My Virtual machines resides on a GFS partition folder (e.g: /guests) . I can not take LVM snapshot because CLVM is not yet supported for snapshot. DD takes ages to create backups. What is the traditional method to backup virtual machines. does rdiff-backup make sense in my case? Thanks! Paras. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 4:16 PM, Paras pradhan<pradhanparas@gmail.com> wrote:> What is the traditional > method to backup virtual machines.the same as backup physical machines -- Javier _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Seconded - one of my hardest learned lessons about virtualization is that from an administration perspective, you should usually treat VMs as normal systems. There are some cool backup options with snapshots, etc. But sadly, I've been bitten too many times in my testing. I don't feel that these methods constitute a useful backup, any more than pulling a physical drive out of a server and imaging it does. Best Regards Nathan Eisenberg Sr. Systems Administrator Atlas Networks, LLC support@atlasnetworks.us http://support.atlasnetworks.us/portal> -----Original Message----- > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users- > bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Javier Guerra > Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 2:22 PM > To: Paras pradhan > Cc: Xen Users > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Backups ! > > On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 4:16 PM, Paras pradhan<pradhanparas@gmail.com> > wrote: > > What is the traditional > > method to backup virtual machines. > > the same as backup physical machines > > -- > Javier > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
You need the GFS to manage VM failover so you are stuck with there although you still have other options. In my estimation the best method is to separate the VMs from the data, use a traditional filesystem and san based snapshots either with or without a volume manager for the data. Then you have many options for offhost backups. I noticed that VMware is suggesting very much the same thing in their latest documentation. They suggest that a raw device mapping for data volumes on a SAN for data volumes to facilitate native SAN snapshots which can be presented to a backup host. The operating system images should be fairly generic anyway, but if you need to back those up just a traditional rsync can do the trick from within the VM itself. Rob On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 2:16 PM, Paras pradhan <pradhanparas@gmail.com>wrote:> My Virtual machines resides on a GFS partition folder (e.g: /guests) . > I can not take LVM snapshot because CLVM is not yet supported for > snapshot. DD takes ages to create backups. What is the traditional > method to backup virtual machines. > > does rdiff-backup make sense in my case? > > Thanks! > Paras. > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
At 16:16 -0500 30/7/09, Paras pradhan wrote:>My Virtual machines resides on a GFS partition folder (e.g: /guests) . >I can not take LVM snapshot because CLVM is not yet supported for >snapshot. DD takes ages to create backups. What is the traditional >method to backup virtual machines. > >does rdiff-backup make sense in my case?I treat each VM as though it was a standalone device - and do the backup from inside it. Without a lot of effort you CANNOT make a clean, consistent, and practical backup of a VM from ''outside''. If you snapshot the underlying storage then you will have incomplete image of the filesystem as you will NOT capture any cached pending writes - a good journalling filesystem will reduce, but not eliminate, the problem. To get a consistent and current image of the filesystem would require you to freeze the VM and copy it''s state alongside the storage image - but then the only way to restore would mean restoring the entire VM to the exact running state at that point in time. And of course, if you have any applications (particularly database type) then they will typically have their own caching as well. The two tools I use are rsync and rdiff-backup -- Simon Hobson Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Paras pradhan wrote:> My Virtual machines resides on a GFS partition folder (e.g: /guests) . > I can not take LVM snapshot because CLVM is not yet supported for > snapshot. DD takes ages to create backups. What is the traditional > method to backup virtual machines. > > does rdiff-backup make sense in my case? > > Thanks! > Paras. > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > >Paras, I use rsnapshot on all of my systems, including my XEN VM''s. It is fast, efficient, has been tested (i.e., I can restore a backup made from rsnapshot) and frankly, provides me with a lot fewer headaches than any other method I''ve tried. Using rdiff-backup is also a good solution. It was my solution before rsnapshot. Thanks, -- -- Steven G. Spencer, Network Administrator KSC Corporate - The Kelly Supply Family of Companies Office 308-382-8764 Ext. 231 Mobile 308-380-7957 _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users