Taking an operating system snapshot

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This topic only applies to BAW, and is located in the BAW repository. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15

As part of your disaster recovery plan, you create a snapshot of the operating system from your primary environment. You then transfer the snapshot to your secondary environment.

Before you begin

Make sure you have completed the steps described in Preparing the operating system before a snapshot.

About this task

The longer you keep a snapshot, the more disk space will be taken up. Create snapshots periodically and sort them based on your recovery point objective.

Note: You can also use other methods to create a snapshot.

Procedure

To take an operating system snapshot, complete the following steps:

Take a snapshot of the /home directory. The snapshot is also a new logical volume:
```
# lvcreate -L1G -s -n homesnapshot /dev/VolGroup00/homebackup
```
Tip: You can also use the GUI tool in the operating system, which, for Red Hat® Linux®, is Logical Volume Management.
To use the logical volume, create a directory under /mnt to store the snapshot files:
```
# mkdir /mnt/homesnapshot 
```
Mount the snapshot logical volume to the new directory:
```
# mount /dev/VolGroup00/homesnapshot /mnt/homesnapshot
```
If you no longer need a snapshot, unmount it and remove it to save disk space:
```
# lvremove /dev/VolGroup00/homesnapshot
```

What to do next

After you take a snapshot, compress it and then FTP it to the secondary environment. On the secondary environment, extract the snapshot files and test them.