topic Re: Snapshot question in VMware vSphere™ Discussions

Snapshot question

flube — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:14:44 GMT

I'm using VMware vSphere to manage my virtual machines, and I frequently take snapshots for backup purposes. Lately, I've noticed that some VMs experience performance degradation after taking snapshots. What are the best practices for using snapshots in VMware, and how can I minimize their impact on VM performance?

Re: Snapshot question

Lalegre — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:22:48 GMT

Hello @flube,

Snapshot are not a backup solutions, they are meant to redirect writes to preserve a previous state for a short period of time. Having it for a long time could lead to performance degradation or even corruption.

Re: Snapshot question

filipe_dias — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:20:41 GMT

Avoid running snapshots for extended periods; consider using VMware backup solutions

Re: Snapshot question

scott28tt — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:42:35 GMT

Snapshots are not backups.

Backups are backups.

Re: Snapshot question

Mortuza1 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 09:02:41 GMT

do not keep snapshot for more than 7 days.

Re: Snapshot question

Valeriy87 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 09:30:27 GMT

I agree with other colleagues that snapshots are not backup. Also, I recommend to review your VMs for snapshots and delete what you don't need already. It helps you to increase performance. If you have big infrastructure you can use a VMware Operations Manager (VMware Aria Operations) and see VM's snapshots on dashboard.

Re: Snapshot question

abdulazizmustho — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:39:13 GMT

always consolidate snapshot after any changing on the VM...it will be problem if size of Snapshot bigger than the parent

Re: Snapshot question

kastlr — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 08:25:07 GMT

Hi,

VMware did publish a KB article covering this.

Best practices for using VMware snapshots in the vSphere environment (1025279)

Re: Snapshot question

AnaghB — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:17:00 GMT

Hello @flube ,

If VM is running on snapshots then the performance will be affected. this is by design. Please follow the best practices for Snapshots from Vmware.

1. Do not run the VM on Snapshots for more than 72 hours.

2. Do not keep more than 1 snapshot for performance.

3. Schedule the backup at night in off production hours.

Please follow the above best practices for Snapshot based Backups.