How can I download an image/a volume?

In order to download a volume, e.g. because you want to save a backup or want to use this volume in a different environment, you will face several limitations:

  1. You cannot simply download a snapshot of a volume (it will always have a size of 0 (zero) bytes)
  2. You need to use the command line tools.

In order to download an instance’s volume please follow these steps:

  1. Create a snapshot of the instance
  2. Go to Volumes > Snapshots
  3. Click on „Create Volume“ next to the snapshot you want to download
  4. Go to Volumes > Volumes
  5. Click on „Upload to Image“ in the dropdown menu next to the volume you want to download.
    This step can take a long time. Grab a coffee and do something else until the new image has been created.
  6. Go to Compute > Images
  7. Click on the image and note its ID.
  8. Using the command line tools you can now download the image using the openstack command:openstack image save --file myimage.raw