vzdump.adoc

   1 ifdef::manvolnum[]
   2 PVE({manvolnum})
   3 ================
   4 include::attributes.txt[]
   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 include::attributes.txt[]
  26 endif::manvolnum[]
  27
  28 'vzdump' is a utility to make consistent snapshots of running virtual
  29 machines (VMs). It basically creates an archive of the VM private
  30 area, which also includes the VM configuration files. 'vzdump'
  31 currently supports LXC containers and QemuServer VMs.
  32
  33 There are several ways to provide consistency (option `mode`):
  34
  35 `stop` mode::
  36
  37 Stop the VM during backup. This results in a very long downtime.
  38
  39 `suspend` mode::
  40
  41 For containers, this mode uses rsync to copy the container data to a temporary
  42 location (see option `--tmpdir`). Then the container is suspended and a second
  43 rsync copies changed files. After that, the container is started (resumed)
  44 again. This results in minimal downtime, but needs additional space
  45 to hold the container copy.
  46 +
  47 When the container is on a local filesystem and the target storage of the backup
  48 is an NFS server, you should set `--tmpdir` to reside on a local filesystem too,
  49 as this will result in a many fold performance improvement.
  50 Use of a local `tmpdir` is also required if you want to backup in `suspend`
  51 mode a local container using ACLs to an NFS server.
  52 +
  53 For QemuServer, this mode will suspend the VM, start
  54 a live backup, and resume the VM. This does not require a temporary
  55 storage.
  56
  57 `snapshot` mode::
  58
  59 For containers, this mode uses the snapshotting facilities of the
  60 underlying storage. A snapshot will be made of the container volume,
  61 and the snapshot content will be archived in a tar file.
  62 +
  63 For QemuServer, this mode will do a live backup similar to the
  64 `suspend` mode, but without suspending/resuming the VM.
  65
  66 A technical overview of the Proxmox VE live backup for QemuServer can
  67 be found online
  68 https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-qemu-kvm.git;a=blob;f=backup.txt[here],
  69
  70 Backup File Names
  71 -----------------
  72
  73 Newer versions of vzdump encode the virtual machine type and the
  74 backup time into the filename, for example
  75
  76  vzdump-lxc-105-2009_10_09-11_04_43.tar
  77
  78 That way it is possible to store several backup in the same
  79 directory. The parameter `maxfiles` can be used to specify the
  80 maximum number of backups to keep.
  81
  82 Restore
  83 -------
  84
  85 The resulting archive files can be restored with the following programs.
  86
  87
  88 `pct restore`:: Container restore utility
  89
  90 `qmrestore`:: QemuServer restore utility
  91
  92 For details see the corresponding manual pages.
  93
  94 Configuration
  95 -------------
  96
  97 Global configuration is stored in '/etc/vzdump.conf'.
  98
  99  tmpdir: DIR
 100  dumpdir: DIR
 101  storage: STORAGE_ID
 102  mode: snapshot|suspend|stop
 103  bwlimit: KBPS
 104  ionize: PRI
 105  lockwait: MINUTES
 106  stopwait: MINUTES
 107  size: MB
 108  maxfiles: N
 109  script: FILENAME
 110  exclude-path: PATHLIST
 111
 112 Hook Scripts
 113 ------------
 114
 115 You can specify a hook script with option `--script`. This script is
 116 called at various phases of the backup process, with parameters
 117 accordingly set. You can find an example in the documentation
 118 directory ('vzdump-hook-script.pl').
 119
 120 File Exclusions
 121 ---------------
 122
 123 First, this option is only available for container backups. 'vzdump'
 124 skips the following files with option `--stdexcludes`
 125
 126  /var/log/?*
 127  /tmp/?*
 128  /var/tmp/?*
 129  /var/run/?*pid
 130
 131 Or you can manually specify exclude paths, for example:
 132
 133  # vzdump 777 --exclude-path /tmp/ --exclude-path '/var/foo*'
 134
 135 (only excludes tmp directories)
 136
 137 Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive
 138 (`/etc/vzdump/`), and will be correctly restored.
 139
 140 Examples
 141 --------
 142
 143 Simply dump VM 777 - no snapshot, just archive the VM private area and
 144 configuration files to the default dump directory (usually
 145 '/var/liv//vz/dump/').
 146
 147  # vzdump 777
 148
 149 Use rsync and suspend/resume to create a snapshot (minimal downtime).
 150
 151  # vzdump 777 --mode suspend
 152
 153 Backup all VMs and send notification mails to root and admin.
 154
 155  # vzdump --all --mode suspend --mailto root --mailto admin
 156
 157 Use snapshot mode (no downtime).
 158
 159  # vzdump 777 --dumpdir /mnt/backup --mode snapshot
 160
 161 Backup more than one VM (selectively)
 162
 163  # vzdump 101 102 103 --mailto root
 164
 165 Backup all VMs excluding VM 101 and 102
 166
 167  # vzdump --mode suspend --exclude 101,102
 168
 169 Restore a container to a new VM 600
 170
 171  # pct restore 600 /mnt/backup/vzdump-lxc-777.tar
 172
 173 Restore a Qemu/KVM machine to VM 601
 174
 175  # qmrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-qemu-888.vma 601
 176
 177 Clone an existing container 101 to a new container 300 with a 4GB root
 178 file system, using pipes
 179
 180  # vzdump 101 --stdout | pct restore --rootfs 4 300 -
 181
 182
 183 ifdef::manvolnum[]
 184 include::pve-copyright.adoc[]
 185 endif::manvolnum[]
 186