backups of bhyve images

[Craig Rodrigues]

On Dec 8, 2014, at 8:33 AM, John wrote:
>
> I have each image on its own (external to the image) ZFS filesystem.
> Internally the image is using ufs if freebsd, ext3fs if linux.  Would
> using some ZFS method of duplication be better? In this case, would the
> image become inconsistent?

I recommend that you do the following:
  (1)  Learn about ZFS zvol: http://zfsonlinux.org/example-zvol.html
  (2)  Instead of creating a big disk image to hold your bhyve VM, use a
ZFS zvol
  (3)  When you want to backup the VM, do a "zfs snapshot" take take a
snapshot of the ZFS zvol.
  (4)  You can backup the zvol to another host by using "zfs send",
         and onthe receiving host, you do "zfs receive"

The content of your VM can be any file system that you want (UFS, ext4,
zfs), but you
can backup the ZFS zvol using zfs commands.

I've been doing it, and it works really nicely.
--
Craig