Managing Snapshots

Snapshots allow you to save an image of a virtual machine (VM) at a particular point in time. If you export a snapshot, you can use the exported files to import the VM to another system or back to the same everRun system to restore or duplicate the original VM.

You manage snapshots as described in:

• Creating a Snapshot
• Exporting a Snapshot
• Removing a Snapshot

To view the snapshots that you have created in the everRun Availability Console:

• Open the Snapshots page (see The Snapshots Page)
• On the Virtual Machines page (see The Virtual Machines Page), click a VM and click the Snapshots tab.

When you create a VM snapshot, the everRun system saves a snapshot image that includes any data that has changed in the VM since the previous snapshot, or, if no snapshots exist, since you originally created the VM. Because each snapshot contains only the changed data, some snapshots may take a small amount of storage space, and other snapshots may take more space depending on the level of VM activity and the amount of time that has passed since the previous snapshot.

Because snapshots are stored in the volume containers for each volume, ensure that you reserve enough storage space in the volume container for each volume you want to include in your VM snapshots, as described in Sizing Volume Containers. You can also remove older or obsolete snapshots to recover storage space.

You can create a snapshot of a VM whether the VM is running or shut down; however, if you want to create an application-consistent snapshot, where supported applications quiesce or freeze their operations to ensure data consistency, you must prepare your guest operating system as described in one of the following topics:

• Installing the QEMU Guest Agent for Application-Consistent Snapshots (Windows-based VMs)
• Installing the QEMU Guest Agent for Application-Consistent Snapshots (Linux-based VMs)

Related Topics

Creating and Migrating Virtual Machines

Managing the Operation of a Virtual Machine