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.
  55
  56 `snapshot` mode::
  57
  58 For containers, this mode uses the snapshotting facilities of the
  59 underlying storage. A snapshot will be made of the container volume,
  60 and the snapshot content will be archived in a tar file.
  61
  62 For QemuServer, this mode will do a live backup similar to the
  63 `suspend` mode, but without suspending/resuming the VM.
  64
  65 A technical overview of the Proxmox VE live backup for QemuServer can
  66 be found online
  67 https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-qemu-kvm.git;a=blob;f=backup.txt[here],
  68
  69 Backup File Names
  70 -----------------
  71
  72 Newer versions of vzdump encode the virtual machine type and the
  73 backup time into the filename, for example
  74
  75  vzdump-lxc-105-2009_10_09-11_04_43.tar
  76
  77 That way it is possible to store several backup in the same
  78 directory. The parameter `maxfiles` can be used to specify the
  79 maximum number of backups to keep.
  80
  81 Restore
  82 -------
  83
  84 The resulting archive files can be restored with the following programs.
  85
  86
  87 `pct restore`:: Container restore utility
  88
  89 `qmrestore`:: QemuServer restore utility
  90
  91 For details see the corresponding manual pages.
  92
  93 Configuration
  94 -------------
  95
  96 Global configuration is stored in '/etc/vzdump.conf'.
  97
  98  tmpdir: DIR
  99  dumpdir: DIR
 100  storage: STORAGE_ID
 101  mode: snapshot|suspend|stop
 102  bwlimit: KBPS
 103  ionize: PRI
 104  lockwait: MINUTES
 105  stopwait: MINUTES
 106  size: MB
 107  maxfiles: N
 108  script: FILENAME
 109  exclude-path: PATHLIST
 110
 111 Hook Scripts
 112 ------------
 113
 114 You can specify a hook script with option `--script`. This script is
 115 called at various phases of the backup process, with parameters
 116 accordingly set. You can find an example in the documentation
 117 directory ('vzdump-hook-script.pl').
 118
 119 File Exclusions
 120 ---------------
 121
 122 First, this option is only available for container backups. 'vzdump'
 123 skips the following files with option `--stdexcludes`
 124
 125  /var/log/?*
 126  /tmp/?*
 127  /var/tmp/?*
 128  /var/run/?*pid
 129
 130 Or you can manually specify exclude paths, for example:
 131
 132  # vzdump 777 --exclude-path /tmp/ --exclude-path '/var/foo*'
 133
 134 (only excludes tmp directories)
 135
 136 Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive
 137 (`/etc/vzdump/`), and will be correctly restored.
 138
 139 Examples
 140 --------
 141
 142 Simply dump VM 777 - no snapshot, just archive the VM private area and
 143 configuration files to the default dump directory (usually
 144 '/var/liv//vz/dump/').
 145
 146  # vzdump 777
 147
 148 Use rsync and suspend/resume to create a snapshot (minimal downtime).
 149
 150  # vzdump 777 --mode suspend
 151
 152 Backup all VMs and send notification mails to root and admin.
 153
 154  # vzdump --all --mode suspend --mailto root --mailto admin
 155
 156 Use snapshot mode (no downtime).
 157
 158  # vzdump 777 --dumpdir /mnt/backup --mode snapshot
 159
 160 Backup more than one VM (selectively)
 161
 162  # vzdump 101 102 103 --mailto root
 163
 164 Backup all VMs excluding VM 101 and 102
 165
 166  # vzdump --mode suspend --exclude 101,102
 167
 168 Restore a container to a new VM 600
 169
 170  # pct restore 600 /mnt/backup/vzdump-lxc-777.tar
 171
 172 Restore a Qemu/KVM machine to VM 601
 173
 174  # qmrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-qemu-888.vma 601
 175
 176 Clone an existing container 101 to a new container 300 with a 4GB root
 177 file system, using pipes
 178
 179  # vzdump 101 --stdout | pct restore --rootfs 4 300 -
 180
 181
 182 ifdef::manvolnum[]
 183 include::pve-copyright.adoc[]
 184 endif::manvolnum[]
 185