More elaborate notes on snapshots, blockpull, blockcommit. Much of this is derived from various dicussions with Eric Blake, Jeff Cody, Kevin Wolf (thanks a lot!) & several others on IRC and mailing lists and a lot of adhoc testing. I didn't wanted this to get lost. I also plan to add notes for 'blockcopy' once I complete testing with upstream libvirt/qemu git. NOTE: This document is formatted using reStructuredText. And can be trivially converted to HTML using: # rst2html snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst > snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.html ('rst2html' is part of python-docutils package.) I didn't send an html PATCH directly, as I thought, this'd be more readable. Any comments, criticisms more than welcome. --- docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst | 646 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 files changed, 646 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 100644 docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst diff --git a/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..99c30223a004ee5291e2914b788ac7fe04eee3c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst @@ -0,0 +1,646 @@ +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + Note: All these tests were performed with latest qemu-git,libvirt-git (as of + 20-Oct-2012 on a Fedora-18 alpha machine +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +Introduction +============ + +A virtual machine snapshot is a view of a virtual machine(its OS & all its +applications) at a given point in time. So that, one can revert to a known sane +state, or take backups while the guest is running live. So, before we dive into +snapshots, let's have an understanding of backing files and overlays. + + + +QCOW2 backing files & overlays +------------------------------ + +In essence, QCOW2(Qemu Copy-On-Write) gives you an ability to create a base-image, +and create several 'disposable' copy-on-write overlay disk images on top of the +base image(also called backing file). Backing files and overlays are +extremely useful to rapidly instantiate thin-privisoned virtual machines(more on +it below). Especially quite useful in development & test environments, so that +one could quickly revert to a known state & discard the overlay. + +**Figure-1** + +:: + + .--------------. .-------------. .-------------. .-------------. + | | | | | | | | + | RootBase |<---| Overlay-1 |<---| Overlay-1A <--- | Overlay-1B | + | (raw/qcow2) | | (qcow2) | | (qcow2) | | (qcow2) | + '--------------' '-------------' '-------------' '-------------' + +The above figure illustrates - RootBase is the backing file for Overlay-1, which +in turn is backing file for Overlay-2, which in turn is backing file for +Overlay-3. + +**Figure-2** +:: + + .-----------. .-----------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase |<--- Overlay-1 |<--- Overlay-1A <--- Overlay-1B <--- Overlay-1C | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '-----------' '-----------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + ^ ^ + | | + | | .-----------. .------------. + | | | | | | + | '-------| Overlay-2 |<---| Overlay-2A | + | | | | (Active) | + | '-----------' '------------' + | + | + | .-----------. .------------. + | | | | | + '------------| Overlay-3 |<---| Overlay-3A | + | | | (Active) | + '-----------' '------------' + +The above figure is just another representation which indicates, we can use a +'single' backing file, and create several overlays -- which can be used further, +to create overlays on top of them. + + +**NOTE**: Backing files are always opened **read-only**. In other words, once + an overlay is created, its backing file should not be modified(as the + overlay depends on a particular state of the backing file). Refer + below ('blockcommit' section) for relevant info on this. + + +**Example** : + +:: + + [FedoraBase.img] ----- <- [Fedora-guest-1.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A] + \ + \--- <- [Fedora-guest-2.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-2A] + +(Arrow to be read as Fed-w-updates.qcow2 has Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 as its backing file.) + +In the above example, say, *FedoraBase.img* has a freshly installed Fedora-17 OS on it, +and let's establish it as our backing file. Now, FedoraBase can be used as a +read-only 'template' to quickly instantiate two(or more) thinly provisioned +Fedora-17 guests(say Fedora-guest-1.qcow2, Fedora-guest-2.qcow2) by creating +QCOW2 overlay files pointing to our backing file. Also, the example & *Figure-2* +above illustrate that a single root-base image(FedoraBase.img) can be used +to create multiple overlays -- which can subsequently have their own overlays. + + + To create two thinly-provisioned Fedora clones(or overlays) using a single + backing file, we can invoke qemu-img as below: :: + + + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \ + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 + + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \ + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-2.qcow2 + + Now, both the above images *Fedora-guest-1* & *Fedora-guest-2* are ready to + boot. Continuting with our example, say, now you want to instantiate a + Fedora-17 guest, but this time, with full Fedora updates. This can be + accomplished by creating another overlay(Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A) - but + this overly would point to 'Fed-w-updates.qcow2' as its backing file (which + has the full Fedora updates) :: + + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/Fed-w-updates.qcow2 -f qcow2 \ + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 + + + Information about a disk image, like virtual size, disk size, backing file(if it + exists) can be obtained by using 'qemu-img' as below: + :: + + # qemu-img info /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 + + NOTE: With latest qemu, an entire backing chain can be recursively + enumerated by doing: + :: + + # qemu-img info --backing-chain /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 + + + +Snapshot Terminology: +--------------------- + + - **Internal Snapshots** -- A single qcow2 image file holds both the saved state + & the delta since that saved point. This can be further classified as :- + + (1) **Internal disk snapshot**: The state of the virtual disk at a given + point in time. Both the snapshot & delta since the snapshot are + stored in the same qcow2 file. Can be taken when the guest is 'live' + or 'offline'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'qemu-img' command when the guest is 'offline'. + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'savevm' command when the guest is 'live'. + + (2) **Internal system checkpoint**: RAM state, device state & the + disk-state of a running guest, are all stored in the same originial + qcow2 file. Can be taken when the guest is running 'live'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'savevm' command when the guest is 'live' + + + - **External Snapshots** -- Here, when a snapshot is taken, the saved state will + be stored in one file(from that point, it becomes a read-only backing + file) & a new file(overlay) will track the deltas from that saved state. + This can be further classified as :- + + (1) **External disk snapshot**: The snapshot of the disk is saved in one + file, and the delta since the snapshot is tracked in a new qcow2 + file. Can be taken when the guest is 'live' or 'offline'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'transaction' cmd under the hood, when the + guest is 'live'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'qemu-img' cmd under the hood when the + guest is 'offline'(this implementation is in progress, as of + writing this). + + (2) **External system checkpoint**: Here, the guest's disk-state will be + saved in one file, its RAM & device-state will be saved in another + new file (This implementation is in progress upstream libvirt, as of + writing this). + + + + - **VM State**: Saves the RAM & device state of a running guest(not 'disk-state') to + a file, so that it can be restored later. This simliar to doing hibernate + of the system. (NOTE: The disk-state should be unmodified at the time of + restoration.) + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'migrate' (to file) cmd under the hood. + + + +Creating snapshots +================== + - Whenever an 'external' snapshot is issued, a /new/ overlay image is + created to facilitate guest writes, and the previous image becomes a + snapshot. + + - **Create a disk-only internal snapshot** + + (1) If I have a guest named 'f17vm1', to create an offline or online + 'internal' snapshot called 'snap1' with description 'snap1-desc' :: + + # virsh snapshot-create-as f17vm1 snap1 snap1-desc + + (2) List the snapshot ; and query using *qemu-img* tool to view + the image info & its internal snapshot details :: + + # virsh snapshot-list f17vm1 + # qemu-img info /home/kashyap/vmimages/f17vm1.qcow2 + + + + - **Create a disk-only external snapshot** : + + (1) List the block device associated with the guest. :: + + # virsh domblklist f17-base + Target Source + --------------------------------------------- + vda /export/vmimages/f17-base.qcow2 + + # + + (2) Create external disk-only snapshot (while the guest is *running*). :: + + # virsh snapshot-create-as --domain f17-base snap1 snap1-desc \ + --disk-only --diskspec vda,snapshot=external,file=/export/vmimages/sn1-of-f17-base.qcow2 \ + --atomic + Domain snapshot snap1 created + # + + * Once the above command is issued, the original disk-image + of f17-base will become the backing_file & a new overlay + image is created to track the new changes. Here on, libvirt + will use this overlay for further write operations(while + using the original image as a read-only backing_file). + + (3) Now, list the block device associated(use cmd from step-1, above) + with the guest,again, to ensure it reflects the new overlay image as + the current block device in use. :: + + # virsh domblklist f17-base + Target Source + ---------------------------------------------------- + vda /export/vmimages/sn1-of-f17-base.qcow2 + + # + + + + +Reverting to snapshots +====================== +As of writing this, reverting to 'Internal Snapshots'(system checkpoint or +disk-only) is possible. + + To revert to a snapshot named 'snap1' of domain f17vm1 :: + + # virsh snapshot-revert --domain f17vm1 snap1 + +Reverting to 'external disk snapshots' using *snapshot-revert* is a little more +tricky, as it involves slightly complicated process of dealing with additional +snapshot files - whether to merge 'base' images into 'top' or to merge other way +round ('top' into 'base'). + +That said, there are a couple of ways to deal with external snapshot files by +merging them to reduce the external snapshot disk image chain by performing +either a **blockpull** or **blockcommit** (more on this below). + +Further improvements on this front is in work upstream libvirt as of writing +this. + + + +Merging snapshot files +====================== +External snapshots are incredibly useful. But, with plenty of external snapshot +files, there comes a problem of maintaining and tracking all these inidivdual +files. At a later point in time, we might want to 'merge' some of these snapshot +files (either backing_files into overlays or vice-versa) to reduce the length of +the image chain. To accomplish that, there are two mechanisms: + + + blockcommit: merges data from **top** into **base** (in other + words, merge overlays into backing files). + + + + blockpull: Populates a disk image with data from its backing file. Or + merges data from **base** into **top** (in other words, merge backing files + into overlays). + + +blockcommit +----------- + +Block Commit allows you to merge from a 'top' image(within a disk backing file +chain) into a lower-level 'base' image. To rephrase, it allows you to +merge overlays into backing files. Once the **blockcommit** operation is finished, +any portion that depends on the 'top' image, will now be pointing to the 'base'. + +This is useful in flattening(or collapsing or reducing) backing file chain +length after taking several external snapshots. + + +Let's understand with an illustration below: + +We have a base image called 'RootBase', which has a disk image chain with 4 +external snapshots. With 'Active' as the current active-layer, where 'live' guest +writes happen. There are a few possibilities of resulting image chains that we +can end up with, using 'blockcommit' : + + (1) Data from Snap-1, Snap-2 and Snap-3 can be merged into 'RootBase' + (resulting in RootBase becoming the backing_file of 'Active', and thus + invalidating Snap-1, Snap-2, & Snap-3). + + (2) Data from Snap-1 and Snap-2 can be merged into RootBase(resulting in + Rootbase becoming the backing_file of Snap-3, and thus invalidating + Snap-1 & Snap-2). + + (3) Data from Snap-1 can be merged into RootBase(resulting in RootBase + becoming the backing_file of Snap-2, and thus invalidating Snap-1). + + (4) Data from Snap-2 can be merged into Snap-1(resulting in Snap-1 becoming + the backing_file of Snap-3, and thus invalidating Snap-2). + + (5) Data from Snap-3 can be merged into Snap-2(resulting in Snap-2 becoming + the backing_file for 'Active', and thus invalidating Snap-3). + + (6) Data from Snap-2 and Snap-3 can be merged into Snap-1(resulting in + Snap-1 becoming the backing_file of 'Active', and thus invalidating + Snap-2 & Snap-3). + + NOTE: Eventually(not supported in qemu as of writing this), we can also + merge down the 'Active' layer(the top-most overlay) into its + backing_files. Once it is supported, the 'top' argument can become + optional, and default to active layer. + + +(The below figure illustrates case (6) from the above) + +**Figure-3** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + / | + / | + / commit data | + / | + / | + / | + v commit data | + .------------. .------------. <--------------------' .------------. + | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 |<---------------------------------| Snap-4 | + | | | | Backing File | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' + +For instance, if we have the below scenario: + + Actual: [base] <- sn1 <- sn2 <- sn3 <- sn4(this is active) + + Desired: [base] <- sn1 <- sn4 (thus invalidating sn2,sn3) + + Any of the below two methods is valid (as of 17-Oct-2012 qemu-git). With + method-a, operation will be faster & correct if we don't care about + sn2(because, it'll be invalidated). Note that, method-b is slower, but sn2 + will remain valid. (Also note that, the guest is 'live' in all these cases). + + **(method-a)**: + :: + + # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn1.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn3.qcow2 --wait --verbose + + [OR] + + **(method-b)**: + :: + + # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn2.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn3.qcow2 --wait --verbose + # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn1.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn2.qcow2 --wait --verbose + + NOTE: If we had to do manually with *qemu-img* cmd, we can only do method-b at the moment. + + +**Figure-4** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + / | | + / | | + / | | + commit data / commit data | | + / | | + / | commit data | + v | | + .------------.<----------------------|-------------' .------------. + | |<----------------------' | | + | RootBase | | Snap-4 | + | |<-------------------------------------------------| (Active) | + '------------' Backing File '------------' + + +The above figure is another representation of reducing the disk image chain +using blockcommit. Data from Snap-1, Snap-2, Snap-3 are merged(/committed) +into RootBase, & now the current 'Active' image now pointing to 'RootBase' as its +backing file(instead of Snap-3, which was the case *before* blockcommit). Note +that, now intermediate images Snap-1, Snap-1, Snap-3 will be invalidated(as they were +dependent on a particular state of RootBase). + +blockpull +--------- +Block Pull(also called 'Block Stream' in QEMU's paralance) allows you to merge +into 'base' from a 'top' image(within a disk backing file chain). To rephrase it +allows merging backing files into an overlay(active). This works in the +opposite side of 'blockcommit' to flatten the snapshot chain. At the moment, +**blockpull** can pull only into the active layer(the top-most image). It's +worth noting here that, intermediate images are not invalidated once a blockpull +operation is complete (while blockcommit, invalidates them). + + +Consider the below illustration: + +**Figure-5** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + | | \ + | | \ + | | \ + | | \ stream data + | | stream data \ + | stream data | \ + | | v + .------------. | '---------------> .------------. + | | '---------------------------------> | | + | RootBase | | Snap-4 | + | | <---------------------------------------- | (Active) | + '------------' Backing File '------------' + + + +The above figure illustrates that, using block-copy we can pull data from +Snap-1, Snap-2 and Snap-3 into the 'Active' layer, resulting in 'RootBase' +becoming the backing file for the 'Active' image (instead of 'Snap-3', which was +the case before doing the blockpull operation). + +The command flow would be: + (1) Assuming a external disk-only snapshot was created as mentioned in + *Creating Snapshots* section: + + (2) A blockpull operation can be issued this way, to achieve the desired + state of *Figure-5*-- [RootBase] <- [Active]. :: + + # virsh blockpull --domain RootBase --path var/lib/libvirt/images/active.qcow2 --base /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.qcow2 --wait --verbose + + + As a follow up, we can do the below to clean-up the snapshot *tracking* + metadata by libvirt (note: the below does not 'remove' the files, it + just cleans up the snapshot tracking metadata). :: + + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-3 --metadata + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-2 --metadata + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-1 --metadata + + + + +**Figure-6** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + | | | \ + | | | \ + | | | \ stream data + | | | stream data \ + | | | \ + | | stream data | \ + | stream data | '------------------> v + | | .--------------. + | '---------------------------------> | | + | | Snap-4 | + '----------------------------------------------------> | (Active) | + '--------------' + 'Standalone' + (w/o backing + file) + +The above figure illustrates, once blockpull operation is complete, by +pulling/streaming data from RootBase, Snap-1, Snap-2, Snap-3 into 'Active', all +the backing files can be discarded and 'Active' now will be a standalone image +without any backing files. + +Command flow would be: + (0) Assuming 4 external disk-only (live) snapshots were created as + mentioned in *Creating Snapshots* section, + + (1) Let's check the snapshot overlay images size *before* blockpull operation (note the image of 'Active'): + :: + + # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.img + 608M -rw-r--r--. 1 qemu qemu 1.0G Oct 11 17:54 /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.img + + # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/*Snap* + 840K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 896K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-1.qcow2 + 392K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 448K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-2.qcow2 + 456K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 512K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2 + 2.9M -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 3.0M Oct 11 18:10 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + + (2) Also, check the disk image information of 'Active'. It can noticed that + 'Active' has Snap-3 as its backing file. :: + + # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + file format: qcow2 + virtual size: 1.0G (1073741824 bytes) + disk size: 2.9M + cluster_size: 65536 + backing file: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2 + + (3) Do the **blockpull** operation. :: + + # virsh blockpull --domain ptest2-base --path /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 --wait --verbose + Block Pull: [100 %] + Pull complete + + (4) Let's again check the snapshot overlay images size *after* + blockpull operation. It can be noticed, 'Active' is now considerably larger. :: + + # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/*Snap* + 840K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 896K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-1.qcow2 + 392K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 448K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-2.qcow2 + 456K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 512K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2 + 1011M -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 3.0M Oct 11 18:29 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + + + (5) Also, check the disk image information of 'Active'. It can now be + noticed that 'Active' is a standalone image without any backing file - + which is the desired state of *Figure-6*.:: + + # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + file format: qcow2 + virtual size: 1.0G (1073741824 bytes) + disk size: 1.0G + cluster_size: 65536 + + (6) We can now clean-up the snapshot tracking metadata by libvirt to + reflect the new reality :: + + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-3 --metadata + + (7) Optionally, one can check, the guest disk contents by invoking + *guestfish* tool(part of *libguestfs*) **READ-ONLY** (*--ro* option + below does it) as below :: + + # guestfish --ro -i -a /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + + +Deleting snapshots (and 'offline commit') +========================================= + +Deleting (live/offline) *Internal Snapshots* (where the originial & all the named snapshots +are stored in a single QCOW2 file), is quite straight forward. :: + + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain f17vm --snapshotname snap6 + + [OR] + + # virsh snapshot-delete f17vm snap6 + +Deleting External snapshots (offline), Libvirt has not acquired the capability. +But, it can be done via *qemu-img* manipulation. + +Say, we have this image chain(the guest is *offline* here): **base <- sn1 <- sn2 <- sn3** +(arrow to be read as 'sn3 has sn2 as its backing file'). + + +And, we want to delete the second snapshot(sn2). It's possible to do it in two +ways: + + + - **Method (1)**: **base <- sn1 <- sn3** (by copying sn2 into sn1) + - **Method (2)**: **base <- sn1 <- sn3** (by copying sn2 into sn3) + +Method (1) +---------- +To end up with this image chain : **base <- sn1 <- sn3** (by copying *sn2* into *sn1*) + +**NOTE**: This is only possible *if* sn1 isn't used by more images as their backing +file, or they'd get corrupted!! + + (a) We're doing an *offline commit* (similar to what *blockcommit* can do + to an *online* guest). :: + + # qemu-img commit sn2.qcow2 + + - This will *commit* the changes from sn2 into its backing file(which is + sn1). + + (b) Now that we've comitted changes from sn2 into sn1, let's change the + backing file link in sn3 to point to sn1. :: + + # qemu-img rebase -u -b sn1.qcow2 sn3.qcow2 + + - **NOTE**: This is 'Unsafe mode' -- in this mode, only the backing file + name is changed w/o any checks on the file contents. The user must + take care of specifying the correct new backing file, or the + guest-visible. This mode is useful for renaming or moving the + backing file to somewhere else. It can be used without an + accessible old backing file, i.e. you can use it to fix an image + whose backing file has already been moved/renamed. + + + (c) Now, we can delete the sn2 disk image(as the changes are now committed + to sn1). :: + + # rm sn2.qcow2 + + +Method (2) +---------- +To end up with this image chain : **base <- sn1 <- sn3** (by copying *sn2* into *sn3*) + + (a) Copy contents of sn2(the old backing file) into sn3, and change the backing file link of sn3 to sn1:: + + # qemu-img rebase -b sn1.qcow2 sn3.qcow2 + + - Apart from changing backing file link of sn3 to sn1, the above cmd + will it also /copy/ the contents from sn2 into sn3). + + - In other words: This is 'Safe mode', which is the default -- + any clusters that differ between the new backing_file(in this + case, sn1) and the old backing file(in this case, sn2) of + filename(in this case, sn3) are merged into filename(sn3), before + actually changing the backing file. + + (b) Now, we can delete the sn2 disk image(as the changes are now committed to + sn1). :: + + # rm sn2.qcow2 +

On 01/23/2013 01:55 AM, Kashyap Chamarthy wrote: > Eric, > > I wonder if you still have some time to take a look at this. Thanks for the reminder. And sorry that I lost your original email when my disk crashed last November; this ping makes it easier for me to dig up your message than hunting for it in list archives. > > Thanks. > > On 10/23/2012 03:28 PM, Kashyap Chamarthy wrote: >> More elaborate notes on snapshots, blockpull, blockcommit. Much of this >> is derived from various dicussions with Eric Blake, Jeff Cody, Kevin Wolf >> (thanks a lot!) & several others on IRC and mailing lists and a lot of adhoc >> testing. I didn't wanted this to get lost. >> >> I also plan to add notes for 'blockcopy' once I complete testing with upstream >> libvirt/qemu git. >> >> NOTE: This document is formatted using reStructuredText. And can be trivially >> converted to HTML using: >> # rst2html snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst > snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.html Since we already use html.in in the rest of our documentation, I will probably just do the conversion and then make the canonical copy be html after that point. >> >> ('rst2html' is part of python-docutils package.) >> >> I didn't send an html PATCH directly, as I thought, this'd be more readable. It may be more readable in isolation, but using rst in the libvirt.git would add one more prereq tool to the chain. But don't worry too much about that point. >> >> Any comments, criticisms more than welcome. >> >> >> --- >> docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst | 646 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >> 1 files changed, 646 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) >> create mode 100644 docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst >> >> diff --git a/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst >> new file mode 100644 >> index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..99c30223a004ee5291e2914b788ac7fe04eee3c8 >> --- /dev/null >> +++ b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst >> @@ -0,0 +1,646 @@ >> +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> + Note: All these tests were performed with latest qemu-git,libvirt-git (as of >> + 20-Oct-2012 on a Fedora-18 alpha machine >> +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hmm - I guess it makes sense to call out which versions were tested; but probably makes more sense to call out names like libvirt 1.0.2 and qemu 1.4 than it does to call out testing dates (as then the reader has to research what qemu version was available on that date). Also, now that a few months have elapsed since your first post, and Peter and I did some work on snapshots in the meantime, there may be some tweaks to make to this. >> + >> + >> +Introduction >> +============ >> + >> +A virtual machine snapshot is a view of a virtual machine(its OS & all its s/machine(its/machine (its/ In general, you should always have space before ( in English prose. >> +applications) at a given point in time. So that, one can revert to a known sane >> +state, or take backups while the guest is running live. So, before we dive into >> +snapshots, let's have an understanding of backing files and overlays. >> + >> + >> + >> +QCOW2 backing files & overlays >> +------------------------------ >> + >> +In essence, QCOW2(Qemu Copy-On-Write) gives you an ability to create a base-image, >> +and create several 'disposable' copy-on-write overlay disk images on top of the >> +base image(also called backing file). Backing files and overlays are >> +extremely useful to rapidly instantiate thin-privisoned virtual machines(more on s/privisoned/provisioned/ >> +it below). Especially quite useful in development & test environments, so that >> +one could quickly revert to a known state & discard the overlay. >> + >> +**Figure-1** >> + >> +:: >> + >> + .--------------. .-------------. .-------------. .-------------. >> + | | | | | | | | >> + | RootBase |<---| Overlay-1 |<---| Overlay-1A <--- | Overlay-1B | >> + | (raw/qcow2) | | (qcow2) | | (qcow2) | | (qcow2) | >> + '--------------' '-------------' '-------------' '-------------' >> + >> +The above figure illustrates - RootBase is the backing file for Overlay-1, which >> +in turn is backing file for Overlay-2, which in turn is backing file for >> +Overlay-3. Probably worth figuring out how to create a png for this picture; I'm not a guru on docs, or how we have done it on other pages, so an initial text-only version is a good start if someone else can help out. >> + >> +**Figure-2** >> +:: >> + >> + .-----------. .-----------. .------------. .------------. .------------. >> + | | | | | | | | | | >> + | RootBase |<--- Overlay-1 |<--- Overlay-1A <--- Overlay-1B <--- Overlay-1C | >> + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | >> + '-----------' '-----------' '------------' '------------' '------------' >> + ^ ^ >> + | | >> + | | .-----------. .------------. >> + | | | | | | >> + | '-------| Overlay-2 |<---| Overlay-2A | >> + | | | | (Active) | >> + | '-----------' '------------' >> + | >> + | >> + | .-----------. .------------. >> + | | | | | >> + '------------| Overlay-3 |<---| Overlay-3A | >> + | | | (Active) | >> + '-----------' '------------' >> + >> +The above figure is just another representation which indicates, we can use a >> +'single' backing file, and create several overlays -- which can be used further, >> +to create overlays on top of them. >> + >> + >> +**NOTE**: Backing files are always opened **read-only**. In other words, once >> + an overlay is created, its backing file should not be modified(as the >> + overlay depends on a particular state of the backing file). Refer >> + below ('blockcommit' section) for relevant info on this. >> + >> + >> +**Example** : >> + >> +:: >> + >> + [FedoraBase.img] ----- <- [Fedora-guest-1.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A] >> + \ >> + \--- <- [Fedora-guest-2.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-2A] >> + >> +(Arrow to be read as Fed-w-updates.qcow2 has Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 as its backing file.) >> + >> +In the above example, say, *FedoraBase.img* has a freshly installed Fedora-17 OS on it, >> +and let's establish it as our backing file. Now, FedoraBase can be used as a >> +read-only 'template' to quickly instantiate two(or more) thinly provisioned >> +Fedora-17 guests(say Fedora-guest-1.qcow2, Fedora-guest-2.qcow2) by creating >> +QCOW2 overlay files pointing to our backing file. Also, the example & *Figure-2* >> +above illustrate that a single root-base image(FedoraBase.img) can be used >> +to create multiple overlays -- which can subsequently have their own overlays. >> + >> + >> + To create two thinly-provisioned Fedora clones(or overlays) using a single >> + backing file, we can invoke qemu-img as below: :: >> + >> + >> + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \ >> + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 >> + >> + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \ >> + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-2.qcow2 >> + >> + Now, both the above images *Fedora-guest-1* & *Fedora-guest-2* are ready to >> + boot. Continuting with our example, say, now you want to instantiate a s/Continuting/Continuing/ >> + Fedora-17 guest, but this time, with full Fedora updates. This can be >> + accomplished by creating another overlay(Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A) - but >> + this overly would point to 'Fed-w-updates.qcow2' as its backing file (which >> + has the full Fedora updates) :: >> + >> + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/Fed-w-updates.qcow2 -f qcow2 \ >> + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 >> + >> + >> + Information about a disk image, like virtual size, disk size, backing file(if it >> + exists) can be obtained by using 'qemu-img' as below: >> + :: >> + >> + # qemu-img info /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 While qemu-img info can indeed be used to inspect an image, it would be much nicer to use _only_ libvirt API to describe the setup. Anywhere we have to resort to qemu-img points to a hole in our implementation (not your fault, though). On the other hand, for people familiar with qemu-img, documenting _both_ the libvirt and qemu-img counterparts may help them come up to speed with what is going on (that is, I don't mind mentioning a libvirt usage first, then as a footnote mentioning that it maps to a certain qemu-img operation). Overall, the goal is that other hypervisors can fit into the same framework, even if they don't use qemu-img. >> + >> + NOTE: With latest qemu, an entire backing chain can be recursively >> + enumerated by doing: >> + :: >> + >> + # qemu-img info --backing-chain /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 >> + >> + >> + >> +Snapshot Terminology: >> +--------------------- Shoot, I ran out of review time today. I'll resume next week.

--- docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst | 646 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 files changed, 646 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 100644 docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst diff --git a/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..99c30223a004ee5291e2914b788ac7fe04eee3c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst @@ -0,0 +1,646 @@ +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + Note: All these tests were performed with latest qemu-git,libvirt-git (as of + 20-Oct-2012 on a Fedora-18 alpha machine +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +Introduction +============ + +A virtual machine snapshot is a view of a virtual machine(its OS & all its +applications) at a given point in time. So that, one can revert to a known sane +state, or take backups while the guest is running live. So, before we dive into +snapshots, let's have an understanding of backing files and overlays. + + + +QCOW2 backing files & overlays +------------------------------ + +In essence, QCOW2(Qemu Copy-On-Write) gives you an ability to create a base-image, +and create several 'disposable' copy-on-write overlay disk images on top of the +base image(also called backing file). Backing files and overlays are +extremely useful to rapidly instantiate thin-privisoned virtual machines(more on

+it below). Especially quite useful in development & test environments, so that +one could quickly revert to a known state & discard the overlay. + +**Figure-1** + +:: + + .--------------. .-------------. .-------------. .-------------. + | | | | | | | | + | RootBase |<---| Overlay-1 |<---| Overlay-1A <--- | Overlay-1B | + | (raw/qcow2) | | (qcow2) | | (qcow2) | | (qcow2) | + '--------------' '-------------' '-------------' '-------------' + +The above figure illustrates - RootBase is the backing file for Overlay-1, which +in turn is backing file for Overlay-2, which in turn is backing file for +Overlay-3.

+ +**Figure-2** +:: + + .-----------. .-----------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase |<--- Overlay-1 |<--- Overlay-1A <--- Overlay-1B <--- Overlay-1C | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '-----------' '-----------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + ^ ^ + | | + | | .-----------. .------------. + | | | | | | + | '-------| Overlay-2 |<---| Overlay-2A | + | | | | (Active) | + | '-----------' '------------' + | + | + | .-----------. .------------. + | | | | | + '------------| Overlay-3 |<---| Overlay-3A | + | | | (Active) | + '-----------' '------------' + +The above figure is just another representation which indicates, we can use a +'single' backing file, and create several overlays -- which can be used further, +to create overlays on top of them. + + +**NOTE**: Backing files are always opened **read-only**. In other words, once + an overlay is created, its backing file should not be modified(as the + overlay depends on a particular state of the backing file). Refer + below ('blockcommit' section) for relevant info on this. + + +**Example** : + +:: + + [FedoraBase.img] ----- <- [Fedora-guest-1.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A] + \ + \--- <- [Fedora-guest-2.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-2A] + +(Arrow to be read as Fed-w-updates.qcow2 has Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 as its backing file.) + +In the above example, say, *FedoraBase.img* has a freshly installed Fedora-17 OS on it, +and let's establish it as our backing file. Now, FedoraBase can be used as a +read-only 'template' to quickly instantiate two(or more) thinly provisioned +Fedora-17 guests(say Fedora-guest-1.qcow2, Fedora-guest-2.qcow2) by creating +QCOW2 overlay files pointing to our backing file. Also, the example & *Figure-2* +above illustrate that a single root-base image(FedoraBase.img) can be used +to create multiple overlays -- which can subsequently have their own overlays. + + + To create two thinly-provisioned Fedora clones(or overlays) using a single + backing file, we can invoke qemu-img as below: :: + + + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \ + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 + + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \ + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-2.qcow2 + + Now, both the above images *Fedora-guest-1* & *Fedora-guest-2* are ready to + boot. Continuting with our example, say, now you want to instantiate a

+ Fedora-17 guest, but this time, with full Fedora updates. This can be + accomplished by creating another overlay(Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A) - but + this overly would point to 'Fed-w-updates.qcow2' as its backing file (which

+ has the full Fedora updates) :: + + # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/Fed-w-updates.qcow2 -f qcow2 \ + /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 + + + Information about a disk image, like virtual size, disk size, backing file(if it + exists) can be obtained by using 'qemu-img' as below: + :: + + # qemu-img info /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 + + NOTE: With latest qemu, an entire backing chain can be recursively + enumerated by doing: + :: + + # qemu-img info --backing-chain /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2 + + + +Snapshot Terminology: +--------------------- + + - **Internal Snapshots** -- A single qcow2 image file holds both the saved state + & the delta since that saved point. This can be further classified as :- + + (1) **Internal disk snapshot**: The state of the virtual disk at a given + point in time. Both the snapshot & delta since the snapshot are + stored in the same qcow2 file. Can be taken when the guest is 'live' + or 'offline'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'qemu-img' command when the guest is 'offline'. + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'savevm' command when the guest is 'live'. + + (2) **Internal system checkpoint**: RAM state, device state & the + disk-state of a running guest, are all stored in the same originial + qcow2 file. Can be taken when the guest is running 'live'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'savevm' command when the guest is 'live' + + + - **External Snapshots** -- Here, when a snapshot is taken, the saved state will + be stored in one file(from that point, it becomes a read-only backing + file) & a new file(overlay) will track the deltas from that saved state. + This can be further classified as :- + + (1) **External disk snapshot**: The snapshot of the disk is saved in one + file, and the delta since the snapshot is tracked in a new qcow2 + file. Can be taken when the guest is 'live' or 'offline'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'transaction' cmd under the hood, when the + guest is 'live'. + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'qemu-img' cmd under the hood when the + guest is 'offline'(this implementation is in progress, as of + writing this). + + (2) **External system checkpoint**: Here, the guest's disk-state will be + saved in one file, its RAM & device-state will be saved in another + new file (This implementation is in progress upstream libvirt, as of + writing this). + + + + - **VM State**: Saves the RAM & device state of a running guest(not 'disk-state') to + a file, so that it can be restored later. This simliar to doing hibernate

+ of the system. (NOTE: The disk-state should be unmodified at the time of + restoration.) + + - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'migrate' (to file) cmd under the hood. + + + +Creating snapshots +================== + - Whenever an 'external' snapshot is issued, a /new/ overlay image is + created to facilitate guest writes, and the previous image becomes a + snapshot. + + - **Create a disk-only internal snapshot** + + (1) If I have a guest named 'f17vm1', to create an offline or online + 'internal' snapshot called 'snap1' with description 'snap1-desc' :: + + # virsh snapshot-create-as f17vm1 snap1 snap1-desc + + (2) List the snapshot ; and query using *qemu-img* tool to view + the image info & its internal snapshot details :: + + # virsh snapshot-list f17vm1 + # qemu-img info /home/kashyap/vmimages/f17vm1.qcow2 + + + + - **Create a disk-only external snapshot** : + + (1) List the block device associated with the guest. :: + + # virsh domblklist f17-base + Target Source + --------------------------------------------- + vda /export/vmimages/f17-base.qcow2 + + # + + (2) Create external disk-only snapshot (while the guest is *running*). :: + + # virsh snapshot-create-as --domain f17-base snap1 snap1-desc \ + --disk-only --diskspec vda,snapshot=external,file=/export/vmimages/sn1-of-f17-base.qcow2 \ + --atomic + Domain snapshot snap1 created + # + + * Once the above command is issued, the original disk-image + of f17-base will become the backing_file & a new overlay + image is created to track the new changes. Here on, libvirt + will use this overlay for further write operations(while + using the original image as a read-only backing_file). + + (3) Now, list the block device associated(use cmd from step-1, above) + with the guest,again, to ensure it reflects the new overlay image as + the current block device in use. :: + + # virsh domblklist f17-base + Target Source + ---------------------------------------------------- + vda /export/vmimages/sn1-of-f17-base.qcow2 + + # + + + + +Reverting to snapshots +====================== +As of writing this, reverting to 'Internal Snapshots'(system checkpoint or +disk-only) is possible. + + To revert to a snapshot named 'snap1' of domain f17vm1 :: + + # virsh snapshot-revert --domain f17vm1 snap1 + +Reverting to 'external disk snapshots' using *snapshot-revert* is a little more +tricky, as it involves slightly complicated process of dealing with additional +snapshot files - whether to merge 'base' images into 'top' or to merge other way +round ('top' into 'base'). + +That said, there are a couple of ways to deal with external snapshot files by +merging them to reduce the external snapshot disk image chain by performing +either a **blockpull** or **blockcommit** (more on this below). + +Further improvements on this front is in work upstream libvirt as of writing +this. + + + +Merging snapshot files +====================== +External snapshots are incredibly useful. But, with plenty of external snapshot +files, there comes a problem of maintaining and tracking all these inidivdual

+files. At a later point in time, we might want to 'merge' some of these snapshot +files (either backing_files into overlays or vice-versa) to reduce the length of +the image chain. To accomplish that, there are two mechanisms: + + + blockcommit: merges data from **top** into **base** (in other + words, merge overlays into backing files). + + + + blockpull: Populates a disk image with data from its backing file. Or + merges data from **base** into **top** (in other words, merge backing files + into overlays).

+ + +blockcommit +----------- + +Block Commit allows you to merge from a 'top' image(within a disk backing file +chain) into a lower-level 'base' image. To rephrase, it allows you to +merge overlays into backing files. Once the **blockcommit** operation is finished, +any portion that depends on the 'top' image, will now be pointing to the 'base'. + +This is useful in flattening(or collapsing or reducing) backing file chain +length after taking several external snapshots. + + +Let's understand with an illustration below: + +We have a base image called 'RootBase', which has a disk image chain with 4 +external snapshots. With 'Active' as the current active-layer, where 'live' guest +writes happen. There are a few possibilities of resulting image chains that we +can end up with, using 'blockcommit' : + + (1) Data from Snap-1, Snap-2 and Snap-3 can be merged into 'RootBase' + (resulting in RootBase becoming the backing_file of 'Active', and thus + invalidating Snap-1, Snap-2, & Snap-3). + + (2) Data from Snap-1 and Snap-2 can be merged into RootBase(resulting in + Rootbase becoming the backing_file of Snap-3, and thus invalidating + Snap-1 & Snap-2). + + (3) Data from Snap-1 can be merged into RootBase(resulting in RootBase + becoming the backing_file of Snap-2, and thus invalidating Snap-1). + + (4) Data from Snap-2 can be merged into Snap-1(resulting in Snap-1 becoming + the backing_file of Snap-3, and thus invalidating Snap-2). + + (5) Data from Snap-3 can be merged into Snap-2(resulting in Snap-2 becoming + the backing_file for 'Active', and thus invalidating Snap-3). + + (6) Data from Snap-2 and Snap-3 can be merged into Snap-1(resulting in + Snap-1 becoming the backing_file of 'Active', and thus invalidating + Snap-2 & Snap-3). + + NOTE: Eventually(not supported in qemu as of writing this), we can also + merge down the 'Active' layer(the top-most overlay) into its + backing_files. Once it is supported, the 'top' argument can become

+ optional, and default to active layer. + + +(The below figure illustrates case (6) from the above) + +**Figure-3** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + / | + / | + / commit data | + / | + / | + / | + v commit data | + .------------. .------------. <--------------------' .------------. + | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 |<---------------------------------| Snap-4 | + | | | | Backing File | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' + +For instance, if we have the below scenario: + + Actual: [base] <- sn1 <- sn2 <- sn3 <- sn4(this is active) + + Desired: [base] <- sn1 <- sn4 (thus invalidating sn2,sn3) + + Any of the below two methods is valid (as of 17-Oct-2012 qemu-git). With + method-a, operation will be faster & correct if we don't care about + sn2(because, it'll be invalidated). Note that, method-b is slower, but sn2 + will remain valid. (Also note that, the guest is 'live' in all these cases). + + **(method-a)**: + :: + + # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn1.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn3.qcow2 --wait --verbose + + [OR] + + **(method-b)**: + :: + + # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn2.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn3.qcow2 --wait --verbose + # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn1.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn2.qcow2 --wait --verbose + + NOTE: If we had to do manually with *qemu-img* cmd, we can only do method-b at the moment. + + +**Figure-4** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + / | | + / | | + / | | + commit data / commit data | | + / | | + / | commit data | + v | | + .------------.<----------------------|-------------' .------------. + | |<----------------------' | | + | RootBase | | Snap-4 | + | |<-------------------------------------------------| (Active) | + '------------' Backing File '------------' + + +The above figure is another representation of reducing the disk image chain +using blockcommit. Data from Snap-1, Snap-2, Snap-3 are merged(/committed) +into RootBase, & now the current 'Active' image now pointing to 'RootBase' as its +backing file(instead of Snap-3, which was the case *before* blockcommit). Note +that, now intermediate images Snap-1, Snap-1, Snap-3 will be invalidated(as they were +dependent on a particular state of RootBase). + +blockpull +--------- +Block Pull(also called 'Block Stream' in QEMU's paralance) allows you to merge

+into 'base' from a 'top' image(within a disk backing file chain). To rephrase it +allows merging backing files into an overlay(active). This works in the +opposite side of 'blockcommit' to flatten the snapshot chain. At the moment, +**blockpull** can pull only into the active layer(the top-most image). It's +worth noting here that, intermediate images are not invalidated once a blockpull +operation is complete (while blockcommit, invalidates them).

+ + +Consider the below illustration: + +**Figure-5** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + | | \ + | | \ + | | \ + | | \ stream data + | | stream data \ + | stream data | \ + | | v + .------------. | '---------------> .------------. + | | '---------------------------------> | | + | RootBase | | Snap-4 | + | | <---------------------------------------- | (Active) | + '------------' Backing File '------------' + + + +The above figure illustrates that, using block-copy we can pull data from +Snap-1, Snap-2 and Snap-3 into the 'Active' layer, resulting in 'RootBase' +becoming the backing file for the 'Active' image (instead of 'Snap-3', which was +the case before doing the blockpull operation). + +The command flow would be: + (1) Assuming a external disk-only snapshot was created as mentioned in + *Creating Snapshots* section: + + (2) A blockpull operation can be issued this way, to achieve the desired + state of *Figure-5*-- [RootBase] <- [Active]. :: + + # virsh blockpull --domain RootBase --path var/lib/libvirt/images/active.qcow2 --base /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.qcow2 --wait --verbose + + + As a follow up, we can do the below to clean-up the snapshot *tracking* + metadata by libvirt (note: the below does not 'remove' the files, it + just cleans up the snapshot tracking metadata). :: + + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-3 --metadata + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-2 --metadata + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-1 --metadata + + + + +**Figure-6** +:: + + .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. .------------. + | | | | | | | | | | + | RootBase <--- Snap-1 <--- Snap-2 <--- Snap-3 <--- Snap-4 | + | | | | | | | | | (Active) | + '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' '------------' + | | | \ + | | | \ + | | | \ stream data + | | | stream data \ + | | | \ + | | stream data | \ + | stream data | '------------------> v + | | .--------------. + | '---------------------------------> | | + | | Snap-4 | + '----------------------------------------------------> | (Active) | + '--------------' + 'Standalone' + (w/o backing + file) + +The above figure illustrates, once blockpull operation is complete, by +pulling/streaming data from RootBase, Snap-1, Snap-2, Snap-3 into 'Active', all +the backing files can be discarded and 'Active' now will be a standalone image +without any backing files. + +Command flow would be: + (0) Assuming 4 external disk-only (live) snapshots were created as + mentioned in *Creating Snapshots* section, + + (1) Let's check the snapshot overlay images size *before* blockpull operation (note the image of 'Active'): + :: + + # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.img + 608M -rw-r--r--. 1 qemu qemu 1.0G Oct 11 17:54 /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.img + + # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/*Snap* + 840K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 896K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-1.qcow2 + 392K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 448K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-2.qcow2 + 456K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 512K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2 + 2.9M -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 3.0M Oct 11 18:10 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + + (2) Also, check the disk image information of 'Active'. It can noticed that + 'Active' has Snap-3 as its backing file. :: + + # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + file format: qcow2 + virtual size: 1.0G (1073741824 bytes) + disk size: 2.9M + cluster_size: 65536 + backing file: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2 + + (3) Do the **blockpull** operation. :: + + # virsh blockpull --domain ptest2-base --path /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 --wait --verbose + Block Pull: [100 %] + Pull complete + + (4) Let's again check the snapshot overlay images size *after* + blockpull operation. It can be noticed, 'Active' is now considerably larger. :: + + # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/*Snap* + 840K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 896K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-1.qcow2 + 392K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 448K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-2.qcow2 + 456K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 512K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2 + 1011M -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 3.0M Oct 11 18:29 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + + + (5) Also, check the disk image information of 'Active'. It can now be + noticed that 'Active' is a standalone image without any backing file - + which is the desired state of *Figure-6*.:: + + # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + file format: qcow2 + virtual size: 1.0G (1073741824 bytes) + disk size: 1.0G + cluster_size: 65536 + + (6) We can now clean-up the snapshot tracking metadata by libvirt to + reflect the new reality :: + + # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-3 --metadata + + (7) Optionally, one can check, the guest disk contents by invoking + *guestfish* tool(part of *libguestfs*) **READ-ONLY** (*--ro* option + below does it) as below :: + + # guestfish --ro -i -a /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 + + +Deleting snapshots (and 'offline commit') +========================================= + +Deleting (live/offline) *Internal Snapshots* (where the originial & all the named snapshots