How easy is it to transfer a backup of a Xen PV/ OpenVZ server to another?

rchurch

How easy is it to transfer a backup of OpenVZ or a Xen PV server to another?

Do somethings have to be the same on both servers, host node architecture, host node kernel, vm kernel?

How many providers will attempt it as part of their service? No extra charges.

jhadley

It's not hard and doesn't have a lot of special requirements really. It does take up some time so I wouldn't be surprised if an unmanaged/cheap host charged you for it.

Maounique

It is not hard but it takes some time. Some might charge a lot, others might do it for free, there are many nice ppl here among providers. It depends how you put up the issue, tho. M

jcaleb

Not sure if this is a dumb question. But can I tar gzip the entire / directory and restore on another vps by just extracting on command line? assuming same distribution (e.g. debian 6).

ozfingwe

@jcaleb really depends:

for openvz, tgz usually works, make sure you adjust the container's config file if needed, though.

The Solus Wiki has some good info on Xen VMs: http://wiki.solusvm.com/index.php/Xen_Migrations If you are using LVM, and if you leave out the Solus specifics (vm-migrate script for example), this can be a very helpful guideline.

Here is a tar version: http://saamyvkl.blogspot.co.at/2012/03/xen-pv-migration.html

Hope it helps a bit! Make sure that you try this on a test VM until you are sure the VM works on the new node :-)

cheers - oz.

AnthonySmith

Not hard at all for Xen PV, I assume even easier for OpenVZ, I have always offered a copy of your .img file to download on request, to date I have only done one transfer in from another host like that though, no great hardship as long as you dont expect immediate results.

bnmkl

For OpenVZ @rchurch: http://wiki.frantech.ca/index.php/migrate_openvz

tar cvpPSf - --numeric-owner -X /dev/shm/exclude.txt / | ssh root@ "tar xpPSf - --numeric-owner -C /"