[libvirt-users] snapshot with libvirt tools or with lvm tools ?

[Lentes, Bernd]

Hi,

i asked already a time ago about snapshots. I have some guests, each resides in a raw file, placed on an ext3 fs which is on top of a logical volume, for each guest a dedicated lv.
The raw is not a "must have", if there are obvious reasons i can convert them to a qcow2.
What i want is a consistent backup of each guest taken overnight. If possible i won't have downtime.
I can use the libvirt tools, but the lvm way seems to be more elegant. 
Before copying the file the guests resides in i take a snapshot from the respective lv. Then i mount the snapshot and transfer it via rsync on a CIFS share.
Rsync seems to be the appropriate tool because i just transfer the changes in the file compared to the file from a day before. So i don't have to transfer complete and big raw files but just the difference.

The guest still can be running, and after the transfer of the snapshot file i just delete it, and the next night the same procedure.

What do you think ?

Bernd

-- 

Bernd Lentes 
Systemadministration 
Institut für Entwicklungsgenetik 
Gebäude 35.34 - Raum 208 
HelmholtzZentrum münchen 
[ mailto:bernd.lentes at helmholtz-muenchen.de | bernd.lentes at helmholtz-muenchen.de ] 
phone: +49 89 3187 1241 
fax: +49 89 3187 2294 
[ http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/idg | http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/idg ] 

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