NOTE: Recent versions of docker has volume plugins and much better support so you should use that, this project was useful when volumes had no such features .
a python script to backup/restore the docker data containers / volumes.
this script is particularly suitable for volume only containers though it should work with any container that has volumes.
####Requires Python && Docker-py python package.
apt-get install python-pip
pip install docker-py
##How to use
python backup.py backup [yourcontainername]
will output a tar file with name of your container that you can move around
python backup.py restore [yourcontainername] [destinationname]
will restore the tar backup as a new data container
python backup.py help me
will out put the help message .. which is indeed not very helpful at the moment
start your docker container which has volumes.. Note I use my generic paimpozhil/data container which i use for my Whatpanel which is my own cPanel replacement.
more info here : https://github.com/paimpozhil/WhatPanel
root@dockerhost# docker run -td --name mydata paimpozhil/data
eba7a4aef3e3007d41b81a45e914196c3a74d0e69adaa4f781c2decb83730619
## data container created
root@dockerhost# docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
eba7a4aef3e3 paimpozhil/data:latest /bin/sh About a minute ago Up About a minute mydata
## Now you see it created now use the volumes in your any other containers
root@dockerhost# docker run -ti --volumes-from mydata ubuntu /bin/bash
root@c2b83b3971c3:/# ls
backup bin boot data dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var
root@c2b83b3971c3:/# cd /data
## create a BIG 100M file
root@c2b83b3971c3:/data# dd if=/dev/urandom of=bigfile bs=1024 count=102400
## exit and try to run another container to ensure the data is there .
root@a09fe3caf955:/data# ls -alth bigfile
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 100M Jun 19 22:00 bigfile
### exit now and back to the host
root@dockerhost# python backup.py backup mydata
##creates mydata.tar -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 101M Jun 19 22:03 mydata.tar
### now copy it around to any host or just restore here in any other name.
root@dockerhost# python backup.py restore mydata myotherdata
Restoring
/backup /var/lib/docker/vfs/dir/de537270e1d2365f6c3d32116549e54ef480a32e96b4caf51964a949ec875201
/var/lib/mysql /var/lib/docker/vfs/dir/56a88d289ddb8d641fea0c16e972f507c70e34dc81c1460499634e4c900c94ca
/data /var/lib/docker/vfs/dir/5bc67e4aaab669719b7cc24ab709a417a549e03d4eb550108355323895723740
/var/www /var/lib/docker/vfs/dir/de95abd703a13365c5cffecbc05eff533b3ced2fb3fc79f3fdd99e13cc1d299b
docker run --rm -ti --volumes-from e0ff233216f35cc151c081a55fa8943fabfbf86bed0234c801f44a7ecbbdfbd2 -v $(pwd):/backup2 ubuntu tar xvf /backup2/mydata.tar
metadata
backup/
var/lib/mysql/
data/
data/bigfile
var/www/
### now check if you have the correct data
root@dockerhost# docker run -ti --volumes-from myotherdata ubuntu /bin/bash
root@ac5671887ea0:/# cd /data
root@ac5671887ea0:/data# ls
bigfile
## make some changes to the new copy
root@ac5671887ea0:/data# touch this is my other data
root@ac5671887ea0:/data# ls
bigfile data is my other this
root@ac5671887ea0:/data#
## Ensure your actual data is intact :p
root@dockerhost# docker run -ti --volumes-from mydata ubuntu /bin/bash
root@3acae1260562:/# ls
backup bin boot data dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var
root@3acae1260562:/# cd /data
root@3acae1260562:/data# ls
bigfile
root@3acae1260562:/data#
First, you need to build it :
docker build --rm --no-cache -t docker-volume-backup .
Once done, can can backup using :
docker run -t -i --rm \
-v /var/lib/docker/vfs:/var/lib/docker/vfs \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v /tmp:/backup docker-volume-backup \
backup <container>
The .tar backups will be stored in /backup ... which you can bind to any dir on your docker host (above on /tmp not a good idea ;) )
docker run -t -i --rm \
-v /var/lib/docker/vfs:/var/lib/docker/vfs \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
restore <backupedcontainer> <newcontainer> <tar storage absolute path on host>
The .tar backups will be Fetched in "tar storage absolute path on host" ...
http://docs.docker.com/userguide/dockervolumes/#creating-and-mounting-a-data-volume-container
