How to keep or drop LVM snapshot?

Question

I have made an LVM snapshop by

lvcreate --name snap --size 10G -s /dev/vg00/vm

What command should I write if I want to drop the snapshot, and not keep the changes that have happened since the snapshot?

And what command should I write to roll the changes from the snapshot into /dev/vg00/vm ?

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 16 '11 at 04:18

17

to drop snapshot use:

lvremove group/snap-name

to merge snapshot use:

lvconvert --merge group/snap-name

Though merging will be deferred until the orgin and snapshot volumes are unmounted. You may need to update kernel (>=2.6.33) and lvm tools to have support for merging.

edited Feb 16 '11 at 04:18

Thiago Figueiro

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answered Oct 03 '10 at 01:50

Hubert Kario

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Does this mean that you can run `lvconvert --merge ...` then reboot in order to rewind the volume? – Hubro Mar 25 '20 at 14:05
@Hubro Exactly. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/LVM#Snapshots for more information – mxmehl Jan 07 '22 at 13:57

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

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Looks like this has been asked before:

Linux LVM snapshot commit or revert?

As well as:

http://www.jonnor.com/2010/02/lvm-snapshot-merging-avaliable/

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

Community

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answered Sep 27 '10 at 12:57

rfelsburg

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Ok, so `lvremove` accepts the changes in the snapshot. So far so good =) – Sandra Sep 27 '10 at 23:18

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 20 '18 at 13:43

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OK, first of all: the grand old LVM1 supported only read-only snapshots. In that case the modifications were copied to original image after unmounting the snapshot. LVM2 provides support for read-write snapshots, allowing you to do funkier stuff with virtual machine images and stuff like that.

Novell has a very niece piece of documentation about the concept of using LVM for rolling back a failed OS update. Take a look at that article, it provides all the bits and pieces you need for your case.

edited Apr 20 '18 at 13:43

wazoox

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answered Sep 27 '10 at 13:02

Janne Pikkarainen

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So there isn't a command to drop the snapshot without accepting the changes? – Sandra Sep 27 '10 at 23:20

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 01 '12 at 04:26

you can use lvremove command to remove the old snapshot files:

lvremove /dev/vg_brcvhost1/snap this will ask you to remove a sanpshot persent in the your LV.

other commands are also there for managing a LVM based VM setup.

you can find the details commands in the link below: http://linux.math.tifr.res.in/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/snapshots_backup.html

and the below link may also be usefull: http://dentarg.it64.com/content/lvm-based-backup-virtual-machines

How to keep or drop LVM snapshot?

4 Answers4