Keeping virtual machines running smoothly has its challenges, but a well-defined virtual machine backup plan guarantees a resilient and secure system that keeps your data and virtual machine configurations safe. You can accomplish these goals through a combination of snapshots, backup agents and best practices.
Snapshots and backup agents
One amazing feature of virtual machines technology is the ability to take a snapshot of an entire machine at any point of time. You can take a snapshot while the machine is live and running programs and use it later to roll back your virtual machine to its previous state. You can use the snapshot to restore or back out configuration changes that are causing instability.
The snapshot feature may seem like all you need to keep your system's data safe, but it is only one component of a solid recovery plan.
Snapshot also has a drawback. Since snapshots store all the details of a virtual machine's configuration, programs and data, they consume a lot of disk space. If your disaster recovery plan simply includes taking regular snapshots, you will soon run out of space and watch as your virtual machine grinds to a halt. Most of the snapshot is just storing redundant configuration data over and over again anyway.
