How does VM snapshot work?

Managing a virtual environment requires you to occasionally document your VMs for many reasons—from VM monitoring and security recordkeeping to historical server analytics and recovery in case of emergency. The idea behind a snapshot is to create a complete copy of your VM at a specific point in time, which you can store on your platform as long as you need. This process allows you to use snapshots to revert a VM to a known good state (e.g., before applying software updates). Creating a snapshot begins with your VM's storage disk. Different VMs have slightly varying protocols for accessing your storage disk—but the idea is to use your block-level disk as the blueprint for your snapshot. There are plenty of managed disks available from VM providers, offering unique benefits in terms of security and storage space. Sometimes, to ensure data consistency, the operating system may need to be quiesced before you take a snapshot. The snapshot can also be managed programmatically using an API. Within a single VM, there are many ways to create a VM snapshot. In Microsoft Azure Virtual Network, for example, there are three approaches for the same result: using the Azure portal, the command-line interface (CLI), or PowerShell. The Azure portal uses a snapshot wizard for an automated approach in which you can create a snapshot in a few clicks. At the same time, the CLI offers more control over the process with manual commands via Azure CLI or Cloud Shell interfaces. The third option, PowerShell, is a plugin that provides intuitive documentation, including snapshots. This is an essential workflow for managing your file system integrity.

How can I take a VM snapshot in Nutanix?

VM snapshots are commonly used in Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV), where they can serve as an integral part of your Nutanix VM management. Snapshots are also available in other VM environments, such as Microsoft Azure, VMware vSphere, and Microsoft Hyper-V. In each virtual environment, the specific protocols for creating snapshots differ slightly. In general, creating a snapshot for custom backup requires you to utilize your VM environment's managed disk to generate a snapshot of your current VM. These VMs are typically organized within a datacenter object. Although you can create a traditional VM backup in your Nutanix virtual environment, the backup feature is most helpful for long-term retention. For point-in-time backups, a snapshot is often the most efficient and accurate solution. Once you view your VM in your web console, simply assign a name to your snapshot and view it in your documentation dashboard. In VMware environments, admins often right-click the VM in the vCenter Server interface to perform snapshot operations. The underlying ESXi host manages the creation of snapshot files, including the VMDK delta file. Snapshot creation can also be scripted using PowerCLI. VMAN offers a comprehensive VM monitoring solution for Nutanix AHV and other virtual environments. From your VMAN control center, you can view your virtual environment with intuitive graphics and automatically map your VM to its dependencies. VMAN has the added benefit of offering real-time alerts, so you can get notified when a snapshot detects underlying hardware issues. If you're a busy admin with a wide inventory of VM snapshots, VMAN allows you to easily analyze what your Nutanix snapshots have to say about your VM health—and see which snapshots are taking up too much space.

How do I restore a VM from a snapshot?

Snapshots aren't only used for historical analysis—they can also be used to create a point-in-time clone of your VM. When you generate a VM from a snapshot, you can restore it to its original state at the time the snapshot was created. This is often referred to as a rollback operation. This process is available through your virtual environment's managed disk, which provides the storage for your backup. Once you download the disk where your snapshot is stored, standard VM providers offer an intuitive wizard for creating a clone from your snapshot. For example, Microsoft Azure allows you to export a specific snapshot from your GUI and then navigate the preset process for creating a new VM, as outlined in your documentation. Once you've generated your new disk and restored your VM, you can download it for full operation. This restore process is simplified by having VMware Tools installed on a VMware VM. You should also consider whether the VM needs to be powered off for certain operations. To initiate the restore, choose the selected snapshot from the snapshot tree. VMAN provides the VM snapshot manager tools you need to manage all your snapshots from a single location and understand their impact on your overall server performance. Often, restoring a VM from a snapshot means you no longer need to keep the snapshot on your disk. With VMAN, you can easily identify unnecessary snapshots and remove them to free up storage space. Once you've restored a VM from a snapshot, you can manage your new snapshot from the VMAN dashboard alongside the rest of your VMs. VMAN can also alert you when a snapshot needs to be manually consolidated.

VMware Snapshot Manager

Monitor snapshot usage and delete unwanted snapshots to reclaim wasted virtual resources.

Download Free Trial Email Link To Trial

Fully functional for 30 days

Learn More

Reclaim virtual resources

Report on snapshot usage

Optimize performance

Manage Azure snapshots

Identify top VMs by number of snapshots or total disk usage and delete snapshots instantly

VMware Snapshot Manager 0 Features Array Item - features item image

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager has executive dashboards and reports indicating the Top 10 VMs by total snapshot disk usage. VM admins can instantly identify the snapshots taking up disk storage space and impacting VM and host performance. Built-in management actions allow for immediate remediation. Administrators can delete one or a chain of snapshots from within Virtualization Manager without logging into VMware, vCenter or Microsoft Hyper-V, or Nutanix AHV.

Download Free Trial Email Link To Trial

Fully functional for 30 days

Learn More

Be up to date on VM snapshot usage with automated executive reports

VMware Snapshot Manager 1 Features Array Item - features item image

Multiple built-in snapshot reports can be automated or run manually to keep you apprised of VM snapshot usage. Quickly report and be able to see any VM snapshots, VMs that have two or more snapshots, VMs that have over 2GB in snapshot size, VMs that are larger than 50GB, or snapshots that are over 30 days old. Proper snapshot management will allow your VMs to run optimally.

Download Free Trial Email Link To Trial

Fully functional for 30 days

Learn More

Delete large, old, or unused snapshots and control VM sprawl

VMware Snapshot Manager 2 Features Array Item - features item image

Unmanaged VM snapshots affect the performance of the VM in question and other VMs on the same storage or host. Virtualization Manager's built-in dashboards, management actions, and reports keep you apprised of storage usage by snapshots. By following best practices and maintaining minimal snapshots, you can get the most out of your virtual environment.

Download Free Trial Email Link To Trial

Fully functional for 30 days

Learn More

Manage snapshots for Microsoft Azure VMs on the Azure Virtual Network

VMware Snapshot Manager 3 Features Array Item - features item image

Creating an Azure VM snapshot is an effective way to make a copy of the environment for secure and reliable documentation. Once you take a snapshot of your virtual machine, you can either generate a new VM based on the snapshot, or just keep your snapshot as a temporary record. With SolarWinds Virtualization Manager as your VM snapshot manager, users can leverage Azure snapshots from a centralized dashboard that includes storage and performance metrics in the Azure Virtual Network (VNet).

Download Free Trial Email Link To Trial

Fully functional for 30 days

Learn More

Get More on VM Snapshot Manager

Do you find yourself asking…

What is the difference between VM backup and VM snapshot?
How does VM snapshot work?
How can I take a VM snapshot in Nutanix?
How do I restore a VM from a snapshot?

A VM snapshot is a type of VM backup created as a custom solution for documentation purposes. With a custom backup, admins can analyze VM history for security analytics or performance management—or simply to have a record to ensure data integrity during migration. There are several scenarios where a VM snapshot is more effective than a traditional VM backup.

Snapshots have the benefit of creating a starting point for copying your virtual disk, allowing you to generate a new VM from the point in time when the snapshot was taken. The changes made after the snapshot are written to the delta disks. Creating a snapshot can also be a crucial tool for historical performance analytics, security audits, and documentation to ensure data preservation.

Although VM snapshots are a highly useful tool in VM management, they consume a significant amount of space on your server. As a result, creating snapshots requires close management to identify which snapshots are still needed and which can be deleted.

With SolarWinds^® Virtualization Manager (VMAN) as your VM snapshot manager, you can create a centralized backup management platform to keep track of all your VM snapshots and delete them when their work is done. From your VMAN dashboard, you can easily view your snapshots ranked by disk usage and quickly address inefficiencies in your snapshot inventory. You can also monitor the status of the snapshot tree.

A VM snapshot is a type of VM backup created as a custom solution for documentation purposes. With a custom backup, admins can analyze VM history for security analytics or performance management—or simply to have a record to ensure data integrity during migration. There are several scenarios where a VM snapshot is more effective than a traditional VM backup.

Snapshots have the benefit of creating a starting point for copying your virtual disk, allowing you to generate a new VM from the point in time when the snapshot was taken. The changes made after the snapshot are written to the delta disks. Creating a snapshot can also be a crucial tool for historical performance analytics, security audits, and documentation to ensure data preservation.

Although VM snapshots are a highly useful tool in VM management, they consume a significant amount of space on your server. As a result, creating snapshots requires close management to identify which snapshots are still needed and which can be deleted.

With SolarWinds^® Virtualization Manager (VMAN) as your VM snapshot manager, you can create a centralized backup management platform to keep track of all your VM snapshots and delete them when their work is done. From your VMAN dashboard, you can easily view your snapshots ranked by disk usage and quickly address inefficiencies in your snapshot inventory. You can also monitor the status of the snapshot tree.

Take complete control of your VMware environment

Virtualization Manager

Minimize VMware and Hyper-V resource contention for CPU, RAM, storage and network
Right-size VMs to free up underutilized resources
Take swift action on application and workload issues based on discovered virtual dependencies

Starts at

VMAN, an Orion module, is built on the SolarWinds Platform

Download Free Trial Email Link To Trial

Fully functional for 30 days

Learn More

Let's talk it over.

Contact our team. Anytime.