VMware Snapshot Manager

A VM snapshot is a type of VM backup, created as a custom solution for documentation. With a custom backup, admins can analyze VM history for security analytics or performance management—or simply to have a record to ensure data integrity during migration.

There are several scenarios where a VM snapshot is more effective than a traditional VM backup. Snapshots have the benefit of creating a starting point for copying your virtual machine disk, allowing you to generate a new VM from the time your snapshot was taken. Creating a snapshot can also be a crucial tool for historical performance analytics, security audits, and documentation to ensure data preservation.

Even though VM snapshots are a highly useful tool in VM management, they also take up a great deal of space on your server. As a result, creating snapshots requires close management to identify which snapshots you still need and which ones you can delete.

With SolarWinds Virtualization Manager as your VM snapshot manager, you can create a centralized backup management platform to keep track of all your VM snapshots and delete them when their work is done. From your VMAN dashboard, you can easily view your snapshots ranked by disk usage and quickly address inefficiencies in your snapshot inventory.

Managing a virtual environment requires you to occasionally document your virtual machines for a wide variety of reasons—from VM monitoring to security recordkeeping, to historical server analytics, to recovery in case of emergency. The idea behind a snapshot is to create a complete copy of your VM at a specific point in time, which you can store on your platform as long as you need.

Making a snapshot starts with your VM storage disk. Different virtual machines will have slightly different protocols for accessing your storage disk—but the idea is to use your block-level disk to serve as the blueprint for your snapshot. There are plenty of different managed disks available from VM providers, which offer unique benefits in terms of security and storage space.

Even within a single virtual machine, you can usually take multiple routes to create a VM snapshot. In Microsoft Azure’s Virtual Network (VNet), for example, there are three potential approaches for the same result: using the Azure portal, using the command line interface, or using PowerShell.

The Azure portal uses a snapshot wizard for an automated approach in which you can create a snapshot in a few clicks. At the same time, the command line offers more control over the process with manual commands via Azure CLI or Cloud Shell interfaces. The third option is PowerShell, which comes as a plugin that provides intuitive documentation, including snapshots.

VM snapshots are commonly used in Nutanix AHV, where they can serve as an integral part in your Nutanix VM management. Snapshots are also available in other VM environments, like Microsoft Azure, VMware vSphere, and Microsoft Hyper-V. In each virtual environment, the specific protocols for creating snapshots will differ slightly. In general, creating a snapshot for custom backup requires you to make use of your VM environment’s managed disk to generate a snapshot from your current VM.

Although you can certainly create a traditional VM backup in your Nutanix virtual environment, the backup feature is most helpful for long-term backups. For point-in-time backups, a snapshot is often the most efficient and accurate backup solution. Once you view your VM in your web console, simply assign a name to your snapshot and view it in your documentation dashboard.

SolarWinds VMAN offers a comprehensive VM monitoring solution for Nutanix AHV and other virtual environments. From your VMAN control center, you can view your virtual environment with intuitive graphics, and automatically map your VM to its dependencies. VMAN has the added benefit of offering real-time alerts, so that you can get notified when a snapshot detects underlying hardware issues. For busy admins with a wide inventory of VM snapshots, VMAN allows you to easily analyze what your Nutanix snapshots have to say about your VM health—and see which snapshots are taking up too much space.