Ubuntu 14.04 KVM : create snapshots

Reference

https://xdev.me/article/How_to_use_KVM_snapshots

Here are examples of how to take snapshots on KVM.

KVM host : Ubuntu 14.04

VM : Ubuntu 14.04

list snapshots of the VM

virsh # snapshot-list ubuntu1404-vm8 Name                 Creation Time             State ------------------------------------------------------------ virsh #

create a snapshot.

error, KVM does not support taking snapshots with raw format.

I need to convert the VM image format to qcow2 from raw.

virsh # snapshot-create-as ubuntu1404-vm8 ss01 error: unsupported configuration: internal snapshot for disk vda unsupported for storage type raw

shutdown the VM and covert the format type to qcow2.

virsh # shutdown ubuntu1404-vm8 # qemu-img convert -f raw -O qcow2 ubuntu1404-vm8.img ubunt u1404-vm8.qcow2

start the VM

# file ubuntu1404-vm8.qcow2 ubuntu1404-vm8.qcow2: QEMU QCOW Image (unknown version) # mv ubuntu1404-vm8.qcow2 ubuntu1404-vm8.img

edit the XML file of that VM to use qcow2 image.

# virsh edit ubuntu1404-vm8

from

<driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>

to

<driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/>

start the VM

virsh # start ubuntu1404-vm8 Domain ubuntu1404-vm8 started

create a snapshot.

The VM is paused while creating a snapshot.

virsh # snapshot-create-as ubuntu1404-vm8 ss01 virsh # snapshot-create-as ubuntu1404-vm8 ss02

virsh # snapshot-list ubuntu1404-vm8 Name                 Creation Time             State ------------------------------------------------------------ ss01                 2015-01-04 13:04:13 +0900 running virsh # snapshot-create-as ubuntu1404-vm8 ss02 Domain snapshot ss02 created virsh # virsh # snapshot-list ubuntu1404-vm8 Name                 Creation Time             State ------------------------------------------------------------ ss01                 2015-01-04 13:04:13 +0900 running ss02                 2015-01-04 13:06:13 +0900 running virsh # virsh # snapshot-info --current ubuntu1404-vm8 Name:           ss02 Domain:         ubuntu1404-vm8 Current:        yes State:          running Location:       internal Parent:         ss01 Children:       0 Descendants:    0 Metadata:       yes virsh #

Go to the snapshot “ss01”

virsh # snapshot-revert ubuntu1404-vm8 ss01 virsh #

delete a snapshot.

virsh # snapshot-delete ubuntu1404-vm8 ss02 Domain snapshot ss02 deleted