Creating a volume snapshot
Find out how to create a snapshot of a Public Cloud additional disk
Last updated 10th February 2023
Objective
A snapshot of an additional volume serves two general purposes:
- You can create backups with a few clicks and keep them as long as needed.
- You can use the snapshot as a template for identical volumes.
This guide explains how to create a volume snapshot in the OVHcloud Control Panel.
Requirements
- Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
- A Block storage volume created in your Public Cloud project
Instructions
Log in to the OVHcloud Control Panel, go to the Public Cloud section, and select the Public Cloud project concerned. Then open Block Storage in the left-hand navigation bar under Storage.
In the row of the volume concerned, click on ... and select Create a snapshot (It is not required to detach the volume from its instance first). However, if you wish to detach your volume, please consult this section of the corresponding guide for Linux and this section for Windows.
In the popup window, you can enter a different name for the snapshot. Take note of the pricing information, then click on Take a snapshot.
The snapshot creation time may take several hours, depending on the amount of data present on the volume, the instance resource utilization at the time of the snapshot and other host-specific factors.
We therefore recommend that you perform your snapshots outside of your production hours.
Other best practices include:
- Avoid creating snapshots during peak hours (04:00 AM - 10:00 PM Paris time).
- Install the qemu-guest agent if it is not installed... or try to disable it if necessary.
- Try not to "solicit" the server too much during the snapshot creation phase (I/O limitation, RAM consumption, etc.).
Since a volume snapshot is a clone of the entire disk, it will have the maximum size of the original volume, regardless of the actual disk space allocation.
Open the section Volume Snapshot in the left-hand navigation bar. After the snapshot is created, it will be added to this table.
Click on the button ... to Delete a snapshot or to Create a volume based on the respective snapshot. You can find further information in this guide.
Go further
Creating a volume from a backup
Creating and configuring an additional disk on an instance
Increasing the size of an additional disk
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