Kai Schaetzl wrote: > I'm not sure what you mean.... > I mean that I am backing up one 32GB virtual disk in one file called vm.img or vm.qcow or vm.vhd depending on the virtual disk format. The advantage is that - we don't care which operating system is inside the virtual disk file - We can use the LVM snapshot to ensure that the virtual disk file represents a moment in time, and doesn't change during the backup, so it is consistent. - There is no need to hold the database lock during the backup - only at the moment the snapshot is started. The answer to whether this technique works with Xen is answered 'Yes' on this page: http://wiki.sepsoftware.com/wiki/index.php/Online_backup_of_virtual_XEN_machines They are using their proprietary backup software instead of rsync but the technique is essentially the same. Thanks, Julian