[virt-tools-list] The best strategies for backing up virtual machines

[Peng Yu]

Hi,

There are quite a number of webpages discussing backup and snapshots.
But I'm not sure what the currently best practice is.

For my application, I don't care memory images. I mainly care about
the software installed on virtual machines and the OS configurations
on the virtual machines. I know that I can not make a safe copy of the
disk image of a virtual machine without shutting it down. But this may
not be always feasible, as in general my virtual machines should be
on. Taking snapshots does not require virtual machine shutdown (if I
understand it correctly), but it seems that it saves more than just
disk images.

Could you anybody give me some suggestions on the best backup practice? Thanks.

-- 
Regards,
Peng