  22 ifndef::manvolnum[]
  23 Backup and Restore
  24 ==================
  25 endif::manvolnum[]
  26
  27 'vzdump' is an utility to make consistent snapshots of running virtual
  28 machines (VMs). It basically creates an archive of the VM private
  29 area, which also includes the VM configuration files. 'vzdump'
  30 currently supports LXC containers and QemuServer VMs.
  31
  32 There are several ways to provide consistency (option `mode`):
  33
  34 `stop` mode::
  35
  36 Stop the VM during backup. This results in a very long downtime.
  37
  38 `suspend` mode::
  39
  40 For containers, this mode uses rsync to copy the VM to a temporary
  41 location (see option `--tmpdir`). Then the VM is suspended and a second
  42 rsync copies changed files. After that, the VM is started (resume)
  43 again. This results in a minimal downtime, but needs additional space
  44 to hold the VM copy.
  45
  46 For QemuServer, this mode will suspend the VM, start
  47 a live backup, and resume the VM.
  48
  49 `snapshot` mode::
  50
  51 For containers, this mode uses the snapshotting facilities of the
  52 underlying storage. A snapshot will be made of the container volume,
  53 and the snapshot content will be archived in a tar file.
  54
  55 For QemuServer, this mode will do a live backup similar to the
  56 `snaphost` mode, but without suspending/resuming the VM.
  57
  58 A technical overview of the Proxmox VE live backup for QemuServer can
  59 be found online
  60 https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-qemu-kvm.git;a=blob;f=backup.txt[here],
  61
  62 Backup File Names
  63 -----------------
  64
  65 Newer version of vzdump encodes the virtual machine type and the
  66 backup time into the filename, for example
  67
  68  vzdump-lxc-105-2009_10_09-11_04_43.tar
  69
  70 That way it is possible to store several backup into the same
  71 directory. The parameter `maxfiles` can be used to specify the
  72 maximal number of backups to keep.
  73
  74 Restore
  75 -------
  76
  77 The resulting archive files can be restored with the following programs.
  78
  79
  80 `pct restore`:: Containers restore utility
  81
  82 `qmrestore`:: QemuServer restore utility
  83
  84 For details see the corresponding manual pages.
  85
  86 Configuration
  87 -------------
  88
  89 Global configuration is stored in '/etc/vzdump.conf'.
  90
  91  tmpdir: DIR
  92  dumpdir: DIR
  93  storage: STORAGE_ID
  94  mode: snapshot|suspend|stop
  95  bwlimit: KBPS
  96  ionize: PRI
  97  lockwait: MINUTES
  98  stopwait: MINUTES
  99  size: MB
 100  maxfiles: N
 101  script: FILENAME
 102  exclude-path: PATHLIST
 103
 104 Hook Scripts
 105 ------------
 106
 107 You can specify a hook script with option `--script`. This script is
 108 called at various phases of the backup process, with parameters
 109 accordingly set. You can find an example in the documentation
 110 directory ('vzdump-hook-script.pl').
 111
 112 File Exclusions
 113 ---------------
 114
 115 First, this option is only available for container backups. 'vzdump'
 116 skips the following files with option `--stdexcludes`
 117
 118  /var/log/.+
 119  /tmp/.+
 120  /var/tmp/.+
 121  /var/run/.+pid
 122
 123 Or you can manually specify exclude paths, for example:
 124
 125  # vzdump 777 --exclude-path '/tmp/.+' --exclude-path '/var/tmp/.+'
 126
 127 (only excludes tmp directories)
 128
 129 Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive
 130 (`/etc/vzdump/`), and will be correctly restored.
 131
 132 Examples
 133 --------
 134
 135 Simply dump VM 777 - no snapshot, just archive the VM private area and
 136 configuration files to the default dump directory (usually
 137 '/var/liv//vz/dump/').
 138
 139  # vzdump 777
 140
 141 Use rsync and suspend/resume to create an snapshot (minimal downtime).
 142
 143  # vzdump 777 --mode suspend
 144
 145 Backup all VMs and send notification mails to root and admin.
 146
 147  # vzdump --all --mode suspend --mailto root --mailto admin
 148
 149 Use snapshot mode (no downtime).
 150
 151  # vzdump 777 --dumpdir /mnt/backup --mode snapshot
 152
 153 Backup more than one VM (selectively)
 154
 155  # vzdump 101 102 103 --mailto root
 156
 157 Backup all VMs excluding VM 101 and 102
 158
 159  # vzdump --mode suspend --exclude 101,102
 160
 161 Restore a container to a new VM 600
 162
 163  # pct restore 600 /mnt/backup/vzdump-lxc-777.tar
 164
 165 Restore a Qemu/KVM machine to VM 601
 166
 167  # qmrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-qemu-888.vma 601
 168
 169 Clone an existing container 101 to a new container 300 with a 4GB root
 170 file system, using pipes
 171
 172  # vzdump 101 --stdout | pct restore --rootfs 4 300 -
 173
 174
 175 ifdef::manvolnum[]
 176 include::pve-copyright.adoc[]
 177 endif::manvolnum[]
 178