flex.planeflex.plane
Virtual Machines

Backups and Snapshots

Protect VMs with full backups and point-in-time snapshots.

flex.plane offers two complementary data protection mechanisms: backups and snapshots. They serve different purposes and have different trade-offs.

Backups are full exports of a VM's disk data to dedicated backup storage. They are independent of the VM and survive even if the VM is deleted. Use backups for disaster recovery and long-term retention.

Snapshots are point-in-time captures of a VM's disk and memory state. They are stored alongside the VM on the same storage and are fast to create and roll back. Use snapshots for quick undo points before risky changes.

Create a backup

  1. Navigate to the VM's detail page and open the Backups tab.
  2. Click Create Backup.

Trigger a full backup of the VM. The backup runs in the background while the VM continues running.

Once complete, the backup appears in the VM's backup list.

The Backups tab lists all backups for this VM with their creation date and size.

Backups are stored on the platform's configured backup storage, which is separate from the VM's primary disk storage. This means backups survive even if the VM's storage pool has issues.

Restore from a backup

To restore a VM to the state captured in a backup, find the backup in the list and click the Restore action. The portal asks for confirmation before proceeding.

Restoring from a backup overwrites the VM's current disk contents. Any data written since the backup was taken will be lost. Consider taking a snapshot before restoring if you want a rollback point.

Delete a backup

To remove a backup, find it in the backup list and click the delete action.

Deleting a backup is permanent. The backup data is removed from backup storage and cannot be recovered.

Take a snapshot

  1. Navigate to the VM's detail page and open the Snapshots tab.
  2. Click Take Snapshot.
  3. Enter a description (e.g. "Before kernel upgrade").
  4. Click Create.

The snapshot form lets you add a description to identify the snapshot later.

Snapshots capture the VM's disk state (and memory state if the VM is running). They are fast to create because they use copy-on-write. Only changes after the snapshot point consume additional storage.

The Snapshots tab displays all snapshots for this VM. Snapshots form a tree structure based on their parent relationships.

Take a snapshot before any risky operation: kernel upgrades, major config changes, application deployments. If something goes wrong, you can roll back in seconds.

Roll back to a snapshot

To revert a VM to a snapshot, find the snapshot in the list and click the Rollback action. The VM's disks (and memory, if it was a running snapshot) are restored to the exact state at the time the snapshot was taken.

Rolling back discards all changes made since the snapshot. This includes any newer snapshots in the tree that depend on the current state. Make sure you understand what you are reverting before confirming.

Delete a snapshot

To remove a snapshot, find it in the snapshot list and click the delete action. Deleting a snapshot merges its changes into the parent, so you do not lose any data. You just lose the ability to roll back to that specific point in time.

Snapshots are not a substitute for backups. They live on the same storage as the VM, so a storage failure can take out both the VM and its snapshots. Use backups for disaster recovery and snapshots for quick undo.

VM Firewall

Configure per-VM inbound and outbound firewall rules.

File Management

Browse, read, and write files on running VMs via the QEMU guest agent.