Snapshots

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)

Creating Snapshots

Dashboard
CLI

Navigate to Volumes

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.

Field	Description
Snapshot Name	Descriptive name including date or context
Description	Optional — 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.

Authenticate

Load credentials

source openrc.sh

Create a snapshot

Create volume snapshot

openstack volume snapshot create \
  --volume <VOLUME_NAME_OR_ID> \
  --description "Pre-maintenance snapshot $(date +%Y-%m-%d)" \
  snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Verify the snapshot

List snapshots

openstack volume snapshot list

Show snapshot details

openstack volume snapshot show snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Confirm status shows available.

Status field shows available — snapshot is ready.

Restoring from Snapshots

Create Volume from Snapshot
CLI Restore

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.

Field	Value
Volume Name	Descriptive name for the restored volume
Size	Must be equal to or larger than the snapshot size
Volume Type	Select 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.

Create volume from snapshot

openstack volume create \
  --snapshot <SNAPSHOT_NAME_OR_ID> \
  --size <SIZE_GB> \
  --type ceph-ssd \
  restored-volume-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Verify the volume is available

openstack volume show restored-volume-$(date +%Y%m%d) -c status

Attach to instance

openstack server add volume <INSTANCE_ID> restored-volume-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Managing Snapshots

Dashboard
CLI

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.

List all snapshots

openstack volume snapshot list --long

Delete a snapshot

openstack volume snapshot delete <SNAPSHOT_NAME_OR_ID>

Check project snapshot quota

openstack quota show --volume

Before deleting a snapshot, verify no volumes depend on it. Deleting a parent snapshot while dependent volumes exist is blocked — you must delete the child volumes first.

Consistency Considerations

Crash-consistent snapshots

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.

Application-consistent snapshots

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.

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

Core Services

Other Services

Overview

Creating Snapshots

Navigate to Volumes

Create a snapshot

Verify the snapshot

Authenticate

Create a snapshot

Verify the snapshot

Restoring from Snapshots

Locate the snapshot

Create a volume from the snapshot

Attach and mount the restored volume

Managing Snapshots

Consistency Considerations

Next Steps

Data Protection

Disaster Recovery

Block Storage Snapshots

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​Creating Snapshots

Navigate to Volumes

Create a snapshot

Verify the snapshot

Authenticate

Create a snapshot

Verify the snapshot

​Restoring from Snapshots

Locate the snapshot

Create a volume from the snapshot

Attach and mount the restored volume

​Managing Snapshots

​Consistency Considerations

​Next Steps

Data Protection

Disaster Recovery

Block Storage Snapshots

Troubleshooting

Overview

Creating Snapshots

Restoring from Snapshots

Managing Snapshots

Consistency Considerations

Next Steps