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 VM data to a temporary
  42 location (see option `--tmpdir`). Then the VM is suspended and a second
  43 rsync copies changed files. After that, the VM is started (resumed)
  44 again. This results in minimal downtime, but needs additional space
  45 to hold the VM copy.
  46
  47 For QemuServer, this mode will suspend the VM, start
  48 a live backup, and resume the VM.
  49
  50 `snapshot` mode::
  51
  52 For containers, this mode uses the snapshotting facilities of the
  53 underlying storage. A snapshot will be made of the container volume,
  54 and the snapshot content will be archived in a tar file.
  55
  56 For QemuServer, this mode will do a live backup similar to the
  57 `suspend` mode, but without suspending/resuming the VM.
  58
  59 A technical overview of the Proxmox VE live backup for QemuServer can
  60 be found online
  61 https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-qemu-kvm.git;a=blob;f=backup.txt[here],
  62
  63 Backup File Names
  64 -----------------
  65
  66 Newer versions of vzdump encode the virtual machine type and the
  67 backup time into the filename, for example
  68
  69  vzdump-lxc-105-2009_10_09-11_04_43.tar
  70
  71 That way it is possible to store several backup in the same
  72 directory. The parameter `maxfiles` can be used to specify the
  73 maximum number of backups to keep.
  74
  75 Restore
  76 -------
  77
  78 The resulting archive files can be restored with the following programs.
  79
  80
  81 `pct restore`:: Container restore utility
  82
  83 `qmrestore`:: QemuServer restore utility
  84
  85 For details see the corresponding manual pages.
  86
  87 Configuration
  88 -------------
  89
  90 Global configuration is stored in '/etc/vzdump.conf'.
  91
  92  tmpdir: DIR
  93  dumpdir: DIR
  94  storage: STORAGE_ID
  95  mode: snapshot|suspend|stop
  96  bwlimit: KBPS
  97  ionize: PRI
  98  lockwait: MINUTES
  99  stopwait: MINUTES
 100  size: MB
 101  maxfiles: N
 102  script: FILENAME
 103  exclude-path: PATHLIST
 104
 105 Hook Scripts
 106 ------------
 107
 108 You can specify a hook script with option `--script`. This script is
 109 called at various phases of the backup process, with parameters
 110 accordingly set. You can find an example in the documentation
 111 directory ('vzdump-hook-script.pl').
 112
 113 File Exclusions
 114 ---------------
 115
 116 First, this option is only available for container backups. 'vzdump'
 117 skips the following files with option `--stdexcludes`
 118
 119  /var/log/?*
 120  /tmp/?*
 121  /var/tmp/?*
 122  /var/run/?*pid
 123
 124 Or you can manually specify exclude paths, for example:
 125
 126  # vzdump 777 --exclude-path /tmp/ --exclude-path '/var/foo*'
 127
 128 (only excludes tmp directories)
 129
 130 Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive
 131 (`/etc/vzdump/`), and will be correctly restored.
 132
 133 Examples
 134 --------
 135
 136 Simply dump VM 777 - no snapshot, just archive the VM private area and
 137 configuration files to the default dump directory (usually
 138 '/var/liv//vz/dump/').
 139
 140  # vzdump 777
 141
 142 Use rsync and suspend/resume to create a snapshot (minimal downtime).
 143
 144  # vzdump 777 --mode suspend
 145
 146 Backup all VMs and send notification mails to root and admin.
 147
 148  # vzdump --all --mode suspend --mailto root --mailto admin
 149
 150 Use snapshot mode (no downtime).
 151
 152  # vzdump 777 --dumpdir /mnt/backup --mode snapshot
 153
 154 Backup more than one VM (selectively)
 155
 156  # vzdump 101 102 103 --mailto root
 157
 158 Backup all VMs excluding VM 101 and 102
 159
 160  # vzdump --mode suspend --exclude 101,102
 161
 162 Restore a container to a new VM 600
 163
 164  # pct restore 600 /mnt/backup/vzdump-lxc-777.tar
 165
 166 Restore a Qemu/KVM machine to VM 601
 167
 168  # qmrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-qemu-888.vma 601
 169
 170 Clone an existing container 101 to a new container 300 with a 4GB root
 171 file system, using pipes
 172
 173  # vzdump 101 --stdout | pct restore --rootfs 4 300 -
 174
 175
 176 ifdef::manvolnum[]
 177 include::pve-copyright.adoc[]
 178 endif::manvolnum[]
 179