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Overview

Create an immediate, one-shot backup of a workload using either the Polystack Dashboard or the ironcore-backup CLI. On-demand backups are useful before risky changes, for evidence capture, or for any workload not yet covered by a scheduled job. The same procedure works for virtual machines, system containers, and physical hosts.
Prerequisites
  • An active Polystack account with project membership
  • At least one datastore visible to your project
  • The workload to back up is running or accessible
  • For host backups, the ironcore-backup client must be installed on the host

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Workload Types

Virtual Machine

Block-level change tracking captures only modified blocks. The VM remains running for the full duration of the backup.

System Container

Filesystem-level backup of an Ironcore system container. Files are captured consistently via a snapshot read.

Physical Host

File-archive backup of any host where the backup client runs. Useful for config, application data, and bare-metal protection.

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Create a VM Backup

Open the Backup Solution

From the main navigation, choose Backup Solution > Snapshots.

Click Create

In the top-right corner of the snapshots list, click Create. The Create Backup dialog opens.

Select the source

For Workload type, choose Virtual Machine. Pick the VM from the searchable list. Only VMs your project owns are shown.

Choose the datastore and namespace

Select the target Datastore and (optionally) a Namespace. Datastores not visible to your project are hidden from the dropdown.

Set encryption

Select Use project encryption key to encrypt the backup with the project’s master key. Backups created without a key cannot be encrypted retroactively.

Optional notes

Add a Comment to identify the snapshot — for example, “pre-upgrade snapshot 2026-05-21”. Comments are visible in the snapshot list.

Start the backup

Click Create. A live task panel opens showing block scan progress and bytes transferred.
The snapshot appears in the list with status Available once complete.

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Create a Container Backup

Open Snapshots

Navigate to Backup Solution > Snapshots and click Create.

Select the source

For Workload type, choose Container. Pick the container from the list.

Pick exclusions

Optionally add paths to Exclude — for example /var/cache or application-managed staging directories.

Start the backup

Click Create.
The container snapshot appears in the list when complete.

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Create a Host Backup

Host backups run on the host itself.
Install the backup client on the host
sudo apt-get install ironcore-backup-client
Back up /srv to the project datastore
ironcore-backup backup create \
  --type host \
  --backup-id $(hostname)-srv \
  --source /srv \
  --repository ibs-primary \
  --namespace hosts \
  --include "/srv/data" \
  --include "/srv/app/config"
FlagDescription
--backup-idBackup group name. Repeated backups with the same ID build an incremental chain
--includePaths to include. Repeat for multiple paths
--excludePaths to exclude. Repeat for multiple paths
--keyfileOptional client-side encryption key file
Host backup complete when the CLI prints TASK OK.

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Validation

After the backup completes, verify it is browsable:
Open the snapshot in Snapshots and click File Browser. The full file tree should load within a few seconds.
For high-confidence verification, also trigger a one-shot SHA-256 verify pass on the new snapshot. See Verification and Validation.

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Troubleshooting

Your project may not have access to any datastore. Contact your administrator and request the Datastore Backup role on the appropriate datastore.
The API token or user lacks Datastore.Backup permission on the target datastore or namespace. Verify the role assignment in Access Control.
The VM may be paused, migrating, or the hypervisor agent is unresponsive. Resume the VM, wait for migration to complete, or check the compute host health.
The host cannot reach the backup datastore on TCP/8007. Check network connectivity and firewall rules between the host and the backup server.

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Next Steps

Schedule Backup Jobs

Automate recurring backups with retention windows

Restore Options

Restore a full VM or individual files from this backup

Monitoring Jobs

Track active and historical backup tasks

How It Works

Conceptual overview of the backup pipeline