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Overview

Snapshots capture the state of a volume at a specific point in time. They are space-efficient — only changed blocks are stored after the initial snapshot is taken. Snapshots can be used to restore a volume to a previous state or to create new volumes pre-populated with the same data.
Prerequisites
  • An active Xloud account with project member access
  • Source volume must exist and be accessible
  • Sufficient snapshot quota in your project (check with your administrator)

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Creating Snapshots

Navigate to Volumes

Log in to the Xloud Dashboard (https://connect.<your-domain>) and navigate to Project → Volumes → Volumes.

Create a snapshot

In the volume list, click the Actions dropdown next to the target volume and select Create Snapshot.
FieldDescription
Snapshot NameDescriptive name including date or context
DescriptionOptional — notes about the purpose of this snapshot
Take snapshots before making significant configuration changes or before applying OS patches. Use a naming convention that includes the date: myvolume-2026-03-18-pre-upgrade.

Verify the snapshot

Navigate to Project → Volumes → Snapshots. The snapshot displays with status Available.
Snapshot is available and ready for restore or volume creation.

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Restoring from Snapshots

Create a new volume pre-populated with the snapshot data. This is the primary restore method — the original volume is preserved.

Locate the snapshot

Navigate to Project → Volumes → Snapshots and find the snapshot to restore.

Create a volume from the snapshot

Click Actions → Create Volume next to the snapshot.
FieldValue
Volume NameDescriptive name for the restored volume
SizeMust be equal to or larger than the snapshot size
Volume TypeSelect the appropriate storage tier
You can increase the volume size when restoring. This is useful when you need the restored data plus additional free space.

Attach and mount the restored volume

Attach the restored volume to the target instance:
Attach restored volume
openstack server add volume <INSTANCE_ID> <RESTORED_VOLUME_NAME>
The restored volume appears as a new block device and contains the data from the snapshot point in time.

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Managing Snapshots

Navigate to Project → Volumes → Snapshots to manage all project snapshots.Available actions:
  • Create Volume — create a new volume from the snapshot
  • Edit Snapshot — update the name or description
  • Delete Snapshot — permanently remove the snapshot
Snapshot deletion is permanent. Ensure the snapshot is no longer needed before deleting. A snapshot cannot be deleted if a volume was created from it and that volume still exists.

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Consistency Considerations

By default, XSDS snapshots are crash-consistent — they capture the on-disk state at the moment of the snapshot request. This is equivalent to pulling the power cord from the machine and is safe for most file systems (ext4, XFS) that use journaling for recovery.However, for databases and stateful applications, crash-consistent snapshots may capture in-flight transactions in an inconsistent state. The database will recover on next startup, but some in-flight transactions may be lost.
For databases and transactional applications, coordinate the snapshot with application-level freeze/thaw procedures:
PostgreSQL: flush and freeze
psql -c "SELECT pg_start_backup('snapshot', true);"
# Create the snapshot now
openstack volume snapshot create --volume <VOL> snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d)
psql -c "SELECT pg_stop_backup();"
MySQL: flush tables with read lock
mysql -e "FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK;"
# Create the snapshot now
openstack volume snapshot create --volume <VOL> snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d)
mysql -e "UNLOCK TABLES;"
For consistent multi-volume snapshots across a database and its transaction logs, freeze all volumes simultaneously before taking snapshots. This ensures the volumes are in a mutually consistent state.

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Next Steps

Data Protection

Pool-level replication and erasure coding for hardware failure protection

Disaster Recovery

Replicate volumes to a DR site for site-level failure protection

Block Storage Snapshots

Full lifecycle management for block volume snapshots

Troubleshooting

Diagnose snapshot creation failures and stuck snapshot states