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 backups of running guest
  29 systems. It basically creates an archive of the guest private area,
  30 which also includes the guest configuration files. 'vzdump' currently
  31 supports LXC containers and QemuServer VMs. There are several ways to
  32 provide consistency (option `mode`), depending on the guest type.
  33
  34 .Backup `mode` for VMs:
  35
  36 `stop` mode::
  37
  38 This first performns a clean shutdown of the VM to make sure it is
  39 stopped. It then starts the VM in suspended mode and uses the qemu
  40 backup feature to dump all data. If the VM was running, we start
  41 (resume) it immediately after starting the qemu backup task. This
  42 keeps the downtime as low as possible.
  43
  44 `suspend` mode::
  45
  46 This mode does not really make sense for qemu. Please use snapshot
  47 mode instead.
  48
  49 `snapshot` mode::
  50
  51 This mode simply starts a qemu live backup task. If the guest agent
  52 is enabled (`agent: 1`) and running, it calls 'guest-fsfreeze-freeze'
  53 and 'guest-fsfreeze-thaw' to improve consistency.
  54
  55 A technical overview of the Proxmox VE live backup for QemuServer can
  56 be found online
  57 https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-qemu-kvm.git;a=blob;f=backup.txt[here],
  58
  59
  60 .Backup `mode` for Containers:
  61
  62 `stop` mode::
  63
  64 Stop the guest during backup. This results in a very long downtime.
  65
  66 `suspend` mode::
  67
  68 This mode uses rsync to copy the container data to a temporary
  69 location (see option `--tmpdir`). Then the container is suspended and a second
  70 rsync copies changed files. After that, the container is started (resumed)
  71 again. This results in minimal downtime, but needs additional space
  72 to hold the container copy.
  73 +
  74 When the container is on a local filesystem and the target storage of the backup
  75 is an NFS server, you should set `--tmpdir` to reside on a local filesystem too,
  76 as this will result in a many fold performance improvement.
  77 Use of a local `tmpdir` is also required if you want to backup in `suspend`
  78 mode a local container using ACLs to an NFS server.
  79
  80 `snapshot` mode::
  81
  82 This mode uses the snapshotting facilities of the underlying
  83 storage. A snapshot will be made of the container volume, and the
  84 snapshot content will be archived in a tar file.
  85
  86
  87 Backup File Names
  88 -----------------
  89
  90 Newer versions of vzdump encode the virtual machine type and the
  91 backup time into the filename, for example
  92
  93  vzdump-lxc-105-2009_10_09-11_04_43.tar
  94
  95 That way it is possible to store several backup in the same
  96 directory. The parameter `maxfiles` can be used to specify the
  97 maximum number of backups to keep.
  98
  99 Restore
 100 -------
 101
 102 The resulting archive files can be restored with the following programs.
 103
 104
 105 `pct restore`:: Container restore utility
 106
 107 `qmrestore`:: QemuServer restore utility
 108
 109 For details see the corresponding manual pages.
 110
 111 Configuration
 112 -------------
 113
 114 Global configuration is stored in '/etc/vzdump.conf'.
 115
 116  tmpdir: DIR
 117  dumpdir: DIR
 118  storage: STORAGE_ID
 119  mode: snapshot|suspend|stop
 120  bwlimit: KBPS
 121  ionize: PRI
 122  lockwait: MINUTES
 123  stopwait: MINUTES
 124  size: MB
 125  maxfiles: N
 126  script: FILENAME
 127  exclude-path: PATHLIST
 128
 129 Hook Scripts
 130 ------------
 131
 132 You can specify a hook script with option `--script`. This script is
 133 called at various phases of the backup process, with parameters
 134 accordingly set. You can find an example in the documentation
 135 directory ('vzdump-hook-script.pl').
 136
 137 File Exclusions
 138 ---------------
 139
 140 First, this option is only available for container backups. 'vzdump'
 141 skips the following files with option `--stdexcludes`
 142
 143  /var/log/?*
 144  /tmp/?*
 145  /var/tmp/?*
 146  /var/run/?*pid
 147
 148 Or you can manually specify exclude paths, for example:
 149
 150  # vzdump 777 --exclude-path /tmp/ --exclude-path '/var/foo*'
 151
 152 (only excludes tmp directories)
 153
 154 Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive
 155 (`/etc/vzdump/`), and will be correctly restored.
 156
 157 Examples
 158 --------
 159
 160 Simply dump guest 777 - no snapshot, just archive the guest private area and
 161 configuration files to the default dump directory (usually
 162 '/var/liv//vz/dump/').
 163
 164  # vzdump 777
 165
 166 Use rsync and suspend/resume to create a snapshot (minimal downtime).
 167
 168  # vzdump 777 --mode suspend
 169
 170 Backup all guest systems and send notification mails to root and admin.
 171
 172  # vzdump --all --mode suspend --mailto root --mailto admin
 173
 174 Use snapshot mode (no downtime).
 175
 176  # vzdump 777 --dumpdir /mnt/backup --mode snapshot
 177
 178 Backup more than one guest (selectively)
 179
 180  # vzdump 101 102 103 --mailto root
 181
 182 Backup all guests excluding 101 and 102
 183
 184  # vzdump --mode suspend --exclude 101,102
 185
 186 Restore a container to a new CT 600
 187
 188  # pct restore 600 /mnt/backup/vzdump-lxc-777.tar
 189
 190 Restore a QemuServer VM to VM 601
 191
 192  # qmrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-qemu-888.vma 601
 193
 194 Clone an existing container 101 to a new container 300 with a 4GB root
 195 file system, using pipes
 196
 197  # vzdump 101 --stdout | pct restore --rootfs 4 300 -
 198
 199
 200 ifdef::manvolnum[]
 201 include::pve-copyright.adoc[]
 202 endif::manvolnum[]
 203