NAME

vzdump - backup utility for virtual machine


SYNOPSIS

 vzdump help
 vzdump {<vmid>} [OPTIONS]
   <vmid>     string
 
             The ID of the VM you want to backup.
 
   -all      boolean   (default=0)
 
             Backup all known VMs on this host.
 
   -bwlimit   integer (0 - N)
 
             Limit I/O bandwidth (KBytes per second).
 
   -compress  (0 | 1 | gzip | lzo)   (default=lzo)
 
             Compress dump file.
 
   -dumpdir   string
 
             Store resulting files to specified directory.
 
   -exclude   string
 
             exclude specified VMs (assumes --all)
 
   -exclude-path string
 
             exclude certain files/directories (regex).
 
   -ionice    integer (0 - 8)
 
             Set CFQ ionice priority.
 
   -lockwait  integer (0 - N)
 
             Maximal time to wait for the global lock (minutes).
 
   -mailto    string
 
             no description available
 
   -maxfiles  integer (1 - N)
 
             Maximal number of backup files per VM.
 
   -mode      (snapshot | stop | suspend)   (default=stop)
 
             Backup mode.
 
   -node      string
 
             Only run if executed on this node.
 
   -quiet     boolean   (default=0)
 
             Be quiet.
 
   -remove    boolean   (default=1)
 
             Remove old backup files if there are more than 'maxfiles'
             backup files.
 
   -script    string
 
             Use specified hook script.
 
   -size      integer (500 - N)
 
             LVM snapshot size im MB.
 
   -stdexcludes boolean  (default=1)
 
             Exclude temorary files and logs.
 
   -stdout    boolean
 
             Write tar to stdout, not to a file.
 
   -stopwait  integer (0 - N)
 
             Maximal time to wait until a VM is stopped (minutes).
 
   -storage   string
 
             Store resulting file to this storage.
 
   -tmpdir    string
 
             Store temporary files to specified directory.


DESCRIPTION

vzdump is an utility to make consistent snapshots of running virtual machines (VMs). It basically creates an archive of the VM private area, which also includes the VM configuration files. vzdump currently supports OpenVZ and QemuServer VMs.

There are several ways to provide consistency (option mode):

stop mode

Stop the VM during backup. This results in a very long downtime.

suspend mode

For OpenVZ, this mode uses rsync to copy the VM to a temporary location (see option --tmpdir). Then the VM is suspended and a second rsync copies changed files. After that, the VM is started (resume) again. This results in a minimal downtime, but needs additional space to hold the VM copy.

For QemuServer, this mode work like stop mode, but uses suspend/resume instead of stop/start.

snapshot mode

This mode uses LVM2 snapshots. There is no downtime, but snapshot mode needs LVM2 and some free space on the corresponding volume group to create the LVM snapshot.


BACKUP FILE NAMES

Newer version of vzdump encodes the virtual machine type and the backup time into the filename, for example

 vzdump-openvz-105-2009_10_09-11_04_43.tar

That way it is possible to store several backup into the same directory. The parameter maxfiles can be used to specify the maximal number of backups to keep.


RESTORE

The resulting archive files can be restored with the following programs.

vzrestore: OpenVZ restore utility
qmrestore: QemuServer restore utility

For details see the corresponding manual pages.


CONFIGURATION

Global configuration is stored in /etc/vzdump.conf.

 tmpdir: DIR
 dumpdir: DIR
 storage: STORAGE_ID
 mode: snapshot|suspend|stop
 bwlimit: KBPS
 ionize: PRI
 lockwait: MINUTES 
 stopwait: MINUTES 
 size: MB
 maxfiles: N
 script: FILENAME
 exclude-path: PATHLIST


HOOK SCRIPT

You can specify a hook script with option --script. This script is called at various phases of the backup process, with parameters accordingly set. You can find an example in the documentation directory (vzdump-hook-script.pl).


EXCLUSIONS (OpenVZ only)

vzdump skips the following files wit option --stdexcludes

 /var/log/.+
 /tmp/.+
 /var/tmp/.+
 /var/run/.+pid

You can manually specify exclude paths, for example:

 # vzdump 777 --exclude-path C</tmp/.+> --exclude-path C</var/tmp/.+>

(only excludes tmp directories)

Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive (/etc/vzdump), and will be correctly restored.


LIMITATIONS

VZDump does not save ACLs.


EXAMPLES

Simply dump VM 777 - no snapshot, just archive the VM private area and configuration files to the default dump directory (usually /vz/dump/).

 # vzdump 777

Use rsync and suspend/resume to create an snapshot (minimal downtime).

 # vzdump 777 --mode suspend

Backup all VMs and send notification mails to root and admin.

 # vzdump --all --mode suspend --mailto root --mailto admin

Use LVM2 to create snapshots (no downtime).

 # vzdump 777 --dumpdir /mnt/backup --mode snapshot

Backup more than one VM (selectively)

 # vzdump 101 102 103 --mailto root

Backup all VMs excluding VM 101 and 102

 # vzdump --mode suspend --exclude 101,102

Restore an OpenVZ machine to VM 600

 # vzrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-openvz-777.tar 600

Restore an Qemu/KVM machine to VM 601

 # qmrestore /mnt/backup/vzdump-qemu-888.vma 601

Clone an existing container 101 to container 300 using pipes

 # vzdump 101 --stdout|vzrestore - 300


SEE ALSO

vzrestore(1) qmrestore(1)


COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

Copyright (C) 2007-2011 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.