[libvirt-users] Can I move the disk image of the guest while it is running?

[Andrew Martin]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Blake" <eblake at redhat.com>
> To: "Andrew Martin" <amartin at xes-inc.com>
> Cc: "Gergely Horváth" <gergely.horvath at inepex.com>, libvirt-users at redhat.com
> Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2014 9:31:29 AM
> Subject: Re: [libvirt-users] Can I move the disk image of the guest while it is running?
> 
> On 02/06/2014 08:14 AM, Andrew Martin wrote:
> > Eric,
> > 
> > For scripted live backups, which non-transient technique would you prefer:
> > 1. snapshot-create-as followed by blockpull, which results in the original
> > file being left as a standalone copy of the VM from that point in time; it
> > can then be copied off to a backup disk once blockpull completes
> 
> Slower (because it pulls the entire contents of the original file into
> the new file), but likely to succeed.
Is there a faster, non-transient way to do this with the current versions of qemu and libvirt?

> 
> > 2. snapshot-create-as followed by copying the backing file (since it is now
> > read-only) and then using blockcommit to pull the interim changes back into
> > the original/backing file (and removing the snapshot file)
> 
> Ideal, but not supported until (unreleased) qemu 2.0.
> 
Ah, does blockcommit currently only work with offline VMs with qemu 1.x?