libvirt/docs/formatsnapshot.html.in
Eric Blake 5b30b08d66 snapshot: support extra state in snapshots
In order to distinguish disk snapshots from system checkpoints, a
new state value that is only valid for snapshots is helpful.

* include/libvirt/libvirt.h.in (VIR_DOMAIN_LAST): New placeholder.
* src/conf/domain_conf.h (virDomainSnapshotState): New enum mapping.
(VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_SNAPSHOT): New internal enum value.
* src/conf/domain_conf.c (virDomainState): Use placeholder.
(virDomainSnapshotState): Extend mapping by one for use in snapshot.
(virDomainSnapshotDefParseString, virDomainSnapshotDefFormat):
Handle new state.
(virDomainObjSetState, virDomainStateReasonToString)
(virDomainStateReasonFromString): Avoid compiler warnings.
* tools/virsh.c (vshDomainState, vshDomainStateReasonToString):
Likewise.
* src/libvirt_private.syms (domain_conf.h): Export new functions.
* docs/schemas/domainsnapshot.rng: Tighten state definition.
* docs/formatsnapshot.html.in: Document it.
* tests/domainsnapshotxml2xmlout/disk_snapshot.xml: New test.
2011-09-05 07:03:04 -06:00

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<h1>Snapshot XML format</h1>
<ul id="toc"></ul>
<h2><a name="SnapshotAttributes">Snapshot XML</a></h2>
<p>
There are several types of snapshots:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>disk snapshot</dt>
<dd>Contents of disks (whether a subset or all disks associated
with the domain) are saved at a given point of time, and can
be restored back to that state. On a running guest, a disk
snapshot is likely to be only crash-consistent rather than
clean (that is, it represents the state of the disk on a
sudden power outage, and may need fsck or journal replays to
be made consistent); on an inactive guest, a disk snapshot is
clean if the disks were clean when the guest was last shut
down. Disk snapshots exist in two forms: internal (file
formats such as qcow2 track both the snapshot and changes
since the snapshot in a single file) and external (the
snapshot is one file, and the changes since the snapshot are
in another file).</dd>
<dt>VM state</dt>
<dd>Tracks only the state of RAM and all other resources in use
by the VM. If the disks are unmodified between the time a VM
state snapshot is taken and restored, then the guest will
resume in a consistent state; but if the disks are modified
externally in the meantime, this is likely to lead to data
corruption.</dd>
<dt>system checkpoint</dt>
<dd>A combination of disk snapshots for all disks as well as VM
state, which can be used to resume the guest from where it
left off with symptoms similar to hibernation (that is, TCP
connections in the guest may have timed out, but no files or
processes are lost).</dd>
</dl>
<p>
Libvirt can manage all three types of snapshots. For now, VM
state snapshots are created only by
the <code>virDomainSave()</code>, <code>virDomainSaveFlags</code>,
and <code>virDomainManagedSave()</code> functions, and restored
via the <code>virDomainRestore()</code>,
<code>virDomainRestoreFlags()</code>, <code>virDomainCreate()</code>,
and <code>virDomainCreateWithFlags()</code> functions (as well
as via domain autostart). With managed snapshots, libvirt
tracks all information internally; with save images, the user
tracks the snapshot file, but libvirt provides functions such
as <code>virDomainSaveImageGetXMLDesc()</code> to work with
those files.
</p>
<p>System checkpoints are created
by <code>virDomainSnapshotCreateXML()</code> with no flags, and
disk snapshots are created by the same function with
the <code>VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_CREATE_DISK_ONLY</code> flag; in
both cases, they are restored by
the <code>virDomainRevertToSnapshot()</code> function. For
these types of snapshots, libvirt tracks each snapshot as a
separate <code>virDomainSnapshotPtr</code> object, and maintains
a tree relationship of which snapshots descended from an earlier
point in time.
</p>
<p>
Attributes of libvirt snapshots are stored as child elements of
the <code>domainsnapshot</code> element. At snapshot creation
time, normally only the <code>name</code>
and <code>description</code> elements are settable; the rest of
the fields are ignored on creation, and will be filled in by
libvirt in for informational purposes
by <code>virDomainSnapshotGetXMLDesc()</code>. However, when
redefining a snapshot (<span class="since">since 0.9.5</span>),
with the <code>VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_CREATE_REDEFINE</code> flag
of <code>virDomainSnapshotCreateXML()</code>, all of the XML
described here is relevant.
</p>
<p>
Snapshots are maintained in a hierarchy. A domain can have a
current snapshot, which is the most recent snapshot compared to
the current state of the domain (although a domain might have
snapshots without a current snapshot, if snapshots have been
deleted in the meantime). Creating or reverting to a snapshot
sets that snapshot as current, and the prior current snapshot is
the parent of the new snapshot. Branches in the hierarchy can
be formed by reverting to a snapshot with a child, then creating
another snapshot.
</p>
<p>
The top-level <code>domainsnapshot</code> element may contain
the following elements:
</p>
<dl>
<dt><code>name</code></dt>
<dd>The name for this snapshot. If the name is specified when
initially creating the snapshot, then the snapshot will have
that particular name. If the name is omitted when initially
creating the snapshot, then libvirt will make up a name for
the snapshot, based on the time when it was created.
</dd>
<dt><code>description</code></dt>
<dd>A human-readable description of the snapshot. If the
description is omitted when initially creating the snapshot,
then this field will be empty.
</dd>
<dt><code>creationTime</code></dt>
<dd>The time this snapshot was created. The time is specified
in seconds since the Epoch, UTC (i.e. Unix time). Readonly.
</dd>
<dt><code>state</code></dt>
<dd>The state of the domain at the time this snapshot was taken.
If the snapshot was created as a system checkpoint, then this
is the state of the domain at that time; when the domain is
reverted to this snapshot, the domain's state will default to
whatever is in this field unless additional flags are passed
to <code>virDomainRevertToSnapshot()</code>. Additionally,
this field can be the value "disk-snapshot"
(<span class="since">since 0.9.5</span>) when it represents
only a disk snapshot (no VM state), and reverting to this
snapshot will default to an inactive guest. Readonly.
</dd>
<dt><code>parent</code></dt>
<dd>The parent of this snapshot. If present, this element
contains exactly one child element, name. This specifies the
name of the parent snapshot of this snapshot, and is used to
represent trees of snapshots. Readonly.
</dd>
<dt><code>domain</code></dt>
<dd>The domain that this snapshot was taken against. Older
versions of libvirt stored only a single child element, uuid;
reverting to a snapshot like this is risky if the current
state of the domain differs from the state that the domain was
created in, and requires the use of the
<code>VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_REVERT_FORCE</code> flag
in <code>virDomainRevertToSnapshot()</code>. Newer versions
of libvirt (<span class="since">since 0.9.5</span>) store the entire
inactive <a href="formatdomain.html">domain configuration</a>
at the time of the snapshot (<span class="since">since
0.9.5</span>). Readonly.
</dd>
</dl>
<h2><a name="example">Examples</a></h2>
<p>Using this XML on creation:</p>
<pre>
&lt;domainsnapshot&gt;
&lt;description&gt;Snapshot of OS install and updates&lt;/description&gt;
&lt;/domainsnapshot&gt;</pre>
<p>will result in XML similar to this from
virDomainSnapshotGetXMLDesc:</p>
<pre>
&lt;domainsnapshot&gt;
&lt;name&gt;1270477159&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;description&gt;Snapshot of OS install and updates&lt;/description&gt;
&lt;state&gt;running&lt;/state&gt;
&lt;creationTime&gt;1270477159&lt;/creationTime&gt;
&lt;parent&gt;
&lt;name&gt;bare-os-install&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;/parent&gt;
&lt;domain&gt;
&lt;name&gt;fedora&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;uuid&gt;93a5c045-6457-2c09-e56c-927cdf34e178&lt;/uuid&gt;
&lt;memory&gt;1048576&lt;/memory&gt;
...
&lt;/devices&gt;
&lt;/domain&gt;
&lt;/domainsnapshot&gt;</pre>
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