Backup of kvm image on Centos 6.4 host

shfyang · 08-02-2013, 09:46 AM

I am using Centos 6.4 with kvm virtualization. I see the images at /var/lib/libvirt/images/, each image file is about 20GB, can I just copy it to external hard drive, and then copy it back should I want the virtual machine again? (say virtulization machine is dead or I had to reinstall the Centos 6.4 server). I know VMWare workstation image can be handled this way!

Thank you for your answer!

dyasny · 08-02-2013, 10:39 AM

The image is just the disk contents. you also need the output of `virsh dump VMNAME > vmdefs.xml` along with the image

shfyang · 08-02-2013, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyasny

The image is just the disk contents. you also need the output of `virsh dump VMNAME > vmdefs.xml` along with the image

Can you explain a little bit more? when I run this command (vm's real name used instead of VMNAME), it shows error. Thanks!

dyasny · 08-02-2013, 11:02 PM

pardon, it's `virsh dumpxml VMNAME` of course

shfyang · 08-02-2013, 11:24 PM

Thanks, I figured out how to do the back up, it is simple, just copy the img file, then import it into kvm, very easy! Thanks!