Backup and Restore

Volume Snapshots are recommended over Instance Snapshots because they are more versatile and do not require other Volume snapshots to be deleted before being used.

Volume Snapshots are very versatile and are the main source of backup and recovery as well as DR functionality. They can be used to create new Volumes from the Snapshots spin up new Instances in new Zones as well as existing Zones.

Terminology:

Instance – A user VM in OpenCloud
Volume – A disk attached to a user Instance
Domain – A user’s specific collection of resources inside OpenCloud. All work should be done inside a customer’s specific Domain.

QEMU guest agent – A suite of agents that OpenCloud needs to perform Instance backups on an Instance. These guest agents need to be installed before the Instance snapshot will be successful. This guide assumes these agents have been installed as part of the base Instance template that the instance in OpenCloud was built from.

Zone – A Cluster of OpenCloud Resources. Zones are separate clusters.

Creating an Instance Snapshot

The User will need to log in to OpenCloud with their specific credentials.
When looking at the OpenCloud Main Page, click on Compute > Instances. Please also note that the Instance Snapshots menu is under Compute as well.
Click on the name of the Instance that needs a Snapshot.
Click on the Camera button to bring up a new screen.
Name the snapshot and put in any descriptions like the date/time it was taken.
There are options for taking a snapshot of Memory and Quiesce Instance. If the snapshot requires these, then they can be turned on. The defined usage for these functions is as follows:
1. (For running Instances only) If the Instance’s memory should be included in the Snapshot, click the Memory checkbox. This saves the CPU and memory state of the Instance. If this box is not checked, then only the current state of the Instance volume is saved. Checking this box makes the Snapshot take longer.
2. Quiesce Instance: check this box if the file system on the Instance should be quiesced before taking the Snapshot. Not supported on XenServer when used with OpenCloud-provided primary storage.
Once all the Instance Snapshot parameters have been filled in, click OK to start the Snapshot Process.
An activity toast will pop up on the top of the screen and an Event will be listed under the little bell icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Once the task is done, there will be a green completion mark in the task list.
To view the completed snapshot, go to the Instance Snapshot category under the Compute button on the left-hand side of the screen.
Here, Users can browse the various Instance Snapshots that have been created and interact with them.

Restoring an Instance from an Instance Snapshot

Log in to OpenCloud with provided credentials.
First, the Instance that will be reverted from a snapshot will need to be stopped. Verify that this has been done beforehand. For more information on Stopping Instances, please refer to the Instances KB.
Click on Compute > Instance Snapshots.
Snapshots that have the word “Ready” in their state descriptor are healthy and can be used for Snapshot Rollback functions.
Click into the specific Snapshot to go into it's details and access its functions.
The snapshot page has a lot of useful information on it including the name of the Instance that the snapshot belongs to, the Domain it belongs to, the account that created the Snapshot, and the Zone the Snapshot is stored in. Snapshots cannot be replicated between Zones, so they will always exist within one OpenCloud Zone.
To revert an Instance from a snapshot, click on the Revert to Instance Snapshot button.
A new window will pop up.
Click on OK to continue the process.
A notification box will pop up at the top of the screen that shows the progress of the process. The progress can also be seen in the Notifications section by clicking on the Bell Icon next to the username on the upper right corner.
Once the task is complete, the Instance can be started again. The Instance OS should then be reverted to the Snapshot.

Creating a Volume Snapshot (one-time)

Log in to OpenCloud with provided credentials.
Each Instance in OpenCloud has corresponding Volumes and they should be accessed via the Instance menu to make sure the right Volume is being backed up. The next instructions assume that the details of the Instance/Volume to take a snapshot have already been confirmed.
On the main page, click on the Compute > Instance menu.
Click into the specific Instance that holds the Volume that needs a snapshot.
In the Instance view, click on the Volumes tab on the right side menu. A list of Volumes that are attached to this specific Instance will be displayed. The Volumes should be named according to their location inside the OS (e.g., C Drive, D Drive, etc.). If they are not, confirm which Volume requires a snapshot.
Click on the name of that Volume.
The Volume details page itself will have information as well as function options in the upper right corner.
Click on the Take Snapshot button in the upper right corner.
A new window will pop up.
There are a few options to be aware of here. The name of the Volume snapshot is important, so fill it out with as much information as possible. The Instance name and Drive should be mentioned.
The Zones that the Volume backup will be replicated to are important. Volume backups can be sent to remote Zones in OpenCloud to be used as offsite backups in the case of an Instance Volume issue. If the Volume snapshot should be sent across Zones so that there is a remote copy, then place the name of the Zone in this dropdown.
The Quiesce Instance and Async Backup Functions should not be selected unless the Volume snapshot requires them. (THIS MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE).
Once all the details have been filled in, click OK.
The alert toast will pop up at the top of the screen and the activity will be represented in the Alerts dropdown.
Depending on how large the Volume is, the snapshot may take some time.
To see the progress of the Volume Snapshot, click the Storage dropdown and select Volume Snapshots.
Click on the Snapshot that was made. It will show “Creating” and have a Blue Circle in the State column.
To drill into the Volume details, click on the Events heading in the Volume Snapshot details page.
The events that led up to the start of the Volume Snapshot and its creation will be listed.
To confirm that the Volume Snapshot was replicated successfully across Zones, select the Zones heading on the Volume Snapshot details page.
If replication between Zones is successful, both Zones will have a copy of the Volume Snapshot with the BackedUp status and Yes in the Ready column.
These Volume Snapshots are now ready to be used for various functions.

Restore Volume from Snapshot

Log in to OpenCloud with defined credentials.
Make sure that Volume that should be restored as well as the date and time of the Volume Snapshot is noted.
Before a Volume Snapshot can be restored, no Instance Snapshots of the same INSTANCE can exist. Therefore, using Volume Snapshots for all backups is recommended as Instance Snapshots will interfere.
The next instructions assume that the details of the Volume to be restored have already been recorded. If not, do not go further without confirming the Volume to restore and what Instance it belongs to.
Before reverting a volume snapshot, the INSTANCE that the Volume is attached to must be in a shutdown state. If the Volume is not attached to an Instance, then a new Volume can be made from the Snapshot without turning anything off.
Click on the Storage drop down on the left side of the screen and then click on Volume Snapshots inside that drop down.
Find the Volume Snapshot to restore and click into it by clicking on its name.
Inside the Volume Snapshot, there will a Revert to Snapshot button in the upper right corner of the screen. Click this option to begin the process.
A new screen will pop up asking for confirmation. Click OK.
The restore notification toast pop up on the screen and the restore will be active in the Events screen found by clicking on the bell icon by the login name.
Once the Volume Restore is completed, the Instance that contains the Volume that was restored can be started again.
Once the Instance is powered up, the newly restored drive must be placed in an “Online” state in the OS Disk Management section.

Creating a Volume Snapshot from an Instance Snapshot

This function can be used to make new Volumes, or disks, from an existing Instance Snapshots. The Volume Snapshot created can then be replicated across Zones and used in a Disaster Recovery function to create new Instances. Again, only ROOT or OS drives should be replicated across Zones as a new Instance will not be able to boot from a DATA Volume.
Log in to OpenCloud and select Compute > Instance Snapshots
Select the Instance Snapshot that should be used to create the Volume Snapshot and click on its name.
From this screen, confirm that the right snapshot is selected.
To start the process of making a Volume Snapshot from an Instance Snapshot, select the Create Snapshot from Instance Snapshot function at the top right of the screen.
A new window will appear.
Select the specific Volume from the Instance Snapshot that a snapshot should be taken of as well as set the name of that specific Snapshot.
After setting these options, click OK to start the process. A notification will pop up in the upper right of the screen and the process of the snapshot can be monitored by clicking the bell icon by the login name in the upper right-hand corner.
When the Volume Snapshot is done, click on Storage > Volume Snapshots. The newly created Volume Snapshot should be there and ready for use.
Click into the new Snapshot to confirm it looks correct.

Replicating a Volume Snapshot between Zones

Log in to OpenCloud and click on Storage > Volume Snapshots.
A list of the Volume Snapshots that exist will come up.
Select the Volume Snapshot by clicking on its name. Its specific details page will come up.
Select Zones from the left side menu to see the Zones that the Volume Snapshot is currently stored in.
To copy a Volume Snapshot to another Zone, select the Copy Snapshot option on the right hand side of the page. It will look like two pages.
A new window will appear. Select the Zone that the Snapshot should be replicated to.
Select Ok. The copy process will start and the new Zone will be represented on the list of Zones that the Snapshot is available in.
Once the process is done, the Volume will be stored in both Zones and can be used for DR recovery purposes.

Creating a Scheduled Volume Snapshot Plan for Instance Volumes

Log in to OpenCloud and click on Compute > Instances.
Locate the Instance that has the Volume that should have a scheduled snapshot. These instructions assume that the Instance and Volume that should have a Scheduled Snapshot is already known.
Click on the Instance name to go into its details page.
Select Volumes from the list on left hand side of the screen.
Select the specific Volume to take a snapshot of by clicking on its name.
In the upper right corner, select the Recurring Snapshots button.
Set up the Schedule according to the required specifications. The snapshot interval can be set for minutes, days, weeks, or months. Set the time of day when the snapshot should start and how many snapshots to keep. Select the specific Timezone that the Instance and Volume exist in. All snapshots are full, which mean that they will take up the full space required for the Volume. These snapshots can be set to replicate across multiple Zones for redundancy. Select at least one additional Zone for replication. These snapshots can be used to restore Instances in other Zones, so there will always be a snapshot replication target Zone.
Once the Schedule is set up, a confirmation message will pop up. Once the snapshot schedule has run, clicking on the Recurring Snapshots button will show the set snapshot schedule in the Scheduled Snapshots header.
The snapshots will run and the Events can be checked to make sure they are working as intended.

Disaster Recovery Instance Restoration

This procedure requires that there are already Volume Snapshot(s) of the Instance in question replicated to multiple Zones. This procedure also assumes that one of the Zones is not available for use and that a new Instance Template needs to be spun up in another Zone.
Log in to the OpenCloud and select Storage > Volume Snapshots.
Click on the name of the Volume Snapshot that should be used to create a new Instance Template.
Inside its details page, click on Zones and confirm that the Volume Snapshot has been replicated to the correct Zone.
To rebuild an Instance from a replicated Volume Snapshot, first click on the Create Template button.
A new window will open. Enter the Name of the new Template, Description of the Template, and Zone where the Template should be created. This should be the same Zone that the current Volume Snapshot resides in. A customer domain can also be specified if this template creation and restore is for a customer. Select the OS type, which for Windows Instances will be Windows PV. Linux Instances should select their specific flavor of Linux.
Once all the information is added, select Ok.
A message will pop up at the top of the screen and the process of the template creation can be seen by clicking the Notifications button by the login name in the upper right of the screen.
Once the Template is done, select Compute > Instances and click on New Instance.
Choose to create an Instance from Template and select the new Template that was just created from the Volume Snapshot.
Fill out the TemplateCreation Details in accordance with what the Instance should be. Please refer to the Template and Instance KBs for more information if necessary.
Once the Instance Template information is filled out, click OK to create the new Instance. Make sure it powers on and boots to an OS.
The OS should retain the TCP/IP addressing set in it but other OS functions will need to be confirmed by going into the OS itself. US Signal cannot guarantee that the OS will be exactly the same for this new Instance.
If additional Volumes need to be attached to this new Instance Restore, the Instance will need to be stopped and the additional Volumes added.

Disaster Recovery Volume Restoration

This procedure requires that the Volume Snapshot(s) of the Instance in question are replicated to multiple Zones.
This procedure also assumes that a new Instance has been created using the Disaster Recovery Instance Restoration process above and that additional recovered Volumes need to be attached to it. The Instance in question should also be stopped to allow for Volume attachment.
Log into OpenCloud and click on Storage > Volumes Snapshots.
Select the Volume Snapshot in question and click on its name.
Confirm that the Snapshot has been replicated to the same Zone that the new Instance has been created into.
Click the Create Volume button in the upper right corner. This action will make a new mountable Volume from the Volume Snapshot and set it in the Zone specified.
A new window will open. Name the Volume and select the Zone that it should be placed into.
The Volume will be created.
Go to Storage > Volumes and click on the specific Volume that was just created.
Inside the Volume details, click on the Attach Disk option in the upper right.
A new screen will open. Select the Instance that the Volume should attach to. OpenCloud will pick the correct Device ID automatically, so there is no need to specify one.
After hitting OK, the Volume will attach to the Instance. Go to that Instance to verify that the volume is attached.
The Instance can now be started. The Customer will need to confirm that the OS can see the new disks. The Customer may need to use Disk Management or other tools to bring the new disks online.