Xen users - Jan 2006 - restore a backup on other machines

Hi all,

I have installed domU on a volume with LVM2.
I''d like to be able to restore the backup onto other machines via the
network.

Any suggestions please?

Thanks.
Chris.

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Sorry, I meant to say:
I would like to make a backup and then restore is onto other machines
via the network.
> Any suggestions please?
>
> Thanks.
> Chris.

On 1/12/06, Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have installed domU on a volume with LVM2.
> I''d like to be able to restore the backup onto other machines via
the network.
>
> Any suggestions please?
>
> Thanks.
> Chris.
>
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On Thursday 12 January 2006 16:30, Chris Fanning wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have installed domU on a volume with LVM2.
> I''d like to be able to restore the backup onto other machines via
the
> network.
>
> Any suggestions please?
You could export your lvm2 block device with NBD, ENBD or GNBD, import it from 
another machine an copy it on a local block device.

Michael
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On 1/12/06, Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Sorry, I meant to say:
> I would like to make a backup and then restore is onto other machines
> via the network.
>
If you''re using partitions rather than image files, you should only
need to
make a copy of all the files on that partition and restore the files to a
parition on the destination machine.  I usually just shutdown the VM that I
want to copy, mount the partition for that domU, and then copy the files
where ever and however I want.  The procedure would be similar for any
backup program as well.  Just make a backup of everything and then restore
it to the new location.

If you''re using image files, then just copy the image file.

Also, I''m assuming you would be restoring it to another Xen machine
with a
similar installation of Xen.

If this is the wrong approach or there is a better way, please let me know,
but this has worked well for me so far.

-Eric


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Hi Eric,
> parition on the destination machine.  I usually just shutdown the VM that I
> want to copy, mount the partition for that domU, and then copy the files
> where ever and however I want.
I was thinking along those lines.
>  If you''re using image files, then just copy the image file.
That sounds interesting. Maybe I could use rsync to keep image files up to date.
Where can I learn more about image files? Got a link?
Do you link that would be comparable to a LVM snapshot?
>
>  Also, I''m assuming you would be restoring it to another Xen
machine with a
> similar installation of Xen.
yes.

Thanks
Chris.

On 1/12/06, Eric Peterson <srcfoo@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 1/12/06, Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Sorry, I meant to say:
> > I would like to make a backup and then restore is onto other machines
> > via the network.
> >
>
>  If you''re using partitions rather than image files, you should
only need to
> make a copy of all the files on that partition and restore the files to a
> parition on the destination machine.  I usually just shutdown the VM that I
> want to copy, mount the partition for that domU, and then copy the files
> where ever and however I want.  The procedure would be similar for any
> backup program as well.  Just make a backup of everything and then restore
> it to the new location.
>
>  If you''re using image files, then just copy the image file.
>
>  Also, I''m assuming you would be restoring it to another Xen
machine with a
> similar installation of Xen.
>
>  If this is the wrong approach or there is a better way, please let me
know,
> but this has worked well for me so far.
>
>  -Eric
>
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Hi Chris,

On 1/13/06, Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote:
> >  If you''re using image files, then just copy the image file.
> That sounds interesting. Maybe I could use rsync to keep image files up to
> date.
> Where can I learn more about image files? Got a link?
> Do you link that would be comparable to a LVM snapshot?
>
The image file solution is well documented and can be found in most of the
tutorials like this
one.<http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_xen_setup_debian_ubuntu_p4>

In my experience the image file solution was slower than using LVM
supposedly due to loopback filesystems using more memory.

The image solution would not really be comparable to an LVM snapshot.  This
is because a snapshot can take place while the system is online.  With the
image file you SHOULD shutdown the domU or you would risk losing open files
or possibly a currupt image file. (I haven''t tried this myself, but
I''m
guessing the results would be bad)

If you search through the mailing list archives, there are quite a few posts
about backups and LVM.  Snapshots sound pretty unstable right now so you may
want to look for another solution.

-Eric


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