Backup of a running container with vzdump

2008-02-27T18:52:00Z

Gbjbaanb: /* Backup */ - added blog link with LVM setup instructions

= Vzdump =
Vzdump is an utility to make consistent snapshots of running OpenVZ VEs. It basically creates a tar archive of the VE private area, which also includes the VE configuration files.

There are several ways to provide consistency:

- Stop the VE during backup (very long downtime)

- Use rsync and suspend/resume (minimal downtime)

- Use LVM2 (no downtime)

Vzdump stores the backup on the disk in a single file. This file should go to a tape backup for archiving.

== Download ==
Download vzdump rpm or deb packages from http://download.openvz.org/contrib/utils/vzdump/ or for newest version, check http://www.proxmox.com/cms_proxmox/en/technology/oss-software/openvz/

For rpm based systems:
<pre>wget http://www.proxmox.com/cms_proxmox/cms/upload/vzdump/vzdump-1.0-2.noarch.rpm</pre>

For Debian based systems:
<pre>wget http://www.proxmox.com/cms_proxmox/cms/upload/vzdump/vzdump_1.0-2_all.deb</pre>

== Installation ==
For rpm based systems:
<pre>rpm -i vzdump-1.0-2.noarch.rpm</pre>

For Debian based systems:
<pre>dpkg -i vzdump_1.0-2_all.deb</pre>

== Synopsis ==

<pre>vzdump OPTIONS [--all â <VEID>]

--compress compress dump file (gzip)

--dumpdir DIR store resulting files in DIR

--xdelta create a differential backup using xdelta

--mailto EMAIL send notification mail to EMAIL

--stop stop/start VPS if running

--suspend suspend/resume VPS when running

--snapshot use LVM snapshot when running

--restore FILENAME restore FILENAME
</pre>

= Examples =
Use a running VE, for example install this: http://wiki.openvz.org/Proxmox_Mail_Gateway_in_VE

== Backup ==

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

<pre>vzdump 777</pre>

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

<pre>vzdump --suspend 777</pre>

Backup all VEs and send notification mails to root.

<pre>vzdump --suspend --all --mailto root</pre>

Use LVM2 to create snapshots (no downtime).

<pre>vzdump --dumpdir /space/backup --snapshot 777</pre>
* Note that using LVM2 and vzdump to create snapshots requires 512Mb of free space in your VG as [http://weblogs.amtex.nl/index.php?blog=2&title=using_vzdump_snapshot_to_backup_without_downtime&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 described here]

== Restore ==

Restore above backup to VE 600

<pre>vzdump --restore /space/backup/vzdump-777.tar 600</pre>

[[Category: HOWTO]]

OpenVZ Virtuozzo Containers Wiki - User contributions [en]

Backup of a running container with vzdump