Hi ,

Working on the simple POC : Advanced snapshot using libvirt and qemu . Following are the exact steps which are followed . 

1. Created as base VM - Ubuntu 15.10 with following libvirt and qemu versions
   Using library: libvirt 1.2.16
   Using API: QEMU 1.2.16
   Running hypervisor: QEMU 2.3.0

   QEMU emulator version 2.3.0 (Debian 1:2.3+dfsg-5ubuntu9.1), Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Fabrice 
   Bellard

2.Created nested VM (vm-01) using VirtManager on base VM.
3.Used following commands to take the multiple snapshots - 

virsh # list
 Id    Name                           State
----------------------------------------------------
 7     vm-01                          running

virsh # domblklist vm-01
Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
vda        /home/ubuntu/vm-01.img
hda        /dev/sr0

snapshot-create-as --domain vm-01 snap1 --diskspec vda,file=/var/lib/libvirt/sn1.qcow2 --disk-only --atomic
snapshot-create-as --domain vm-01 snap2 --diskspec vda,file=/var/lib/libvirt/sn2.qcow2 --disk-only --atomic

virsh #snapshot-list vm-01

------------------------------------------------------------
 snap1                2015-12-07 11:51:51 -0800 disk-snapshot
 snap2                2015-12-07 11:52:28 -0800 disk-snapshot

virsh # snapshot-list vm-01 --tree
snap1
  |
  +- snap2

List the current block device in use, again. It can be noticed, the new overlay 'sn2.qcow2' is the current disk in use:

virsh # domblklist vm-01

Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
vda        /var/lib/libvirt/sn2.qcow2
hda        /dev/sr0

Now that the backup is finished, perform active blockcommit by live mergning contents of sn2 into base:

ubuntu@keyurubuntu:~$ virsh blockcommit vm-01 vda --active --verbose --pivot
error: internal error: unable to execute QEMU command 'block-commit': Could not reopen file: Permission denied

I am not sure why this is getting as permission denied. I have tried couple of times reinstalling and creating new VMs . Every time when i have tried to block-commit getting landed into  same error. 

Is there any troubleshooting or solution to this issue. Stuck on this issue for last 2 days.
Quick help much appreciated. 

Thanks, 
Keyur Bhalerao

Reference used - http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Live-disk-backup-with-active-blockcommit
                        - http://kashyapc.com/2012/09/14/externaland-live-snapshots-with-libvirt/