Snapshots

Snapshots are instantaneous captures of a VM disk in a particular moment in time. They can be done manually or automatically and periodically using a set of rules.

There's a limit of 2 snapshots per user.

Snapshot management is done in the “Storage” screen:

Storage

In the dropdown “Select view” we can choose between displaying a volume or a snapshot list. It is always possible to see the snapshots of a particular volume if we first select it to see its details and then push the “View snapshots” button.

When selecting a volume the following action bar is shown:

Volume options

Manually creating a snapshot

After requesting confirmation the snapshot is made. It is a slow process and its duration depends on the volume size and on the network usage at that moment. In the snapshots list we can check its state:

“BackingUp” while in process.
“BackedUp ” when completed.

Create periodic snapshots

When choosing this option a screen appears to configure the snapshot periodicity:

Periodic snapshots parameter menu.

Snapshots can be done with the following periodicity:

“hourly”: each hour at a specific minute.
“daily”: each day at a specific hour.
“weekly”: each week at a specific day and hour.
“monthly”: each month at a specific day and hour.

All periodicities have a “Keep x snapshots” parameter where x is the snapshots number to hold. If we choose one (recommended) each new snapshot will overwrite the previous.

A new snapshot will be added to the list when we click “Add” and the process can be repeated till the “Done” button id chosen.

Recover an snapshot

CloudStack does not support booting a VM from a “root disk” recovered from a snapshot. All snapsno soporta el arranque de una VM a partir de un “root disk” recuperado de un snapshot. Todos los snapshots se consideran “data disks”. Sin embargo es posible convertir el snapshot de un “root disk” en un template y crear una VM a partir de dicho template.

A partir de la lista de snapshots, seleccionando una de ellas podremos recuperar un snapshot creando un volumen de tipo “data disk” o creando un “template”.