Re: [PATCH] docs: Add detailed notes snapshots, blockcommit, blockpull

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[Christophe, so sorry for such a late reply. I honestly missed this feedback email, was
swamped with other stuff. Just noticed this while I got some time to revisit this & do a
v2 of this, while browsing through archives.]

On 02/22/2013 07:34 PM, Christophe Fergeau wrote:
> Hey Kashyap,
> 
> I've started reading this to learn about libvirt snapshot implementation,
> and noticed a few typos (I think Eric already pointed out some of these),
> 
> 
> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 03:28:06PM +0530, Kashyap Chamarthy wrote:
>> ---
>>  docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst |  646 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>  1 files changed, 646 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
>>  create mode 100644 docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst
>>
>> diff --git a/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst
>> new file mode 100644
>> index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..99c30223a004ee5291e2914b788ac7fe04eee3c8
>> --- /dev/null
>> +++ b/docs/snapshots-blockcommit-blockpull.rst
>> @@ -0,0 +1,646 @@
>> +.. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> +   Note: All these tests were performed with latest qemu-git,libvirt-git (as of
>> +   20-Oct-2012 on a Fedora-18 alpha machine
>> +.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>> +
>> +
>> +Introduction 
>> +============
>> +
>> +A virtual machine snapshot is a view of a virtual machine(its OS & all its
>> +applications) at a given point in time. So that, one can revert to a known sane
>> +state, or take backups while the guest is running live. So, before we dive into
>> +snapshots, let's have an understanding of backing files and overlays.
>> +
>> +        
>> +
>> +QCOW2 backing files & overlays
>> +------------------------------
>> +
>> +In essence, QCOW2(Qemu Copy-On-Write) gives you an ability to create a base-image,
>> +and create several 'disposable' copy-on-write overlay disk images on top of the
>> +base image(also called backing file). Backing files and overlays are
>> +extremely useful to rapidly instantiate thin-privisoned virtual machines(more on
> 
> provisioned
> 
>> +it below). Especially quite useful in development & test environments, so that
>> +one could quickly revert to a known state & discard the overlay.
>> +
>> +**Figure-1**
>> +
>> +::
>> +
>> +  .--------------.    .-------------.    .-------------.    .-------------.
>> +  |              |    |             |    |             |    |             |
>> +  | RootBase     |<---| Overlay-1   |<---| Overlay-1A  <--- | Overlay-1B  |
>> +  | (raw/qcow2)  |    | (qcow2)     |    | (qcow2)     |    | (qcow2)     |
>> +  '--------------'    '-------------'    '-------------'    '-------------'
>> +
>> +The above figure illustrates - RootBase is the backing file for Overlay-1, which
>> +in turn is backing file for Overlay-2, which in turn is backing file for
>> +Overlay-3.
> 
> Text is about overlay 1, 2 , 3, and the image has 1, 1A and 1B.
> 
>> +
>> +**Figure-2**
>> +::
>> +
>> + .-----------.   .-----------.   .------------.  .------------.  .------------.
>> + |           |   |           |   |            |  |            |  |            |
>> + | RootBase  |<--- Overlay-1 |<--- Overlay-1A <--- Overlay-1B <--- Overlay-1C |
>> + |           |   |           |   |            |  |            |  | (Active)   |
>> + '-----------'   '-----------'   '------------'  '------------'  '------------'
>> +    ^    ^
>> +    |    |
>> +    |    |       .-----------.    .------------.
>> +    |    |       |           |    |            |
>> +    |    '-------| Overlay-2 |<---| Overlay-2A |
>> +    |            |           |    | (Active)   |
>> +    |            '-----------'    '------------'
>> +    |
>> +    |
>> +    |            .-----------.    .------------.
>> +    |            |           |    |            |
>> +    '------------| Overlay-3 |<---| Overlay-3A |
>> +                 |           |    | (Active)   |
>> +                 '-----------'    '------------'
>> +                
>> +The above figure is just another representation which indicates, we can use a
>> +'single' backing file, and create several overlays -- which can be used further,
>> +to create overlays on top of them.
>> +
>> +
>> +**NOTE**: Backing files are always opened **read-only**. In other words, once 
>> +          an overlay is created, its backing file should not be modified(as the
>> +          overlay depends on a particular state of the backing file). Refer
>> +          below ('blockcommit' section) for relevant info on this.
>> +
>> +
>> +**Example** :
>> +
>> +::
>> +
>> +    [FedoraBase.img] ----- <- [Fedora-guest-1.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A]
>> +                     \
>> +                      \--- <- [Fedora-guest-2.qcow2] <- [Fed-w-updates.qcow2] <- [Fedora-guest-with-updates-2A]
>> +
>> +(Arrow to be read as Fed-w-updates.qcow2 has Fedora-guest-1.qcow2 as its backing file.)
>> +
>> +In the above example, say, *FedoraBase.img* has a freshly installed Fedora-17 OS on it,
>> +and let's establish it as our backing file. Now, FedoraBase can be used as a
>> +read-only 'template' to quickly instantiate two(or more) thinly provisioned
>> +Fedora-17 guests(say Fedora-guest-1.qcow2, Fedora-guest-2.qcow2) by creating
>> +QCOW2 overlay files pointing to our backing file. Also, the example & *Figure-2*
>> +above illustrate that a single root-base image(FedoraBase.img) can be used
>> +to create multiple overlays -- which can subsequently have their own overlays.
>> +
>> +
>> +    To create two thinly-provisioned Fedora clones(or overlays) using a single
>> +    backing file, we can invoke qemu-img as below: ::
>> +
>> +
>> +        # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \
>> +          /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-1.qcow2
>> +
>> +        # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/RootBase.img -f qcow2 \
>> +          /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-2.qcow2
>> +    
>> +    Now, both the above images *Fedora-guest-1* & *Fedora-guest-2* are ready to
>> +    boot. Continuting with our example, say, now you want to instantiate a
> 
> Continuing
> 
>> +    Fedora-17 guest, but this time, with full Fedora updates. This can be
>> +    accomplished by creating another overlay(Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A) - but
>> +    this overly would point to 'Fed-w-updates.qcow2' as its backing file (which
> 
> overlay
> 
>> +    has the full Fedora updates) ::
>> +
>> +         # qemu-img create -b /export/vmimages/Fed-w-updates.qcow2 -f qcow2 \
>> +           /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2
>> +
>> +
>> +    Information about a disk image, like virtual size, disk size, backing file(if it
>> +    exists) can be obtained by using 'qemu-img' as below:
>> +    ::
>> +
>> +        # qemu-img info /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2
>> +
>> +    NOTE: With latest qemu, an entire backing chain can be recursively
>> +    enumerated by doing:
>> +    ::
>> +
>> +        # qemu-img info --backing-chain /export/vmimages/Fedora-guest-with-updates-1A.qcow2
>> +       
>> +
>> +
>> +Snapshot Terminology:
>> +---------------------
>> +
>> +    - **Internal Snapshots** -- A single qcow2 image file holds both the saved state
>> +        & the delta since that saved point. This can be further classified as :-
>> +
>> +        (1) **Internal disk snapshot**: The state of the virtual disk at a given
>> +            point in time. Both the snapshot & delta since the snapshot are
>> +            stored in the same qcow2 file. Can be taken when the guest is 'live'
>> +            or 'offline'.
>> +
>> +                - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'qemu-img' command when the guest is 'offline'.
>> +                - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'savevm' command when the guest is 'live'.
>> +
>> +        (2) **Internal system checkpoint**: RAM state, device state & the
>> +            disk-state of a running guest, are all stored in the same originial
>> +            qcow2 file. Can be taken when the guest is running 'live'.
>> +
>> +                - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'savevm' command when the guest is 'live'
>> +
>> +
>> +    - **External Snapshots** -- Here, when a snapshot is taken, the saved state will
>> +      be stored in one file(from that point, it becomes a read-only backing
>> +      file) & a new file(overlay) will track the deltas from that saved state.
>> +      This can be further classified as :-
>> +
>> +        (1) **External disk snapshot**: The snapshot of the disk is saved in one
>> +            file, and the delta since the snapshot is tracked in a new qcow2
>> +            file. Can be taken when the guest is 'live' or 'offline'.
>> +
>> +                - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'transaction' cmd  under the hood, when the
>> +                  guest is 'live'.
>> +
>> +                - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'qemu-img' cmd under the hood  when the
>> +                  guest is 'offline'(this implementation is in progress, as of
>> +                  writing this).
>> +
>> +        (2) **External system checkpoint**: Here, the guest's disk-state will be
>> +            saved in one file, its RAM & device-state will be saved in another
>> +            new file (This implementation is in progress upstream libvirt, as of
>> +            writing this).
>> +
>> +
>> +
>> +    - **VM State**: Saves the RAM & device state of a running guest(not 'disk-state') to
>> +      a file, so that it can be restored later. This simliar to doing hibernate
> 
> This is similar
> 
> If I'm not mistaken there's a big difference between this and hibernate in
> that when coming back from hibernate the guest OS knows its clock is out of
> sync, but when restoring RAM & device state, it doesn't know that, and the
> out of sync clock can confuse some OSes (Windows).
> 
>> +      of the system. (NOTE: The disk-state should be unmodified at the time of
>> +      restoration.) 
>> +
>> +            - Libvirt uses QEMU's 'migrate' (to file) cmd under the hood.      
>> +
>> +
>> +
>> +Creating snapshots
>> +==================
>> +    - Whenever an 'external' snapshot is issued, a /new/ overlay image is
>> +      created to facilitate guest writes, and the previous image becomes a
>> +      snapshot.
>> +
>> +    - **Create a disk-only internal snapshot**
>> +        
>> +        (1) If I have a guest named 'f17vm1', to create an offline or online
>> +            'internal' snapshot called 'snap1' with description 'snap1-desc' ::
>> +
>> +            # virsh snapshot-create-as f17vm1  snap1 snap1-desc 
>> +       
>> +        (2) List the snapshot ; and query using *qemu-img* tool to view
>> +            the image info & its internal snapshot details ::
>> +
>> +            # virsh snapshot-list f17vm1
>> +            # qemu-img info /home/kashyap/vmimages/f17vm1.qcow2
>> +            
>> +
>> +
>> +    - **Create a disk-only external snapshot** :
>> +
>> +        (1) List the block device associated with the guest. ::
>> +
>> +                # virsh domblklist f17-base
>> +                Target     Source
>> +                ---------------------------------------------
>> +                vda        /export/vmimages/f17-base.qcow2
>> +
>> +                #
>> +
>> +        (2) Create external disk-only snapshot (while the guest is *running*). ::
>> +
>> +                # virsh snapshot-create-as --domain f17-base snap1 snap1-desc \
>> +                --disk-only --diskspec vda,snapshot=external,file=/export/vmimages/sn1-of-f17-base.qcow2 \
>> +                --atomic
>> +                Domain snapshot snap1 created
>> +                #
>> +              
>> +                    * Once the above command is issued, the original disk-image
>> +                    of f17-base will become the backing_file & a new overlay
>> +                    image is created to track the new changes. Here on, libvirt
>> +                    will use this overlay for further write operations(while
>> +                    using the original image as a read-only backing_file).
>> +
>> +        (3) Now, list the block device associated(use cmd from step-1, above)
>> +            with the guest,again, to ensure it reflects the new overlay image as
>> +            the current block device in use. ::
>> +
>> +                # virsh domblklist f17-base
>> +                Target     Source
>> +                ----------------------------------------------------
>> +                vda        /export/vmimages/sn1-of-f17-base.qcow2
>> +
>> +                #
>> +
>> +
>> +        
>> +
>> +Reverting to snapshots
>> +======================
>> +As of writing this, reverting to 'Internal Snapshots'(system checkpoint or
>> +disk-only) is possible.
>> +
>> +    To revert to a snapshot named 'snap1' of domain f17vm1 ::
>> +
>> +    # virsh snapshot-revert --domain f17vm1 snap1
>> +
>> +Reverting to 'external disk snapshots' using *snapshot-revert* is a little more
>> +tricky, as it involves slightly complicated process of dealing with additional
>> +snapshot files - whether to merge 'base' images into 'top' or to merge other way
>> +round ('top' into 'base').
>> +
>> +That said, there are a couple of ways to deal with external snapshot files by
>> +merging them to reduce the external snapshot disk image chain by performing
>> +either a **blockpull** or **blockcommit** (more on this below). 
>> +
>> +Further improvements on this front is in work upstream libvirt as of writing
>> +this.
>> +
>> +
>> +
>> +Merging snapshot files
>> +======================
>> +External snapshots are incredibly useful. But, with plenty of external snapshot
>> +files, there comes a problem of maintaining and tracking all these inidivdual
> 
> individual
> 
>> +files. At a later point in time, we might want to 'merge' some of these snapshot
>> +files (either backing_files into overlays or vice-versa) to reduce the length of
>> +the image chain. To accomplish that, there are two mechanisms:
>> +
>> +    + blockcommit: merges data from  **top** into **base** (in other
>> +      words, merge overlays into backing files).
>> +
>> +
>> +    + blockpull: Populates a disk image with data from its backing file. Or
>> +      merges data from **base** into **top** (in other words, merge backing files
>> +      into overlays).
> 
> + blockcommit: merges...
> + blockpull: Populates...
> 
> The case is inconsistent here
> 
>> +
>> +
>> +blockcommit
>> +-----------
>> +
>> +Block Commit allows you to merge from a 'top' image(within a disk backing file
>> +chain) into a lower-level 'base' image. To rephrase, it allows you to
>> +merge overlays into backing files. Once the **blockcommit** operation is finished,
>> +any portion that depends on the 'top' image, will now be pointing to the 'base'.
>> +
>> +This is useful in flattening(or collapsing or reducing) backing file chain
>> +length after taking several external snapshots.
>> +
>> +
>> +Let's understand with an illustration below:
>> +
>> +We have a base image called 'RootBase', which has a disk image chain with 4
>> +external snapshots. With 'Active' as the current active-layer, where 'live' guest
>> +writes happen. There are a few possibilities of resulting image chains that we
>> +can end up with, using 'blockcommit' : 
>> +
>> +    (1) Data from Snap-1, Snap-2 and Snap-3 can be merged into 'RootBase'
>> +        (resulting in RootBase becoming the backing_file of 'Active', and thus
>> +        invalidating Snap-1, Snap-2, & Snap-3).
>> +
>> +    (2) Data from Snap-1 and Snap-2 can be merged into RootBase(resulting in
>> +        Rootbase becoming the backing_file of Snap-3, and thus invalidating
>> +        Snap-1 & Snap-2).
>> +
>> +    (3) Data from Snap-1 can be merged into RootBase(resulting in RootBase
>> +        becoming the backing_file of Snap-2, and thus invalidating Snap-1).
>> +    
>> +    (4) Data from Snap-2 can be merged into Snap-1(resulting in Snap-1 becoming
>> +        the backing_file of Snap-3, and thus invalidating Snap-2).
>> +
>> +    (5) Data from Snap-3 can be merged into Snap-2(resulting in Snap-2 becoming
>> +        the backing_file for 'Active', and thus invalidating Snap-3).
>> +
>> +    (6) Data from Snap-2 and Snap-3 can be merged into Snap-1(resulting in
>> +        Snap-1 becoming the backing_file of 'Active', and thus invalidating
>> +        Snap-2 & Snap-3).
>> +
>> +    NOTE: Eventually(not supported in qemu as of writing this), we can also
>> +          merge down the 'Active' layer(the top-most overlay) into its
>> +          backing_files.  Once it is supported, the 'top' argument can become
> 
> backing_file instead of backing_files ?
> 
> 
>> +          optional, and default to active layer.
>> +
>> +
>> +(The below figure illustrates case (6) from the above)
>> +
>> +**Figure-3**
>> +::
>> +
>> + .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |
>> + | RootBase   <---  Snap-1    <---  Snap-2    <---  Snap-3    <---  Snap-4    |
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  | (Active)   |
>> + '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'
>> +                                  /                  |
>> +                                 /                   |
>> +                                /  commit data       |
>> +                               /                     |
>> +                              /                      |
>> +                             /                       |
>> +                            v           commit data  |
>> + .------------.  .------------. <--------------------'           .------------.
>> + |            |  |            |                                  |            |
>> + | RootBase   <---  Snap-1    |<---------------------------------|  Snap-4    |
>> + |            |  |            |       Backing File               | (Active)   |
>> + '------------'  '------------'                                  '------------'
>> +
>> +For instance, if we have the below scenario:
>> +    
>> +    Actual: [base] <- sn1 <- sn2 <- sn3 <- sn4(this is active)
>> +
>> +    Desired:  [base] <- sn1 <- sn4  (thus invalidating sn2,sn3) 
>> +    
>> +      Any of the below two methods is valid (as of 17-Oct-2012 qemu-git). With
>> +      method-a, operation will be faster & correct if we don't care about
>> +      sn2(because, it'll be invalidated). Note that, method-b is slower, but sn2
>> +      will remain valid. (Also note that, the guest is 'live' in all these cases).
>> +    
>> +        **(method-a)**:
>> +            ::
>> +
>> +            # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda --base /export/vmimages/sn1.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn3.qcow2 --wait --verbose
>> +            
>> +        [OR]
>> +    
>> +        **(method-b)**:
>> +            ::
>> +
>> +             # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda  --base /export/vmimages/sn2.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn3.qcow2 --wait --verbose
>> +             # virsh blockcommit --domain f17 vda  --base /export/vmimages/sn1.qcow2 --top /export/vmimages/sn2.qcow2 --wait --verbose
>> +    
>> +       NOTE: If we had to do manually with *qemu-img* cmd, we can only do method-b at the moment.
>> +
>> +
>> +**Figure-4**
>> +::
>> +
>> + .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |
>> + | RootBase   <---  Snap-1    <---  Snap-2    <---  Snap-3    <---  Snap-4    |
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  | (Active)   |
>> + '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'
>> +                   /                  |             |
>> +                  /                   |             |
>> +                 /                    |             |
>> +    commit data /         commit data |             |
>> +               /                      |             |
>> +              /                       | commit data |
>> +             v                        |             |
>> + .------------.<----------------------|-------------'            .------------.
>> + |            |<----------------------'                          |            |
>> + | RootBase   |                                                  |  Snap-4    |
>> + |            |<-------------------------------------------------| (Active)   |
>> + '------------'                  Backing File                    '------------'
>> +
>> +
>> +The above figure is another representation of reducing the disk image chain
>> +using blockcommit. Data from Snap-1, Snap-2, Snap-3 are merged(/committed)
>> +into RootBase, & now the current 'Active' image now pointing to 'RootBase' as its
>> +backing file(instead of Snap-3, which was the case *before* blockcommit). Note
>> +that, now intermediate images Snap-1, Snap-1, Snap-3 will be invalidated(as they were
>> +dependent on a particular state of RootBase).
>> +
>> +blockpull
>> +---------
>> +Block Pull(also called 'Block Stream' in QEMU's paralance)  allows you to merge
> 
> parlance
> 
>> +into 'base' from a 'top' image(within a disk backing file chain). To rephrase it
>> +allows  merging backing files into an overlay(active). This works in the
>> +opposite side of 'blockcommit' to flatten the snapshot chain. At the moment,
>> +**blockpull** can pull only into the active layer(the top-most image). It's
>> +worth noting here that, intermediate images are not invalidated once a blockpull
>> +operation is complete (while blockcommit, invalidates them).
> 
> I wouldn't put a ',' inside the parentheses.
> 
>> +
>> +
>> +Consider the below illustration:
>> +
>> +**Figure-5**
>> +::
>> +
>> + .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |
>> + | RootBase   <---  Snap-1    <---  Snap-2    <---  Snap-3    <---  Snap-4    |
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  | (Active)   |
>> + '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'
>> +                          |                 |              \
>> +                          |                 |               \
>> +                          |                 |                \
>> +                          |                 |                 \ stream data
>> +                          |                 | stream data      \
>> +                          | stream data     |                   \
>> +                          |                 |                    v
>> +      .------------.      |                 '--------------->  .------------.
>> +      |            |      '--------------------------------->  |            |
>> +      | RootBase   |                                           |  Snap-4    |
>> +      |            | <---------------------------------------- | (Active)   |
>> +      '------------'                 Backing File              '------------'
>> +
>> +
>> +
>> +The above figure illustrates that, using block-copy we can pull data from
>> +Snap-1, Snap-2 and Snap-3 into the 'Active' layer, resulting in 'RootBase'
>> +becoming the backing file for the 'Active' image (instead of 'Snap-3', which was
>> +the case before doing the blockpull operation).
>> +
>> +The command flow would be:
>> +    (1) Assuming a external disk-only snapshot was created as mentioned in
>> +        *Creating Snapshots* section:
>> +
>> +    (2) A blockpull operation can be issued this way, to achieve the desired
>> +        state of *Figure-5*-- [RootBase] <- [Active]. ::
>> +
>> +             # virsh blockpull --domain RootBase --path var/lib/libvirt/images/active.qcow2 --base /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.qcow2  --wait --verbose
>> +
>> +
>> +    As a follow up, we can do the below to clean-up the snapshot *tracking*
>> +    metadata by libvirt (note: the below does not 'remove' the files, it
>> +    just cleans up the snapshot tracking metadata). ::
>> + 
>> +            # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-3 --metadata
>> +            # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-2 --metadata
>> +            # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-1 --metadata
>> +
>> +
>> +
>> +
>> +**Figure-6**
>> +::
>> +
>> + .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.  .------------.
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |
>> + | RootBase   <---  Snap-1    <---  Snap-2    <---  Snap-3    <---  Snap-4    |
>> + |            |  |            |  |            |  |            |  | (Active)   |
>> + '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'  '------------'
>> +       |                  |              |                  \
>> +       |                  |              |                   \
>> +       |                  |              |                    \  stream data
>> +       |                  |              | stream data         \
>> +       |                  |              |                      \
>> +       |                  | stream data  |                       \
>> +       |  stream data     |              '------------------>     v
>> +       |                  |                                    .--------------.
>> +       |                  '--------------------------------->  |              |
>> +       |                                                       |  Snap-4      |
>> +       '---------------------------------------------------->  | (Active)     |
>> +                                                               '--------------'
>> +                                                                 'Standalone'
>> +                                                                 (w/o backing
>> +                                                                 file)  
>> +
>> +The above  figure illustrates, once blockpull operation is complete, by
>> +pulling/streaming data from RootBase, Snap-1, Snap-2, Snap-3 into 'Active', all
>> +the backing files can be discarded and 'Active' now will be a standalone image
>> +without any backing files.
>> +
>> +Command flow would be:
>> +    (0) Assuming 4 external disk-only (live) snapshots were created as
>> +        mentioned in *Creating Snapshots* section,
>> +
>> +    (1) Let's check the snapshot overlay images size *before* blockpull operation (note the image of 'Active'):
>> +        :: 
>> +
>> +            # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.img 
>> +            608M -rw-r--r--. 1 qemu qemu 1.0G Oct 11 17:54 /var/lib/libvirt/images/RootBase.img
>> +
>> +            # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/*Snap*
>> +            840K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 896K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-1.qcow2
>> +            392K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 448K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-2.qcow2
>> +            456K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 512K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2
>> +            2.9M -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 3.0M Oct 11 18:10 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +
>> +    (2) Also, check the disk image information of 'Active'. It can noticed that
>> +        'Active' has Snap-3 as its backing file. ::
>> +
>> +            # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +            image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +            file format: qcow2
>> +            virtual size: 1.0G (1073741824 bytes)
>> +            disk size: 2.9M
>> +            cluster_size: 65536
>> +            backing file: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2
>> +
>> +    (3) Do the **blockpull** operation. ::
>> +    
>> +            # virsh blockpull --domain ptest2-base --path /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2 --wait --verbose
>> +            Block Pull: [100 %]
>> +            Pull complete
>> +
>> +    (4) Let's again check the snapshot overlay images size *after*
>> +        blockpull operation. It can be noticed, 'Active' is now considerably larger. ::
>> +            
>> +            # ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/*Snap*
>> +             840K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 896K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-1.qcow2
>> +             392K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 448K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-2.qcow2
>> +             456K -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 512K Oct 11 17:56 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Snap-3.qcow2
>> +            1011M -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 3.0M Oct 11 18:29 /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +
>> +
>> +    (5) Also, check the disk image information of 'Active'. It can now be
>> +        noticed that 'Active' is a standalone image without any backing file -
>> +        which is the desired state of *Figure-6*.::
>> +
>> +            # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +            image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +            file format: qcow2
>> +            virtual size: 1.0G (1073741824 bytes)
>> +            disk size: 1.0G
>> +            cluster_size: 65536
>> +
>> +    (6) We can now clean-up the snapshot tracking metadata by libvirt to
>> +        reflect the new reality ::
>> +
>> +            # virsh snapshot-delete --domain RootBase Snap-3 --metadata
>> +
>> +    (7) Optionally, one can check, the guest disk contents by invoking
>> +        *guestfish* tool(part of *libguestfs*)  **READ-ONLY** (*--ro* option
>> +        below does it) as below ::
>> +
>> +            # guestfish --ro -i -a /var/lib/libvirt/images/Active.qcow2
>> +
>> +        
>> +Deleting snapshots (and 'offline commit')
>> +=========================================
>> +
>> +Deleting (live/offline) *Internal Snapshots* (where the originial & all the named snapshots
> 
> original
> 
> 
> All in all, this is a very interesting and useful doc for me )

Thanks for your time and feedback. I'll be mostly away travelling till 2nd of May, might
work some time in between. Will try to whip up a v2 & send for review.

Have a nice day.

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Christophe
> 


-- 
/kashyap

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