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What is Checkpointing?

Checkpointing stops the container and freezes it in the current running state that can be restored at a later point in time.

Checkpointing currently only works with rootful containers.

Checkpointing requires the criu package to be installed, you can read more about CRIU here.

Checkpointing a Container

The # podman container checkpoint <container_id> command is use to checkpoint a container. This will freeze the container in the current running state and stop the container.

Restoring a Container

The # podman container restore <container_id> command is used to restore a container to the checkpoint. The container will be restored from the exact point in time it was checkpointed.

Migrating a Container

The # podman container checkpoint <container_id> -e /tmp/mycheckpoint.tar.gz will save a compressed version of the container. This file can then be transferred to another system using a method such as scp and restored with the # podman container restore -i /tmp/mycheckpoint.tar.gz command.