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edit approved Apr 5, 2012 at 19:13
Peter Mortensen
edit approved Apr 5, 2012 at 19:13
Peter Mortensen
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Why snapshots are snapshots considered as temporary backupbackups not real backupbackups?

I am using VMware ESXi. In our team we use to provide snapshots for long term backup.

Then we faced issueissues like memory spill overspillover and the server got hang up.

I started reading in Vmware kbVMware knowledgebase articles and every whereeverywhere. Every whereEverywhere it was recommended not to have snapshots for a long time.

Even VMware advised to keep snapshots for maximum of 3three days.

But our team kept asking us to have at least 2 snapshots fortwo permanent snapshots (till deleting the VM). Some timesSometimes we may use the vmVM for a year)  .

  1. one snapshot is for fresh machine state. (So when we complete testing an application  , we will revert back to fresh state and install another application) (If iI did not allow that  , I may often need to host the VM.)

  2. Next snapshot for keeping the VM in some state ( May bemaybe they would have found an issue and keep that state for some time. orOr they may install prerequisites for the application and keep the machine ready for testing.)

Logically, their needs are seems to be fair. But if iI allow that i, I am to permit them to hold snapshotthe snapshots for long time. We are not using our VM as a mail server or database server.

I would like to know whyWhy is keeping snapshots for long time is having an adverse effect?

Why snapshots are snapshots considered as temporary backupbackups, not real backupbackups?

Why snapshots are considered as temporary backup not real backup?

I am using VMware ESXi. In our team we use to provide snapshots for long term backup.

Then we faced issue like memory spill over and server got hang up.

I started reading in Vmware kb articles and every where. Every where it was recommended not to have snapshots for long time.

Even VMware advised to keep snapshots for maximum of 3 days.

But our team kept asking us to have at least 2 snapshots for permanent (till deleting the VM. Some times we may use the vm for a year)  .

  1. one snapshot is for fresh machine state. (So when we complete testing an application  , we will revert back to fresh state and install another application) (If i did not allow that  , I may often need to host the VM)

  2. Next snapshot for keeping the VM in some state ( May be they would have found an issue and keep that state for some time. or they may install prerequisites for the application and keep the machine ready for testing.)

Logically their needs are seems to be fair. But if i allow that i am to permit them to hold snapshot for long time. We are not using our VM as mail server or database server.

I would like to know why keeping snapshots for long time is having adverse effect?

Why snapshots are considered as temporary backup not real backup?

Why are snapshots considered as temporary backups not real backups?

I am using VMware ESXi. In our team we use to provide snapshots for long term backup.

Then we faced issues like memory spillover and the server got hang up.

I started reading in VMware knowledgebase articles and everywhere. Everywhere it was recommended not to have snapshots for a long time.

Even VMware advised to keep snapshots for maximum of three days.

But our team kept asking us to have at least two permanent snapshots (till deleting the VM). Sometimes we may use the VM for a year).

  1. one snapshot is for fresh machine state. (So when we complete testing an application, we will revert back to fresh state and install another application) (If I did not allow that, I may often need to host the VM.)

  2. Next snapshot for keeping the VM in some state (maybe they would have found an issue and keep that state for some time. Or they may install prerequisites for the application and keep the machine ready for testing.)

Logically, their needs seems to be fair. But if I allow that, I am to permit them to hold the snapshots for long time. We are not using our VM as a mail server or database server.

Why is keeping snapshots for long time having an adverse effect?

Why are snapshots considered as temporary backups, not real backups?

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Samselvaprabu
Samselvaprabu
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Why snapshots are considered as temporary backup not real backup?

I am using VMware ESXi. In our team we use to provide snapshots for long term backup.

Then we faced issue like memory spill over and server got hang up.

I started reading in Vmware kb articles and every where. Every where it was recommended not to have snapshots for long time.

Even VMware advised to keep snapshots for maximum of 3 days.

But our team kept asking us to have at least 2 snapshots for permanent (till deleting the VM. Some times we may use the vm for a year) .

  1. one snapshot is for fresh machine state. (So when we complete testing an application , we will revert back to fresh state and install another application) (If i did not allow that , I may often need to host the VM)

  2. Next snapshot for keeping the VM in some state ( May be they would have found an issue and keep that state for some time. or they may install prerequisites for the application and keep the machine ready for testing.)

Logically their needs are seems to be fair. But if i allow that i am to permit them to hold snapshot for long time. We are not using our VM as mail server or database server.

I would like to know why keeping snapshots for long time is having adverse effect?

Why snapshots are considered as temporary backup not real backup?