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Take a Snapshot
You can take a snapshot while a virtual machine is powered on, powered off, or suspended. If you are
suspending a virtual machine, wait until the suspend operation has finished before taking a snapshot.
You must power off the virtual machine before taking a snapshot if the virtual machine has multiple disks in
different disk modes. For example, if you have a special purpose configuration that requires you to use an
independent disk, you must power off the virtual machine before taking a snapshot.
Procedure
1
Select Inventory > Virtual Machine > Snapshot > Take Snapshot.
You can also right-click the virtual machine and select Snapshot > Take Snapshot.
The Take Virtual Machine Snapshot window appears.
2
Type a name for your snapshot.
3
(Optional) Type a description for your snapshot.
4
(Optional) Select the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory check box if you want to capture the
memory of the virtual machine.
5
(Optional) Select the Quiesce guest file system (Needs VMware Tools installed) check box to pause
running processes on the guest operating system so that file system contents are in a known consistent
state when the snapshot is taken. This applies only to virtual machines that are powered on.
6
Click OK.
When the snapshot has been successfully taken, it is listed in the Recent Tasks field at the bottom of the
vSphere Client.
7
Click the target virtual machine to display tasks and events for this machine or, while the virtual machine
is selected, click the Tasks & Events tab.
Change Disk Mode to Exclude Virtual Disks from Snapshots
Deleting a snapshot involves committing the existing data on the snapshot disk to the parent disk.
Prerequisites
You must power off and delete any existing snapshots before you attempt to change the disk mode.
Procedure
1
Select Inventory > Virtual Machine > Edit Settings.
2
Click the Hardware tab, and select the hard disk you want to exclude.
3
Under Mode, select Independent. Independent disks are not affected by snapshots.
You have the following persistence options for an independent disk:
Option
Persistent
Nonpersistent
VMware, Inc.
Description
Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disks on your physical
computer. All data written to a disk in persistent mode are written
permanently to the disk.
Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are discarded when you power off
or reset the virtual machine. Nonpersistent mode enables you to restart the
virtual machine with a virtual disk in the same state every time. Changes to
the disk are actually written to and read from a redo log file that is deleted
when you power off or reset.
Chapter 17 Using Snapshots
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Troubleshooting
