User`s guide

Operations on Virtual Machines and Containers 45
Using pbackup and prestore
Along with pctl, you can use the following utilities to create and manage backups of your
virtual machines and Containers:
 pbackup. This utility is used to create backups of individual virtual machines and
Containers or entire Parallels servers.
 prestore. This utility is used to manage the existing backups of virtual machines and
Containers.
Backing Up Virtual Machines and Containers
The pbackup utility is run on the Backup Server connecting via SSH to the Parallels server
and backing up one or more virtual machines and Containers on this server. The created backup
archive is then placed to the directory on the Backup Server defined in the
/etc/vzbackup.conf global backup configuration file. By default, this directory is
/vz/backups. Later on, the virtual machine and Container backups can be restored from this
directory.
Assuming that you are going to back up the entire Parallels server (i.e. all virtual machines and
Containers on this server) with the test.com hostname, you can run the following command
on the Backup Server:
# pbackup test.com
During the command execution, you will be asked to provide the test.com credentials. After
doing so, the command will back up all virtual machines and Containers on the test.com and
put
 all backed up Containers to the Backup Server
 all backed up virtual machines to the Source Server
To save the backed up virtual machines also on the Backup Server, you should additionally
specify the -n option. This option is used to indicate the IP address or hostname of the Backup
Server and its credentials:
# pbackup -n root:7ujn6yhb@192.168.10.199 test.com
If you wish to back up not all, but specific virtual machines and Containers from the specified
server, use the –e or –x switches (to include or exclude the specified virtual machines and
Containers, respectively). For example:
# pbackup -n root:7ujn6yhb@192.168.10.199 test.com -e 101 MyVM
In this session, only Container 101 and the MyVM virtual machine residing on the Source Server
with the test.com hostname will be included in the backup, and their backups will be stored
on the Backup Server.
Notes:
1. A Backup Server can be any server running the Parallels Server Bare Metal software and
having sufficient space for storing virtual machine and Container backups.
2. For the full list of configuration parameters and command line options for pbackup, refer to
the Parallels Command Line Reference Guide.