This script automatically creates a snapshot of a VirtualBox virtual machine.

automatic_snapshots.py

#-*- coding: utf8 -*-
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
This script automatically creates a snapshot of a
VirtualBox virtual machine. Crontab it if you want
to make it every a definite period of time.
"""
import sys
import subprocess
import pdb

from configparser import ConfigParser
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime
from dateutil.relativedelta import relativedelta

_config = ConfigParser()
CURRENT_PATH = Path(__file__).parent
CONFIG_FILE_PATH = CURRENT_PATH / 'snapshots_config.ini'
TIME_FORMAT = '%Y-%m-%d'

if not CONFIG_FILE_PATH.exists():
    print('ERROR: No configuration file. Please add "snapshots_config.ini" in the script directory.', file=sys.stderr)
    sys.exit(1)
else:
    _config.read(str(CONFIG_FILE_PATH))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    vms = _config['snapshot']['vms'].split(',')
    snapshot_name = datetime.today().strftime(TIME_FORMAT)

    for vm_name in vms:
        output_list = subprocess.check_output(['vboxmanage', 'snapshot', vm_name, 'list'], universal_newlines=True).split('\n')
        uncleaned_names = [item for item in output_list if 'Name:' in item and 'UUID:' in item]
        cleaned_vm_names = list(map(lambda item: item[item.find(':') + 1:item.find('(')].strip(), uncleaned_names))

        for cleaned_name in cleaned_vm_names[2:]:  # First two are Base installation and tools configured.
            snapshot_date = None

            try:
                snapshot_date = datetime.strptime(cleaned_name, TIME_FORMAT)
            except: pass

            if snapshot_date is not None and snapshot_date <= (datetime.today() - relativedelta(years=1)):
                subprocess.call(['vboxmanage', 'snapshot', vm_name, 'delete', cleaned_name])

        subprocess.call(['vboxmanage', 'snapshot', vm_name, 'take', snapshot_name])

    sys.exit(0)


__author__ = 'Charles Levesque'
__date__ = '2015-06-07'

snapshots_config.ini

# Configuration file for the automatic_snapshot.py script.

[snapshot]
# Name of the vms you want to snapshot separated by commas.
vms=vm_name_1,vm_name_2