Volume snapshots in xneelo Cloud

A volume snapshot is a read-only, fixed copy of a cloud storage volume. It captures the exact data state of a volume at a specific point in time.

As a snapshot is a fixed copy, any changes in the data on the parent volume will not exist in the snapshot.

You can create multiple snapshots of any volume in your cloud project. See more on how to create and manage cloud volume snapshots.

Volume snapshots can be used to create new volumes and new instances. See more below.

Volume snapshots can be used as the data source to create new volumes. The data from the snapshot will be copied to a new volume.

Volume snapshots can also be used as the boot source to create new instances. The instance boot volume will be created from a volume snapshot, copying the point-in-time data from its parent volume.

Volume snapshots can be used for a variety of tasks and use cases, including:

• As a backup mechanism to protect against data loss, corruption or failure; snapshots provide a quick way to recover data by restoring to the last known good state.
• Migrating, transferring, or replicating data on instances.
• Development and testing purposes – creating copies of production data or taking snapshots before making risky changes.

A snapshot inherits the same volume type as its parent volume. This is because the snapshot data is linked to the volume.

So for example, if a snapshot of a premium volume is taken, the snapshot is considered a ‘premium snapshot’.

However, snapshots are always charged at a single rate per gigabyte-hour, regardless of type. See more on the pricing in xneelo Cloud.

When creating a new volume from an existing snapshot, this is automatically set to the same type as the original parent volume.

A single volume may have multiple snapshots created. These volume snapshots are factored into the total volume storage limits. See more project limits (quotas).

A volume snapshot is considered the same size as its parent volume. This is the allocated size of the storage block, not the amount of data actually used on the volume.

Note: This applies to both the first snapshot created, and any subsequent snapshots created. 

For example, a 20GB volume exists. Only 10GB of storage has been used on the device. If a snapshot is created, that snapshot will be provisioned as 20GB.

As per volumes, volume snapshots are provisioned in units of gibibytes (GiB), but are charged at a rate per gigabyte-hour. See more on the pricing in xneelo Cloud.