A snapshot is a point-in-time capture of the state of a disk, volume, file system or virtual machine, which can be used to restore it to that moment or to create a copy.
Why it matters
Snapshots are fast and convenient because many systems record only changes after the snapshot is taken. They are ideal before risky changes such as an operating system upgrade: if something breaks, you roll back in minutes.
They are not a full backup strategy. A snapshot often depends on the original volume or the same provider account, so losing those can lose the snapshot too.
Example
Before upgrading PHP on a VPS, you take a snapshot named pre-php-upgrade. The upgrade breaks the site, so you restore the snapshot and the server returns to its previous state in a few minutes.
Common mistakes
- Treating snapshots as long-term backups kept in the same account.
- Keeping many old snapshots, which consume storage and may slow the disk.
- Snapshotting a running database without making sure the data is consistent.
Related
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यह पेज सामान्य जानकारी है, जिसे हमारी संपादकीय टीम ने लिखा है और दस्तावेज़ीकरण बदलने पर अपडेट किया जाता है। सर्वर और प्रदाता अलग-अलग होते हैं, इसलिए बदलाव पहले सुरक्षित तरीके से जाँचें। देखें: संपादकीय नीति और अस्वीकरण.