Snapshot is one of the most important data protection features of every VPS server. The main use case for Snapshot is having a safe roll back point to minimize errors when making major changes in VPS such as installing, uninstalling certain software or components, or testing applications. Snapshot allows you to capture a copy of the virtual hard drive and any other associated data, such as settings and configurations. Normally, it is saved as a separate file, which you can later use to restore your VPS to its previous state.
Another advantage of using snapshots is that they can be created quickly and easily, without having to shut down or reboot your VPS. This means you can take snapshots while your VPS is running, which can help minimize downtime and ensure that your data is protected and backed up regularly.
Leaseweb recently launched a free Snapshot feature for every VPS. In order to create your first snapshot, follow the steps explained below.
How to create a VPS Snapshot step by step
1. As soon as you login to your customer portal, you can create a snapshot of your VPS in the menu by accessing the “Snapshots“ tab.
2. Next, press the “Create Snapshot” button at the right end of the screen. You will receive the following pop-up window, where you will be asked to provide a name for the Snapshot:
It’s important to notice that during the creation of the Snapshot the VPS processes are paused in order to prevent data corruption, making the VPS less responsive.
Depending on the size of the in-memory content, it can take up some time to copy all in-memory content to the snapshot file. A general rule of thumb is around 1 minute of creation time needed per 1GB of in-memory content to be stored safely on disk. To speed up the process, our recommendation is to reduce memory usage as much as possible before creating a snapshot.
3. After you have submitted the name for your snapshot, the pop-up will be closed, and you will receive a screen where the Create Snapshot button shows a loading icon.
Once your Snapshot is created, the page will reload automatically, showing the created Snapshot.
As soon as you have created your first VPS snapshot, you will be able to use the following functions for further use:
- “Restore“: Return to previous state of VPS, undo any modifications made to your disk at a specific moment in time.
- “Delete“: Delete the created snapshot.
When performing one of these actions, a loading icon will be shown, and after confirmation, the page will automatically reload and present the deleted or restored VPS snapshot.
To simplify the process of creating VPS snapshots, you may want to consider using automated methods through API calls. To learn more about this approach, click here for detailed information on how to implement API calls for VPS snapshot creation. This will save you time and effort by streamlining the snapshot creation process.
It’s important to note that VPS snapshots are not a substitute for regular backups. While snapshots are useful for capturing modified data, newly added data to your VPS, at a specific point in time, will not be backed up as Snapshots is not a complete backup solution. For a comprehensive backup strategy, our recommendation is to use Snapshot together with a backup solution for your VPS data.