[libvirt-users] KVM incremental backup using CBT

[Jd]

Thanks Eric.. inline.
On 10/10/14, 6:32 PM, Eric Blake wrote:
> On 10/10/2014 11:37 AM, Jd wrote:
>> Hi
>>      Looking in to implementing (CBT like) delta backup for KVM.
> Not quite sure what you mean by CBT.
Sorry vmware term.. CBT -> changed block tracking.  (dirty block)
>
>>      The following looks promising..(last paragraph)
>>       http://wiki.qemu.org/Features/Snapshots2
>>
> Libvirt hasn't yet been patched to take advantage of all the latest qemu
> features.  Patches are welcome.  But libvirt already knows how to create
> external snapshots and do blockpull (backing files pulled into the
> active image so the backing isn't needed any more) and commit (active
> files pushed into the backing files), and even though it is not as
> full-featured as where we'd like to get, it can already do quite a bit.
>
>>       * In the last para, there is a mention of copy the blocks from the
>> disk using dirty-bitmap as reference. How to accomplish this ?
>> block-mirror with bitmap or is there a qemu-img command ? some details
>> would be appreciated.
> block-backup is a new QMP command that libvirt would need to expose; I
> don't know whether it is better to overload the existing
> virDomainBlockCopy() API for it, or to add a new API.

So this seems to be already in qemu. How can I try this with KVM 
context. Do I need to build from source ? or some version of KVM already 
has this ?

>
>> // backup software now reads foo.img using t0_dirty.dbmp to perform

>> incremental backup, when finished
>>
>>
>>
>>       * The backup after few runs in the backup store would be base image
>> + bunch of delta blocks ? Will this be same as base disk and bunch of
>> deltas ? or there is some special way to merge these ?
>>
>>       * I am assuming this scheme (snapshot, bitmap, block merge etc.)
>> should work with base disk in raw (non-qcow) format as well ? Right ?
>> i.e. will it work when the storage disk is iscsi, lvm, fc ? std linux
>> block device?
> Yes, you can use qcow2 to store deltas on top of any underlying storage
> device.
Glad to get confirmation.

>
>>       * Are there libvirt-api/verbs for doing some of this or we will
>> have to sue the qemu-monitor-command ?
> If you come up with a scenario where the only way to do something is via
> a raw qemu-monitor-command, please report it as a bug (or better yet
> provide a patch) so that a stable libvirt API can be written to do the
> same task.
>
>>       * What version of qemu/kvm will have the core capabilities and
>> which min libvirt version would be sufficient ?
> Until patches materialize, it's hard to predict the future.
Could you clarify a bit more .. I am not too familiar with how things 
move from qemu --> kvm  and how the libvirt releases are aligned with 
qemu or kvm releases if they are.
I want to have an environment where I can try this end to end. I have 
ubuntu 14.04.x release.

>
>>       Is there a better way to do incremental backup / CBT like backup
>> than one mentioned here ?
>>
>> Thanks
>> /Jd
>>
>>
>>
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