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Use backup command to create rotating backups of virtual machines on CloudFerro Cloud cloud
Rotating backups in OpenStack refer to a backup strategy where older backups are automatically deleted after a predefined number of backups are created. This ensures that storage does not grow indefinitely while still maintaining a set number of recent backups for disaster recovery.
The rotating backup algorithm
Creating rotating backups of virtual machines is a process comprising of the following steps:
- Define the period of backups
- Usually, daily, weekly, monthly or in any other time period.
- Define rotation limit
- How many backups to retain (we will refer to this number as maxN throughout this article).
- Delete older backups
- Once the limit is reached, start deleting the existing backups, usually the oldest one.
backup create vs. image create
There are two ways of creating backups under OpenStack, using one of these two commands:
openstack server backup create and openstack server image create
Here is how they compare:
Table 3 Comparison of Backup and Image Creation Commands
| Feature | openstack server backup create |
openstack server image create |
|---|---|---|
| Association with VM | Associated using backup image property | Associated using backup name |
| Rotation support | Rotation with --backup-type and incremental backups |
No built-in rotation support |
| Classification in Horizon | Marked as image | Marked as snapshot |
| Horizon Select Boot Source | Choose Instance Snapshot | Choose Image |
| Purpose | Primarily used for backups, can be rotated and managed | Creates a single VM snapshot without rotation |
| Incremental backup support | Yes, supports incremental backups | No, always creates a full snapshot |
| Multiple rotating schedules | No, only one | Yes (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) |
| Best usage scenario | Automated backup strategies with rotation | Capturing the current state of a VM for cloning or rollback |
| Can be scripted? | Yes | Yes |
In this article we are going to use a openstack server backup create command under OpenStack to create rotating backups of virtual machines.
Prerequisites
No. 1 Account
You need a CloudFerro Cloud hosting account with access to the Horizon interface: https://horizon.cloudferro.com
No. 2 VM which will be backed up
You need a virtual machine which will be backed up. If you don’t have one, you can create it by following one of these articles: