Backup up LXC containers using `tar`

backup-lxc-with-tar.md

Creating tarballs from LXC containers

NOTE: this is about tarring up plain LXC (i.e. not LXD) containers without the benefits of btrfs or similar

shut down the respective container, e.g.

lxc-stop mycontainer

ensure nothing "else" is (bind-) mounted into your container, e.g.

findmnt --real | grep mycontainer

otherwise unmount it, e.g.

sudo umount /scratch/containers/mycontainer/rootfs/var/backups/mycontainer

cd into the container's LXC directory, and run tar asking for numeric ownership preservation:

cd /scratch/containers/mycontainer
sudo tar \
    --numeric-owner \
    --xz \
    -cvf \
    /scratch/data/backups/containers/mycontainer-$(date +%F).tar.xz \
    config \
    rootfs

finally start the container again after the tar command finishes (re-mounting the bind-mount from above):

sudo mount /scratch/containers/mycontainer/rootfs/var/backups/mycontainer
lxc-start mycontainer