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Changed block tracking allows you to only back up data that has changed since the last backup so you can save storage space.

Image-level backups offer a variety of recovery options including the ability to recover a entire VM or individual files or applications. Unlike snapshots, VM backups can be moved to the cloud, a separate location, or offsite for safe storage.īeyond using backups as part of a sound business continuity plan, backups can provide granular features that snapshots cannot. What makes backups differentīackups are standalone copies of your data that aren't connected to the VM and, therefore, offer a full VM copy so a single point of disk failure doesn't equal catastrophic data loss. VMware recommends only using 2 to 3 snapshots in a chain and never running a snapshot for more than 72 hours to keep performance high. Snapshots can also effect the performance of your VM if snapshots are kept running for a long period of time. If the virtual disk is deleted or storage or infrastructure fails, snapshots cannot restore a VM. But again, snapshots are not a full copy of a virtual hard disk. Snapshots should can be used if you are performing an update that could harm your system. Snapshots can be used in production environments but should be done with purpose.

VM snapshots can be used as a quick failsafe to be able to rollback before a patch, an upgrade, a test, or unsafe operations were performed on a VM. Snapshots are generally used for development and testing purposes. The virtual machine data consists of all files, memory, devices on the network, and virtual network interface cards. The state of the machine includes the virtual machine’s power state of powered-on, powered-off or suspended. VM snapshots preserve the state and data of a virtual machine at a specific point in time so that if something goes wrong, you can go back to that point before it occurred. While many backup products use snapshots as part of a feature set, a snapshot alone is not a backup. It is dangerous to consider VM snapshots an actual backup copy of data. Mistakenly, some still view snapshots as a backup because they allow a VM to return to a previous state. VM snapshots are a simple and effective way to roll a virtual machine back to a point in time.