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Exporting virtual machines

You can export a virtual machine (VM) and its associated disks in order to import a VM into another cluster or to analyze the volume for forensic purposes.

You create a VirtualMachineExport custom resource (CR) by using the command line interface.

Alternatively, you can use the virtctl vmexport command to create a VirtualMachineExport CR and to download exported volumes.

Creating a VirtualMachineExport custom resource

You can create a VirtualMachineExport custom resource (CR) to export the following objects:

  • Virtual machine (VM): Exports the persistent volume claims (PVCs) of a specified VM.

  • VM snapshot: Exports PVCs contained in a VirtualMachineSnapshot CR.

  • PVC: Exports a PVC. If the PVC is used by another pod, such as the virt-launcher pod, the export remains in a Pending state until the PVC is no longer in use.

The VirtualMachineExport CR creates internal and external links for the exported volumes. Internal links are valid within the cluster. External links can be accessed by using an Ingress or Route.

The export server supports the following file formats:

  • raw: Raw disk image file.

  • gzip: Compressed disk image file.

  • dir: PVC directory and files.

  • tar.gz: Compressed PVC file.

Prerequisites

  • The VM must be shut down for a VM export.

Procedure

  1. Create a VirtualMachineExport manifest to export a volume from a VirtualMachine, VirtualMachineSnapshot, or PersistentVolumeClaim CR according to the following example and save it as example-export.yaml:

    VirtualMachineExport example
    apiVersion: export.kubevirt.io/v1alpha1
kind: VirtualMachineExport
metadata:
  name: example-export
spec:
  source:
    apiGroup: "kubevirt.io" (1)
    kind: VirtualMachine (2)
    name: example-vm
  ttlDuration: 1h (3)
    1 Specify the appropriate API group:

    • "kubevirt.io" for VirtualMachine.

    • "snapshot.kubevirt.io" for VirtualMachineSnapshot.

    • "" for PersistentVolumeClaim.
    2 Specify VirtualMachine, VirtualMachineSnapshot, or PersistentVolumeClaim.
    3 Optional. The default duration is 2 hours.

  2. Create the VirtualMachineExport CR:

    $ oc create -f example-export.yaml

  3. Get the VirtualMachineExport CR:

    $ oc get vmexport example-export -o yaml

    The internal and external links for the exported volumes are displayed in the status stanza:

    Output example
    apiVersion: export.kubevirt.io/v1alpha1
kind: VirtualMachineExport
metadata:
  name: example-export
  namespace: example
spec:
  source:
    apiGroup: ""
    kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
    name: example-pvc
  tokenSecretRef: example-token
status:
  conditions:
  - lastProbeTime: null
    lastTransitionTime: "2022-06-21T14:10:09Z"
    reason: podReady
    status: "True"
    type: Ready
  - lastProbeTime: null
    lastTransitionTime: "2022-06-21T14:09:02Z"
    reason: pvcBound
    status: "True"
    type: PVCReady
  links:
    external: (1)
      cert: |-
        -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
        ...
        -----END CERTIFICATE-----
      volumes:
      - formats:
        - format: raw
          url: https://vmexport-proxy.test.net/api/export.kubevirt.io/v1alpha1/namespaces/example/virtualmachineexports/example-export/volumes/example-disk/disk.img
        - format: gzip
          url: https://vmexport-proxy.test.net/api/export.kubevirt.io/v1alpha1/namespaces/example/virtualmachineexports/example-export/volumes/example-disk/disk.img.gz
        name: example-disk
    internal:  (2)
      cert: |-
        -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
        ...
        -----END CERTIFICATE-----
      volumes:
      - formats:
        - format: raw
          url: https://virt-export-example-export.example.svc/volumes/example-disk/disk.img
        - format: gzip
          url: https://virt-export-example-export.example.svc/volumes/example-disk/disk.img.gz
        name: example-disk
  phase: Ready
  serviceName: virt-export-example-export
    1 External links are accessible from outside the cluster by using an Ingress or Route.
    2 Internal links are only valid inside the cluster.