Working with Cinder snapshots

Within Cinder, volume snapshots provide a way to non-disruptively copy a volume. This allows for volume backups. It also enables more advanced backup features and provides the ability to boot an instance from a given snapshot or point in time.

In this section, we will show you how to create a snapshot, refresh a snapshot, and delete a given snapshot.

Getting ready

Ensure that you are logged in to the Ubuntu host where the Cinder command-line utilities are installed and source your OpenStack environment admin credentials.

How to do it...

1. To create a snapshot, the volume must not be attached to an instance. To list your current volumes, you can use the cinder list command:

   $ cinder list
   

   Here's the output:

   

   Tip

   If the volume you wish to take a snapshot of has an in-use status, you will need to detach it using the instructions in the Detaching volumes from an instance recipe in this chapter.

2. As our volume is available, we will create a snapshot of the volume using the cinder...