By taking a snapshot of a vApp, you take snapshots of all virtual machines in the vApp. After you take the snapshot, you can revert all virtual machines in the vApp to the snapshot, or remove the snapshot if you do not need it.

vApp snapshots have some limitations.
  • vApp snapshots do not capture NIC configurations.
  • If any virtual machine in the vApp is connected to a named disk, you cannot take a vApp snapshot.

Procedure

  1. On the Virtual Data Center dashboard screen, click the card of the VDC you want to explore, and from the secondary left panel, select vApps.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the vApps in a card view.
  3. From the Actions menu of the vApp for which you want to take a snapshot, select Create Snapshot.
    Taking a snapshot of a vApp replaces the existing snapshot, if there is any.
  4. (Optional) Select whether to snapshot the memory of the vApp.

    When you capture the vApp memory state, the snapshot retains the live state of the vApp and the virtual machines in the vApp. Memory snapshots create a snapshot at a precise time, for example, to upgrade software that is still working. If you take a memory snapshot and the upgrade does not complete as expected, or the software does not meet your expectations, you can revert the virtual machine to its previous state.

    When you capture the memory state, the vApp's files do not require quiescing. If you do not capture the memory state, the snapshot does not save the live state of the vApp and the disks are crash consistent unless you quiesce them.

  5. (Optional) Select whether to quiesce the guest file system.
    This operation requires that VMware Tools is installed on the virtual machines in the vApp. When you quiesce a virtual machine, VMware Tools quiesces the file system of the virtual machine. A quiesce operation ensures that a snapshot disk represents a consistent state of the guest file systems. Quiesced snapshots are appropriate for automated or periodic backups. For example, if you are unaware of the virtual machine's activity, but want several recent backups to revert to, you can quiesce the files.

    You cannot quiesce vApps that have large capacity disks.

  6. Click OK.

Results

A snapshot of the vApp is created.

What to do next

You can revert all the virtual machines in the vApp to the most recent snapshot.