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manbackupReviewed July 15, 2026

External snapshots and block jobs

An external snapshot pivots writes into a new overlay so the previous layer can be copied consistently. It is a mechanism, not a complete backup policy. Inspect before snapshot Quiesce boundary Use the QEMU guest agent a

snapshotblockcommitblockpullqcow2

An external snapshot pivots writes into a new overlay so the previous layer can be copied consistently. It is a mechanism, not a complete backup policy.

Inspect before snapshot

BASH
virsh domblklist guest01 --details
virsh domfsinfo guest01
virsh snapshot-list guest01 --tree

Quiesce boundary

Use the QEMU guest agent and application-aware procedures when crash consistency is insufficient. Database consistency may require native backup integration even when filesystems are frozen.

Watch block operations

BASH
virsh blockjob guest01 vda --info
virsh domjobinfo guest01
qemu-img info --backing-chain /var/lib/libvirt/images/guest01.qcow2

Never delete a backing file because the filename looks old. Prove the active chain and finish or pivot block jobs correctly first.

Related

  • Consoles, graphics, and the QEMU guest agent
  • qcow2, raw, and allocation behavior
  • Restore testing and recovery-point design

On this page

  • Inspect before snapshot
  • Quiesce boundary
  • Watch block operations