Re: [Xen-devel] ragarding xen in sles10

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi there,

If you google around a bit you may find some backup scripts that people have 
hacked up...  I can't think of a specific project you'd go to off the top of 
my head.

> I am new to xen . I need to develop one project that will back up
> virtual machine from host. Is there any "script which will support this"
> in host. Or any script which is used to list files of virtual machines
> in the host..........please help me in this regards

You could parse the config file to figure out what disk files are used by the 
VM.  Or you could use the xenstore-* (e.g. xenstore-ls) commands to read 
details from Xenstore regarding what the paths of the virtual disks are.

Or, more simply, you could just adopt a naming strategy for your domain's 
virtual disks based on their config file name / hostname.  And then just code 
your backup scripts to understand that (e.g. domain with "hostname" has 
config file /etc/xen/hostname and disk /vm-disks/hostname.disk).  It'll be 
site-specific but if it works for you, that's what counts.

Personally, I just rsync backup the contents of /mnt/vm/, which contains all 
my VM's virtual disks (having shut the VMs down first).  I also 
rsync /etc/xen/ to my backup device.  This doesn't record which disk belongs 
to which VM but it does make it easy to restore the whole lot at once (just 
rsync them back).  If I ever need to restore a particular VM I can do it 
manually without to much hassle.

Actually, I've been working on a much more advanced backup script for backing 
up VMs in a home / smaller deployment environment.  I'm waiting on word from 
my employers regarding whether I can release this publically.  For anyone 
interested, there's some details at 
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~maw48/vm-backup-pictures/ - but don't hold your 
breath for it to be released because it could take a long while to get 
permission, if it's allowed at all.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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