Guides - Capture an Image
Create preconfigured disk images that can be rapidly deployed to new or existing Compute Instances.
Requirements and Considerations
When capturing an image file from an existing Linode Compute Instance, keep the following limits, requirements, and considerations in mind.
Review the overall Technical Specifications of the Custom Images service.
The disk’s internal storage utilization must be 10% less than the account’s image size limit. Since the default image size limit is 6 GB, your disk’s storage usage should be under 5.4 GB in most cases. To check the internal disk usage, log in to the Compute Instance and run
df -h. Within the output, locate the disk and review the value within the Used column.The disk must be formatted using ext3/ext4 filesystems. Images cannot be created if you are using raw disks or disks that have been formatted using custom filesystems. CoreOS disk images are in RAW format. Images made from CoreOS disks can’t be used to deploy new Linodes.
Power off Linode to avoid database corruption. If your Linode is running any active databases, it’s recommended to power off the Linode down prior to creating the image. Creating an image that includes a running database can cause corruption or data loss in the imaged copy of the database.
Only the selected disk is saved to the Image. The Image is comprised only of the disk selected during the creation process. The Image does not store other aspects of the Linode, such as Configuration Profiles, Block Storage Volumes, IP Addresses, and other Linode-based settings.
Capturing an Image through the Cloud Manager
Log in to the Cloud Manager and open the Capture Image form by navigating to the Images page, clicking the Create Image button, and staying on the Capture Image tab.
Select your Linode and Disk from their respective dropdown lists and type in an optional Label and Description for the Image. If no Label is entered, the label for the disk will be used. When selecting a Linode and Disk, keep in mind any limitations that may prevent the Image from creating successfully.
Click the Create button to start creating the Image. It will take some time to fully complete. You can check the status of this process by navigating to the main Images page, finding the new image in the Custom Images table, and looking at the Status column. If the Image has been captured and processed, the status should be set to Ready. The Size of the Image is based on the disk’s usage, not the size of the disk itself.
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