Virtual Machine Snapshot

What Does Virtual Machine Snapshot Mean?

A virtual machine snapshot (VM snapshot) is the state of a virtual machine (VM) that is copied and stored at a specified time. It develops a copy of the VM that is used for VM migration, backup and restore procedures. A virtual machine snapshot allows a VM to be restored to a former state of snapshot creation.

Techopedia Explains Virtual Machine Snapshot

A virtual machine snapshot works as a typical operating system (OS) snapshot. Its primary purpose is to create an exact VM replica. A virtual machine snapshot is created by the client/server hypervisor or the VM manager.

The snapshot keeps the following records:

State: Includes the operational state of the VM (such as active), which is suspended along with its configuration.
Data: Includes all files from disk, memory and device driver cards.

A virtual machine snapshot is also important for operational environment, where the same instance of a VM must be created multiple times.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…

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