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Snapshots

Volume snapshots are point-in-time copies of a volume's data. They are stored on the same high-performance Ceph cluster as the volume itself, making them fast to create and restore. This page covers creating, listing, deleting snapshots, and creating a new volume from a snapshot.

Snapshot vs Backup

Snapshot Backup
Storage Same Ceph cluster as the volume Cold storage (cheaper, slower)
Speed Seconds to create Hours (depends on size)
Use case Quick rollback, cloning volumes Long-term retention, disaster recovery
Scheduling Manual (or via script) Automated scheduling with policies
Ransomware protection No Yes (deletion protection, strict policies)

For a full backup strategy with scheduled backups, ransomware protection, and cross-AZ restore, use the Backup Management feature in the Cloud Services Portal:

Backup Management

Create a Snapshot

Horizon

  1. Navigate to Volumes > Volumes.
  2. Find the volume you want to snapshot and open the actions menu.
  3. Select Create Snapshot.
  4. Enter a Snapshot Name and optional description.
  5. Click Create Snapshot.

CLI

openstack volume snapshot create --volume <VOLUME-NAME> <SNAPSHOT-NAME>

Example:

openstack volume snapshot create --volume data-vol-01 data-vol-01-snap1

Note

If the volume is in-use (attached to a VM), add the --force flag:

openstack volume snapshot create --volume data-vol-01 --force data-vol-01-snap1

The snapshot starts in creating status and moves to available once done (usually a few seconds).

List Snapshots

openstack volume snapshot list

+--------------------------------------+---------------------+-------------+-----------+------+
| ID                                   | Name                | Description | Status    | Size |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------+-------------+-----------+------+
| 0ec94901-93b5-43c1-86bd-735572574776 | data-vol-01-snap1   | None        | available |  100 |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------+-------------+-----------+------+

Create a Volume from a Snapshot

You can create a new volume from a snapshot — useful for cloning data or rolling back to a previous state.

Horizon

  1. Navigate to Volumes > Snapshots.
  2. Find the snapshot and open the actions menu.
  3. Select Create Volume.
  4. Fill in the new volume's name, size (must be at least the snapshot size), and type.
  5. Click Create Volume.

CLI

openstack volume create --snapshot <SNAPSHOT-NAME> <NEW-VOLUME-NAME>

Example:

openstack volume create --snapshot data-vol-01-snap1 data-vol-01-restore

You don't need to specify the size — it defaults to the snapshot size. Once the new volume is available, you can attach it to a VM.

Delete a Snapshot

Horizon

  1. Navigate to Volumes > Snapshots.
  2. Find the snapshot and open the actions menu.
  3. Select Delete Snapshot.
  4. Confirm.

CLI

openstack volume snapshot delete <SNAPSHOT-NAME>

Cannot Delete a Snapshot

If deletion fails, a volume created from that snapshot may still depend on it. You need to delete the dependent volume first.

Find volumes linked to the snapshot:

for i in $(openstack volume list -c ID -f value); do
    echo "volume: $i"
    openstack volume show $i -c snapshot_id -f value
done

If you find a volume whose snapshot_id matches the snapshot you want to delete, delete that volume first:

openstack volume delete <VOLUME-ID>

Then retry deleting the snapshot:

openstack volume snapshot delete <SNAPSHOT-NAME>