[CentOS] Best way to backup virtual machines fromCitrix XenServer.

Tue Feb 9 10:54:49 UTC 2010
Geoff Galitz <geoff at galitz.org>


If the goal is to backup the VMs rather than the Citrix XenServer Dom0, I
find that exporting each VM to a shared disk (NFS, iSCSI, whatever) is the
easiest solution.  If you need zero-downtime, then make a snapshot of the VM
and then export it.

I did this specifically for the purpose of disaster recovery.  Recovering
individual files or datasets from within a VM is also possible but is
slightly more of a hassle.   

I have some scripts that do this that I'm willing to share.

BTW... Centos and Citrix XenServer are different enough that these kinds of
questions should probably be asked on the XenSource mailing list or the
Citrix forums.  You can get potentially misleading advice otherwise.

-geoff



---------------------------------
Geoff Galitz
Blankenheim NRW, Germany
http://www.galitz.org/
http://german-way.com/blog/