Philip, Simple answer is no.
A VM Snapshot should only be used as a temporary roll back option prior to making a system change. After the planned changes are made, and as soon as you confirm there have been no undesired adverse affects, VM snapshots should be removed. Snapshots are certainly not designed to be used as long term backups. This is general virtualisation 'best practice' and not directly related to CloudStack. When a VM has an active VM Snapshot, CloudStack limits certain features such as storage migration so another reason for not maintaining long term VM snapshots. Regards Geoff Higginbottom CTO / Cloud Architect D: +44 20 3603 0542<tel:+442036030542> | S: +44 20 3603 0540<tel:+442036030540> | M: +447968161581<tel:+447968161581> geoff.higginbot...@shapeblue.com<mailto:geoff.higginbot...@shapeblue.com> | www.shapeblue.com<htp://www.shapeblue.com/> | Twitter:@cloudstackguru<https://twitter.com/#!/cloudstackguru> ShapeBlue Ltd, 53 Chandos Place, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4HS<x-apple-data-detectors://5> On 16 May 2014, at 20:27, "Phillip Kent" <phillip.k...@gmail.com<mailto:phillip.k...@gmail.com>> wrote: Dear all, I have some questions about using VM snapshots. In principle, VM snapshots look like a very painless way for users to keep backups of VMs (compared with the alternative of doing separate volume snapshots of root disks, data volumes, etc). But when you look more into it (http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=1015180) you see that a lot of things can go wrong with snapshots. So I wondered if anyone has views or experiences on this, especially where CloudStack is being used as IaaS for paying customers. I am thinking about end users who only have access through the UI or API, not users who have root access to the hypervisors. Are VM snapshots a good strategy for end users to keep regular backups of their VMs?? Thx Phillip Find out more about ShapeBlue and our range of CloudStack related services IaaS Cloud Design & Build<http://shapeblue.com/iaas-cloud-design-and-build//> CSForge - rapid IaaS deployment framework<http://shapeblue.com/csforge/> CloudStack Consulting<http://shapeblue.com/cloudstack-consultancy/> CloudStack Infrastructure Support<http://shapeblue.com/cloudstack-infrastructure-support/> CloudStack Bootcamp Training Courses<http://shapeblue.com/cloudstack-training/> This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Shape Blue Ltd or related companies. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error. Shape Blue Ltd is a company incorporated in England & Wales. ShapeBlue Services India LLP is a company incorporated in India and is operated under license from Shape Blue Ltd. Shape Blue Brasil Consultoria Ltda is a company incorporated in Brasil and is operated under license from Shape Blue Ltd. ShapeBlue is a registered trademark.
