I'm setting up a new KVM VM, that will hopefully replace my physical gaming PC. On my physical PCs I use the free version of Macrium Reflect to backup and it's worked great for me so far.

 

Is there any reason I can't keep using Macrium on the new VM? What does everyone else recommend to backup Windows VMs that's image based?

Here is what I have been doing. I just make a complete image of the VM and if anything blows up I just comply back the whole backup. Saved me a few times already.

 

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=39061.msg363625#msg363625

I did see that thread when I searched but, but I'd like something that is automated and has a gui with a true image based backup. The reason I like Macrium is I can restore a whole image or just a few files if needed.

I put Acronis True Image on my vm and have been using it to make full virtual disk backups... but after reading this thread you got me thinking... if the VM needed to be restored, how would that work since it's not the same as restoring a physical PC... on a physical box you would boot from a rescue CD and then start the restore on the physical disk... but in this case?

 

I'm starting to think that installing acronis was a waste of time and the only way to do this is to make copies of the .img file for the VM.  Then a restore is as simple as copying the .img file back.

 

Two questions though:

 

1) Would the "Acronis" approach work in the case of needing to RESTORE a virtual disk?

 

2) For the .img file copying approach, can you copy the .img file while the vm is running?  My VM runs 24/7 so it's not like I can shut it down every time I want to make a backup.

#2. You would want to shutdown the VM before you made your backup. I personally have never understood the point of making weekly backups of my OS'es. I want a fresh backup of a freshly installed OS with only core applications installed. After the computer starts to get slower in 6 months, just load up the fresh OS backup and install the new updates and boom you have a fast computer again.

#2. You would want to shutdown the VM before you made your backup. I personally have never understood the point of making weekly backups of my OS'es. I want a fresh backup of a freshly installed OS with only core applications installed. After the computer starts to get slower in 6 months, just load up the fresh OS backup and install the new updates and boom you have a fast computer again.

 

The point of weekly OS backups is kind of like having a windows "system restore" function but for the entire PC... something blows up that you cannot fix, you can just restore the entire PC and you are only missing 7 days or less worth of data.  Some apps are a pain to set up and running 24/7 their state can change and so restoring just the base OS image and then re-installing apps is not an option for me.  Backing up data from individual apps and then having to restore it to each app would be way too slow.

 

There must be a way to do a full image backup of a running VM?

... There must be a way to do a full image backup of a running VM?

 

If you have a favorite "live imager" (e.g. any imaging utility that can image the system partition while the OS is running), you can simply use it to image your VM.    To restore you would need to boot the VM from a restore CD, and then you restore it just as if it was a physical PC.

 

This works fine in VMware VM's ... I'm not currently using any KVM VM's, but I'd expect them to work just as well.  You DO need a 2nd virtual disk to store the image on ... or a network location if the imaging utility supports network access.

 

 

... There must be a way to do a full image backup of a running VM?

 

If you have a favorite "live imager" (e.g. any imaging utility that can image the system partition while the OS is running), you can simply use it to image your VM.    To restore you would need to boot the VM from a restore CD, and then you restore it just as if it was a physical PC.

 

This works fine in VMware VM's ... I'm not currently using any KVM VM's, but I'd expect them to work just as well.  You DO need a 2nd virtual disk to store the image on ... or a network location if the imaging utility supports network access.

 

Well first thing, I guess it would help if I had a CD-ROM drive in the unRAID box :-)  That said though, how would I boot into unRAID and then proceed to boot off a restore CD to restore the image?  I'm using a cache pool so doesn't unRAID need to be running to recognize the "disk" where the image would be restored to?  Is it an issue if I store the live imager backup on the array - why do I need a second virtual disk?  This whole process seems quite complicated to me and prone to risk of messing up other stuff during the restore process :-(

 

Lastly, is there any way to copy the .img file while the VM is running using some sort of linux utilities or commands?  Seems that would be much safer and easier...

 

Thanks!

...  how would I boot into unRAID and then proceed to boot off a restore CD to restore the image? 

 

You don't boot your physical PC from the restore CD ... you boot the VM from the CD.  You likely don't need a CD drive ... you can use an ISO image of the CD.    As I noted above, I'm not using KVM so I'm not sure how you change the boot order for the VM to boot from a different device (the CD).    In VMware you just "Power on to BIOS" and then change the boot order ... I assume KVM has a similar capability.

 

 

Lastly, is there any way to copy the .img file while the VM is running using some sort of linux utilities or commands?  Seems that would be much safer and easier...

 

First, copying the file while it's open and in use would likely fail.

 

Second, even if that's not an issue, copying it while it's actively in use (and changing) would not result in a good copy.

 

That's why live imagers use disk locking utilities to "freeze" the state of the image.    For example, if you're imaging a Windows system (whether real or virtual) the imager will either use VSS or a disk-locking utility (e.g. Terabyte's PhyLock) to lock the state of the image.

 

If you want "safer and easier", just shut down the VM; copy the .img file, and then reboot the VM.

 

...  how would I boot into unRAID and then proceed to boot off a restore CD to restore the image? 

 

You don't boot your physical PC from the restore CD ... you boot the VM from the CD.  You likely don't need a CD drive ... you can use an ISO image of the CD.    As I noted above, I'm not using KVM so I'm not sure how you change the boot order for the VM to boot from a different device (the CD).    In VMware you just "Power on to BIOS" and then change the boot order ... I assume KVM has a similar capability.

 

Makes sense... would be great if someone else with knowledge of KVM could chime in on this!

Lastly, is there any way to copy the .img file while the VM is running using some sort of linux utilities or commands?  Seems that would be much safer and easier...

 

First, copying the file while it's open and in use would likely fail.

 

Second, even if that's not an issue, copying it while it's actively in use (and changing) would not result in a good copy.

 

That's why live imagers use disk locking utilities to "freeze" the state of the image.    For example, if you're imaging a Windows system (whether real or virtual) the imager will either use VSS or a disk-locking utility (e.g. Terabyte's PhyLock) to lock the state of the image.

 

If you want "safer and easier", just shut down the VM; copy the .img file, and then reboot the VM.

 

Great advice.. thanks

...  how would I boot into unRAID and then proceed to boot off a restore CD to restore the image? 

 

You don't boot your physical PC from the restore CD ... you boot the VM from the CD.  You likely don't need a CD drive ... you can use an ISO image of the CD.    As I noted above, I'm not using KVM so I'm not sure how you change the boot order for the VM to boot from a different device (the CD).    In VMware you just "Power on to BIOS" and then change the boot order ... I assume KVM has a similar capability.

 

Makes sense... would be great if someone else with knowledge of KVM could chime in on this!

 

I have done something very similar, where I booted up an iso to repair my OS X VM from within the VM. As long as your back up solution has some sort of bootable ISO then I am sure you could get it to work.

 

I'm going to stick to macrium for now, it includes a bootable recovery ISO, I did boot to it to test and it booted fine, but was not able to browse to my backup share. My Server is currently down while I wait for a new MB to arrive, but I'll be sure to test this before counting on it for backups.

I'm going to stick to macrium for now, it includes a bootable recovery ISO, I did boot to it to test and it booted fine, but was not able to browse to my backup share. My Server is currently down while I wait for a new MB to arrive, but I'll be sure to test this before counting on it for backups.

 

Please share your findings when you test this... I'd like to know how to set up KVM to boot from a recovery ISO.  Is this something you set up from within unRAID or something that needs to be done from the linux command line?