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can we backup Xen/OpenVZ virtual instance & redeploy it on the same or a different host?
i use vmware pretty frequently on my work and home pcs & one of the features I love about is the option of copying a virtual machine and running it from another pc.
So, what I want to know are there any hosts which allow you to make backups of your virtual instance be it xen/openvz along the hard disk data.
Wouldn't this be the best form of backup ? & If it were possible then why r not many hosts talking about it ? "like instantly load ur xen machine on myexample host etc". I can understand many things might not work ip configs, etc but these are minor compared to the major hassles of restoring everything one at a time or does it not work like this for xen/openvz?
Your thoughts ?
Comments
XEN is a little more complicated, but with OpenVZ you just tar the entire VM and can redeploy it anywhere.
@Hassan - what about programs that I have compiled on the original OpenVZ VPS, if I tar and upload to another OpenVZ, will it just work. Or will I have to downlaod and compile those programs again on the new VPS?
dd if=/dev/volgroup/xenvol bs=1048576 | pigz -9c | ssh root@otherhost "pigz -dc | dd of=/dev/volgroup/xenvol bs=1048576 obs=1048576"
They will generally work. not all OVZ hosts enable the same modules, if you need some exotic ones, they may not work, but a recompilation will not solve the problem either.
As for Xen, if the hosts use the same virtualization method (pv-pv ot hvm-hvm) they will work out of the box, presuming you can load your own kernel, if you made modifications to it in order to make your programs run or you need a specific kernel version.
TL;DR with the regular hosts using solusvm will work 99% of time.
I'm using the pretty much standard modules, and compile asterisk from scratch, using my script posted in the tutorials section. If I do a webmin backup of this asterisk install on OpenVZ, will it work on another OpenVZ?
Almost sure yes. I was thinking of a more radical procedure, copy the entire VPS. Your approach should work 100%.
OpenVZ - absolutely can be done, without a doubt, although there may be a few post-migration tweaks (namely the modules running on the HWN, and that's usually a quick fix depending on the provider. The simplest method, obviously, is packaging the container as a template and using rsync to move it to the new environment. The other option is a live migration with vzmigrate. Both have similarities. The vzmigrate process should be researched though, as the process will destroy the container private area (/vz/private/$CTID and the $CTID.conf) on the old hardware node by default (use the -r no switch to prevent this) so if something went wrong on the new HWN, or there was a glitch during migration, you could run into a few issues with recovering your data. Also, try not to jump too far between kernels (UBC/RHEL5 2.6.18 vs. VSwap/RHEL6 2.6.32).
As it relates to providers allowing this, I generally will obtain some documented/verified consent to do so, otherwise the data could potentially fall into the wrong hands. Also, it would have to be placed somewhere publicly accessible datastore as I wouldn't allow any outside involvement with my HWNs at any time, and some providers may apply a resource fee or other service charge for the work involved on their part.
Hope it works out for you