Backing up virtual machines

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

• generate, by the processing device, a live snapshot of a virtual disk image attached to a virtual machine, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises the processing device to:
• generate a new read-write volume for the virtual machine;
• flush data from a cache of the virtual machine to the virtual disk image;
• convert an existing read-write volume of the virtual disk image to a read-only volume;
• and
• configure the new read-write volume as an active volume for the virtual machine, the new read-write volume to record differences from the read-only volume;
• generate, by the processing device, a temporary snapshot of the read-only volume of the live snapshot, the temporary snapshot comprising a temporary read-write volume and temporary read-only volumes, and wherein the temporary read-only volumes of the temporary snapshot comprise previous temporary volumes that precede the temporary read-write volume, and wherein the temporary read-write volume is based on the previous temporary volumes and indicates differences from the previous temporary volumes;
• attach the temporary snapshot to a backup component comprising a virtual appliance hosted by a virtual machine executed by the processing device, wherein the temporary snapshot is exposed at a system level of the virtual machine and to the backup component while not exposed at a user level of the virtual machine, and wherein the temporary read-write volume is written to by the backup component without altering data in the temporary read-only volumes of the temporary snapshot;
• and
• cause at least one of the backup component or a backup service to backup the virtual disk image from the attached temporary snapshot.

A computing device comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processing device is to:
• generate a live snapshot of a virtual disk image attached to a virtual machine, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises the processing device to:
• generate a new read-write volume for the virtual machine;
• flush data from a cache of the virtual machine to the virtual disk image;
• convert an existing read-write volume of the virtual disk image to a read-only volume;
• and
• configure the new read-write volume as an active volume for the virtual machine, the new read-write volume to record differences from the read-only volume;
• generate a temporary snapshot of the read-only volume of the live snapshot, the temporary snapshot comprising a temporary read-write volume and temporary read-only volumes, and wherein the temporary read-only volumes of the temporary snapshot comprise previous temporary volumes that precede the temporary read-write volume, and wherein the temporary read-write volume is based on the previous temporary volumes and indicates differences from the previous temporary volumes;
• attach the temporary snapshot to a backup component comprising a virtual appliance hosted by a virtual machine executed by the processing device, wherein the temporary snapshot is exposed at a system level of the virtual machine and to the backup component while not exposed at a user level of the virtual machine, and wherein the temporary read-write volume is written to by the backup component without altering data in the temporary read-only volumes of the temporary snapshot;
• and
• cause at least one of the backup component or a backup service to backup the virtual disk image from the attached temporary snapshot.