In this chapter, we will cover the task of creating instance backups and/or snapshots using the native OpenStack capability built into the Compute service (Nova). When adopting a true cloud approach, the approach of scaling horizontally and disposable resources, you will find great use in leveraging snapshots versus traditional backups. Despite that it is good, the best practice is to understand both the capabilities and the proper use case for each. We will step through how to manually create backups or snapshots first and then transition to creating a playbook with roles to fully automate it on a tenant level. We will cover the following topics in this chapter:
Defining backups and snapshots
Manually creating backups and snapshots
Restoring an instance backup
Automation considerations
Coding the playbook and roles
The review of playbook and role