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Converting Disk from RAW to QCOW2 to Allow For Incremental Backup

KB ID: 4345
Product: Veeam Backup for Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager and Red Hat Virtualization
Published: 2022-08-31
Last Modified: 2024-09-30
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Purpose

This article documents how to convert a Disk from RAW to QCOW2, allowing Veeam Backup for Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager and Red Hat Virtualization to create an incremental backup of the disk.

As documented in the Veeam Backup for Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager and Red Hat Virtualization User Guide, Incremental Backup requires that "the disk is formatted in QCOW2 format."

Solution

Method 1: Convert Disk Format Using REST API

With oVirt version 4.5 and higher, RHV REST API can be used to convert a RAW disk to QCOW2 format.

For more information, review: oVirt REST API documentation - disk - convert POST 

Example API request:

curl \
--cacert '/etc/pki/ovirt-engine/ca.pem' \
--user 'admin@internal:mypassword' \
--request POST \
--header 'Version: 4' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/xml' \
--header 'Accept: application/xml' \
--data '
<action>
   <disk>
     <sparse>true</sparse>
     <format>cow</format>
   </disk>
 </action>
' \
https://<myengine.example.com>/ovirt-engine/api/disks/<disk id>/convert

Note:

  • To determine the disk id, in the RHV Administration portal, navigate to Storage > Disks.
  • The operation will be processed in the background.
  • The conversion time depends on the disk size.
  • To check whether the disk format has been changed, you can send a GET request in the following format: 
    https://<myengine.example.com>/ovirt-engine/api/disks/<disk id>

Method 2: Convert Disk Format via Backup and Restore

A secondary method to convert the disk's format is to:

  1. Back up the VM that has RAW disks.
  2. Restore the VM disks in the QCOW2 format.

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