10.2. Saving a virtual machine using the command line interface

Conditions préalables

• Ensure you have sufficient disk space to save the VM and its configuration. Note that the space occupied by the VM depends on the amount of RAM allocated to that VM.
• Ensure the VM is persistent.
• Optional: Back up important data from the VM if required.

Procédure

• Use the virsh managedsave utility.

  For example, the following command stops the demo-guest1 VM and saves its configuration.

  # virsh managedsave demo-guest1
  Domain 'demo-guest1' saved by libvirt

  The saved VM file is located by default in the /var/lib/libvirt/qemu/save directory as demo-guest1.save.

  The next time the VM is started, it will automatically restore the saved state from the above file.

Vérification

• List the VMs that have managed save enabled. In the following example, the VMs listed as saved have their managed save enabled.

  # virsh list --managed-save --all
  Id    Name                           State
  ----------------------------------------------------
  -     demo-guest1                    saved
  -     demo-guest2                    shut off

  To list the VMs that have a managed save image:

  # virsh list --with-managed-save --all
  Id    Name                           State
  ----------------------------------------------------
  -     demo-guest1                    shut off

  Note that to list the saved VMs that are in a shut off state, you must use the --all or --inactive options with the command.

Résolution de problèmes

• If the saved VM file becomes corrupted or unreadable, restoring the VM will initiate a standard VM boot instead.