Cloned from launchpad blueprint https://blueprints.launchpad.net/nova/+spec/auto-backup-terminate.

Description:

On virtual machine deletion (termination) there needs to be a way to safely transmit the state of that virtual machine (disk state to begin with, memory state maybe later in the future) to a location for a given period of time. This is useful for debugging, tracking and auditing (and even backing up) of terminated machines for a given period of time. Most of this functionality already exists in openstack but there are some slight additions that need to be added. This type of feature should be available for the people that control the cloud as well as users who run on the cloud (as a private company that runs ontop of the cloud may want the same functionality for there own uses). 

Specification URL (additional information):

http://wiki.openstack.org/AutoTerminateBackup