===== Take snapshot of VM =====

<code bash>
sudo virsh domblklist vm1

Target          Source
-----------------------------------------------
vda             /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1.img

sudo virsh snapshot-create-as \
        --domain vm1 \
        --name guest-state1 \
        --diskspec vda,file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/overlay1.qcow2 \
        --disk-only \
        --atomic \
        --quiesce
</code>

Ensure ''%%qemu-guest-agent%%'' is installed inside the VM. Otherwise omit the ''%%--quiesce%%'' flag, but when you restore the VM it will be as if the system had crashed. Not that big of a deal since the VM’s OS should flush required data and maintain consistency of its filesystems.

<code bash>
sudo rsync -avhW --progress /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1.img /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1-copy.img
sudo virsh blockcommit vm1 vda --active --verbose --pivot
</code>

===== Full disk backup of VM =====

Start the guest VM.

<code bash>
sudo virsh start vm1
</code>

Enumerate the disk(s) in use.

<code bash>
sudo virsh domblklist vm1

Target          Source
-------------------------------------------------
vda             /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1.qcow2
</code>

Begin the backup.

<code bash>
sudo virsh backup-begin vm1

Backup started
</code>

Check the job status. “None” means the job has likely completed.

<code bash>
sudo virsh domjobinfo vm1

Job type:        None
</code>

Check the completed job status.

<code bash>
sudo virsh domjobinfo vm1 --completed

Job type:               Completed
Operation:              Backup
Time elapsed:           182     ms
File processed:         39.250 MiB
File remaining:         0.000 B
File total:             39.250 MiB
</code>

Now we see the copy of the backup.

<code bash>
sudo ls -lash /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1.qcow2*

15M -rw-r--r--. 1 qemu qemu 15M May 10 12:22 vm1.qcow2
21M -rw-------. 1 root root 21M May 10 12:23 vm1.qcow2.1620642185
</code>