vzdump "stop" problem if VM is running, behaves like "suspend"

[mmenaz]

Hi, I've proxmox 1.3 and I need to backup some large OpenVZ VM at Sunday's night , so I've choose to use the "stop" feature and do backup in a different HD (mounted as /backup/vm, compressed backup).
I've got out of disk space in root! I've seen that the disk was filled in /var/tmp, and investigating the log and doing some test I've found that IF the VM is running, vzdump does NOT stop them and do a "straight" backup. It instead rsyncs in /var/tmp, then stops the VM, then rsync again and then compress in destination folder.
I've added the --tmpdir option in cron.d/vzdump to temporary workaround the problem, but this way backup disappears from WebInterface so I hope will be implemented soon in it.
In any case, on my opinion, stop should do what is supposed to do, i.e. stop the vm and then back it up.
Is it a bug or am I missing something important?
The command line created by WebInterface + my integration is:
[FONT=Courier New, monospace]00 02 * * 7 root vzdump --quiet --stop --compress --dumpdir /backup/vm --tmpdir /mytmp --mailto xx@xx.com --all[/FONT]

 

[dietmar]

In any case, on my opinion, stop should do what is supposed to do, i.e. stop the vm and then back it up.
Is it a bug or am I missing something important?

We try to keep the downtime as short as possible.

- Dietmar

 

[dietmar]

Please read the manual page:

# man vzdump

You can set tmpdir in /etc/vzdump.conf

- Dietmar

 

[mmenaz]

We try to keep the downtime as short as possible.

- Dietmar

If I would care about downtime, I would have choose "suspend", not "stop". I use stop because I need *speed* and *hd space saving*.
Having "suspend" copy data in a temporary directory and then compress and store to destination is a waste of both.
Please, change vzdump in a way that it simply stops the VM, save compressed VM directly to destination, and then starts it back
(I'm short of space even in the temporary directory I've had to use).
Thanks a lot

 

[mccharlet]

[Resolved] vzdump "stop" problem if VM is running, behaves like "suspend"

Thanks,

I don't see the post

 

[mmenaz]

So persuaded you and I'm going to see it work "the right way" in the next release?
So I would:
a) have a clear differen behaviour of the two options
b) save tempoarary space
c) have a much faster backup (data don't have to be saved in temporary place and then copied/compressed to destination, they would go streight to destination)
Thank again for your attention and for Proxmox

 

[dietmar]

I do not plan to change that in the next release, because it works for most people and the code is easier this way. Feel free to send me a patch if you want another behaviour.

 

[mmenaz]

Maybe I'm missing something... What is the difference between current implementation of "stop" and "suspend"?

 

[dietmar]

Maybe I'm missing something... What is the difference between current implementation of "stop" and "suspend"?

Suspend => VM is suspended

Stop => VM is stopped

 

[ictdude]

Please read the manual page:

# man vzdump

You can set tmpdir in /etc/vzdump.conf

- Dietmar

This did not work for me. But this gives you all the options and did work fine http://deepakp82.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/backingrestoring-managing-openvz-instancesvms/

So like this example: vzdump --tmpdir /vz/newtemp --dumpdir /vz --snapshot 120

The newtemp is the directory i made in vz. So now the tempfiles will be dumped in vz/newtemp.

So parameter --tmpdir /vz/newtemp is the solution if other dont work.

Real easy... Just like to share it to all Proxmox fans

 

[mmenaz]

If you read my post, you will notice that I've already used that command line option, but was not a good solution for the reasons mentioned there.
The suggested workaround:
/etc/vzdump.conf
[FONT=Courier New, monospace]tmpdir: /mytmp[/FONT]
works fine for me, but still the problem I raised is that takes a lot of more hd space than if the VM could be completely stopped, backed up and then restarted.
So I don't understand your post, am I missing something?

 

[dietmar]

works fine for me, but still the problem I raised is that takes a lot of more hd space than if the VM could be completely stopped, backed up and then restarted.
So I don't understand your post, am I missing something?

I will try to use less space in stop mode with the next release.

- Dietmar