github.com/jingleWang/moby@v1.13.1/experimental/checkpoint-restore.md (about) 1 # Docker Checkpoint & Restore 2 3 Checkpoint & Restore is a new feature that allows you to freeze a running 4 container by checkpointing it, which turns its state into a collection of files 5 on disk. Later, the container can be restored from the point it was frozen. 6 7 This is accomplished using a tool called [CRIU](http://criu.org), which is an 8 external dependency of this feature. A good overview of the history of 9 checkpoint and restore in Docker is available in this 10 [Kubernetes blog post](http://blog.kubernetes.io/2015/07/how-did-quake-demo-from-dockercon-work.html). 11 12 ## Installing CRIU 13 14 If you use a Debian system, you can add the CRIU PPA and install with apt-get 15 [from the criu launchpad](https://launchpad.net/~criu/+archive/ubuntu/ppa). 16 17 Alternatively, you can [build CRIU from source](http://criu.org/Installation). 18 19 You need at least version 2.0 of CRIU to run checkpoint/restore in Docker. 20 21 ## Use cases for checkpoint & restore 22 23 This feature is currently focused on single-host use cases for checkpoint and 24 restore. Here are a few: 25 26 - Restarting the host machine without stopping/starting containers 27 - Speeding up the start time of slow start applications 28 - "Rewinding" processes to an earlier point in time 29 - "Forensic debugging" of running processes 30 31 Another primary use case of checkpoint & restore outside of Docker is the live 32 migration of a server from one machine to another. This is possible with the 33 current implementation, but not currently a priority (and so the workflow is 34 not optimized for the task). 35 36 ## Using checkpoint & restore 37 38 A new top level command `docker checkpoint` is introduced, with three subcommands: 39 - `create` (creates a new checkpoint) 40 - `ls` (lists existing checkpoints) 41 - `rm` (deletes an existing checkpoint) 42 43 Additionally, a `--checkpoint` flag is added to the container start command. 44 45 The options for checkpoint create: 46 47 Usage: docker checkpoint create [OPTIONS] CONTAINER CHECKPOINT 48 49 Create a checkpoint from a running container 50 51 --leave-running=false Leave the container running after checkpoint 52 --checkpoint-dir Use a custom checkpoint storage directory 53 54 And to restore a container: 55 56 Usage: docker start --checkpoint CHECKPOINT_ID [OTHER OPTIONS] CONTAINER 57 58 59 A simple example of using checkpoint & restore on a container: 60 61 $ docker run --security-opt=seccomp:unconfined --name cr -d busybox /bin/sh -c 'i=0; while true; do echo $i; i=$(expr $i + 1); sleep 1; done' 62 > abc0123 63 64 $ docker checkpoint create cr checkpoint1 65 66 # <later> 67 $ docker start --checkpoint checkpoint1 cr 68 > abc0123 69 70 This process just logs an incrementing counter to stdout. If you `docker logs` 71 in between running/checkpoint/restoring you should see that the counter 72 increases while the process is running, stops while it's checkpointed, and 73 resumes from the point it left off once you restore. 74 75 ## Current limitation 76 77 seccomp is only supported by CRIU in very up to date kernels. 78 79 External terminal (i.e. `docker run -t ..`) is not supported at the moment. 80 If you try to create a checkpoint for a container with an external terminal, 81 it would fail: 82 83 $ docker checkpoint create cr checkpoint1 84 Error response from daemon: Cannot checkpoint container c1: rpc error: code = 2 desc = exit status 1: "criu failed: type NOTIFY errno 0\nlog file: /var/lib/docker/containers/eb62ebdbf237ce1a8736d2ae3c7d88601fc0a50235b0ba767b559a1f3c5a600b/checkpoints/checkpoint1/criu.work/dump.log\n" 85 86 $ cat /var/lib/docker/containers/eb62ebdbf237ce1a8736d2ae3c7d88601fc0a50235b0ba767b559a1f3c5a600b/checkpoints/checkpoint1/criu.work/dump.log 87 Error (mount.c:740): mnt: 126:./dev/console doesn't have a proper root mount 88