KVM Virtualization Cookbook

How to do it...

To back up a virtual machine using tar and rsync, perform the following steps:

1. Create the backup directory and change to it:

root@kvm:~# mkdir backup_kvm1 && cd backup_kvm1root@kvm:~/backup_kvm1#

2. Find the location of the image file of the KVM guest:

root@kvm:~/backup_kvm1# virsh dumpxml kvm1 | grep "source file" <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/kvm1.img'/>root@kvm:~/backup_kvm1#

3. Save the current instance configuration to disk:

root@kvm:~/backup_kvm1# virsh dumpxml kvm1 > kvm1.xmlroot@kvm:~/backup_kvm1#

4. Stop the KVM guest and copy the image file to the backup directory:

root@kvm:~/backup_kvm1# virsh destroy kvm1Domain kvm1 destroyedroot@kvm:~/backup_kvm1# cp /var/lib/libvirt/images/kvm1.img .root@kvm:~/backup_kvm1# ...