Snapshots preserve the state and data of a virtual machine (VM) at the time you take the snapshot. When you take a snapshot of a VM, the VM is not affected and only an image of the VM in a given state is copied and stored. Snapshots are useful when you must revert repeatedly to the same VM state, but you do not want to create multiple VMs.

Snapshots are useful as a short-term solution for testing software with unknown or potentially harmful effects. For example, you can use a snapshot as a restoration point during a linear or iterative process, such as installing update packages, or during a branching process, such as installing different versions of a program.

You might want to use a snapshot when upgrading the operating system of a VM. For example, before you upgrade the VM, you take a snapshot to preserve the point in time before the upgrade. If there are no issues during the upgrade, you can choose to remove the snapshot, which will commit the changes you made during the upgrade. However, if you encountered an issue, you can revert to the snapshot, which will move back to your saved VM state prior to the upgrade.

Staring with VMware Cloud Director 10.6, you can take multiple snapshots of a VM. The maximum number of snapshots per VM is 32, and you can limit that number further.

Change the Maximum Number of Snapshots per VM Using the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal

In the Limits modal, you can specify the maximum number of snapshots per virtual machine.

Procedure

  1. From the primary left navigation panel, select Administration.
  2. From the secondary left navigation panel, under Settings, select Policies.
    You can view the default policies that your system administrator has set.
  3. To edit the Limits section, click Edit.
  4. Enter limit to the number of snapshots per VM for this organization.
    The number can be up to 32.
  5. Click Save.

Take a Snapshot of a Virtual Machine in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal

Note: Snapshots do not capture NIC configurations.
You can use the options on the Snapshots page to manage VM snapshots.
Note: You can also take a snapshot from the Actions menu of the VM which creates a snapshot in addition to the existing snapshots.

Prerequisites

Verify that the VM is not connected to a named disk.

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 Virtual Machines.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the list in a card view and, optionally, arrange the list of VMs from the Sort by drop-down menu.
  3. Select the VM of which you want to take a snapshot, and from the left page navigation panel, select Snapshots.
  4. Click Take Snapshot and enter a name for the snapshot.
  5. (Optional) Select whether to snapshot the memory of the VM.

    When you capture the VM's memory state, the snapshot retains the live state of the VM. 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 VM to its previous state.

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

  6. (Optional) Select whether to quiesce the guest file system.
    This operation requires that VMware Tools is installed on the VM. When you quiesce a VM, VMware Tools quiesces the file system of the VM. 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 VM's activity, but want several recent backups to revert to, you can quiesce the files.

    You cannot quiesce VMs that have large capacity disks.

  7. Click Create.

What to do next

To change the name of a snapshot, click Edit.

Revert a Virtual Machine to a Snapshot in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal

Note: You can also revert to a snapshot from the Actions menu of the VM which reverts the VM to the current snapshot.

Prerequisites

Verify that the VM has a 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 Virtual Machines.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the list in a card view and, optionally, arrange the list of VMs from the Sort by drop-down menu.
  3. Select the VM which you want to revert to a snapshot, and from the left page navigation panel, select Snapshots
  4. Select the snapshot you want to revert to, and click Revert.
  5. Confirm the revert operation.

Delete a Snapshot of a Virtual Machine in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal

When you remove a snapshot, you delete that state of the VM that you preserved, and you can never return to that state again. Removing a snapshot does not affect the current state of the VM.

Prerequisites

Verify that the VM has a stored 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 Virtual Machines.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the list in a card view and, optionally, arrange the list of VMs from the Sort by drop-down menu.
  3. Select the VM of which you want to delete a snapshot, and from the left page navigation panel, select Snapshots
  4. Select the snapshot you want to remove, and click Delete.
  5. Confirm the deletion of the snapshot.