how to backup VM instance locally?

[farzher]

i created a Machine Image, but there appears to be no way to download it.
i want a local backup. how?

[desireejoy]

Hi @farzher ,

Welcome to Google Cloud Community!

Here’s a common ways to achieve a local backup of your machine image:

Exporting to a Cloud Storage Bucket:

This is the most recommended and reliable method. You export your Machine Image to a storage bucket, which creates a raw disk image file you can then download locally.

Steps:

1. Create a Google Cloud Storage (GCS) Bucket:

• If you don't already have one, create a GCS bucket in the same region as your Machine Image. You can do this through the Google Cloud Console, the gsutil command-line tool, or the Cloud SDK.
• Example using gsutil:

gsutil mb -l <REGION_OF_YOUR_MACHINE_IMAGE> gs://<YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>

2. Export the Machine Image:

• Use the gcloud compute images export command:

    gcloud compute images export \

  --destination-uri="gs://<YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>/<YOUR_EXPORTED_IMAGE_NAME>.tar.gz" \

  --image="<YOUR_MACHINE_IMAGE_NAME>" \

  --project="<YOUR_PROJECT_ID>" \

  --export-format=tar.gz

• <YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>: The name of the bucket you created.
• <YOUR_EXPORTED_IMAGE_NAME>: The desired name for the exported file (e.g., my-image-backup).
• <YOUR_MACHINE_IMAGE_NAME>: The name of the Machine Image you want to back up.
• <YOUR_PROJECT_ID>: Your Google Cloud Project ID.
• --export-format=tar.gz: Specifies that the export should be a compressed TAR archive of the raw disk image.

3. Download the Exported File:

• Use gsutil cp to copy the file to your local machine:

gsutil cp gs://<YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>/<YOUR_EXPORTED_IMAGE_NAME>.tar.gz /path/to/your/local/directory

• /path/to/your/local/directory: The directory on your local machine where you want to save the file.

4. Extract the RAW disk image (Optional):

• If you want to access the raw disk image, extract the tar.gz file using a tool like tar:

tar -xvzf <YOUR_EXPORTED_IMAGE_NAME>tar.gz

• This will give you a .raw or .img file.

For additional reference, you may check the documentation below:

1. Export a custom image to Cloud Storage

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