Manage snapshots in a project

See every snapshot in a project in one place, find the one you need, and act on it. This is the place to work across several VMs, or to find a snapshot whose VM has been deleted.

Before you begin

You need the permission that matches what you plan to do: create permission to take a snapshot or to build a VM or scale group from one, update permission to schedule, rename, or restore, and delete permission to delete. Actions you lack permission for are not offered. See TIR Access Control.

Open the page

In TIR, open your project. In the side menu, under Storage, select Snapshots. To see only one VM’s snapshots, open that VM and select its Snapshots tab instead. Until the project has a snapshot, you can start from Create Snapshot or Schedule Snapshot on the same page.

See how well the VMs are protected

Three figures sum up the project’s snapshots:

• Snapshot storage is the combined Full Snapshot Size of the Ready snapshots, and how many there are.
• VMs with snapshots is how many of the project’s VMs have at least one Ready snapshot, and how many live VMs have none to restore from.
• Needs attention is how many VMs still in the project have a latest snapshot that failed. Failed snapshots of deleted VMs are left out. When it is above zero, take a new snapshot of those VMs; see A snapshot shows Failed.

Find a snapshot

A snapshot you took is Manual, and one a schedule took is Scheduled. To find a snapshot, sort the list or search it by name, source VM, status, or type. To open the VM a snapshot came from, select its name.

To narrow the list, select the search box and filter by any part of the snapshot’s name, by source VM, by status (Ready, In progress, or Failed), or by type, then select Search or press Enter. If nothing matches, see Troubleshooting TIR Snapshots.

A snapshot that is In progress turns Ready or Failed by itself. If it is still In progress after 20 minutes, select Refresh.

Act on a snapshot

Open the Actions menu in a snapshot’s row and choose an action.

Action	What it does	When it applies
Rename	Changes the snapshot’s name. See Create a VM snapshot.	Available while the source VM exists. Needs permission to update.
Create VM	Opens the create form with the snapshot’s disk. See Create a VM from a snapshot.	Needs the snapshot to be Ready, and permission to create. It also works for a snapshot of a deleted VM.
Create Auto Scaling Group	Opens the form for a new Auto Scaling Group with the snapshot as its source.	Needs a Ready snapshot of a CPU VM that still exists, and permission to create.
Restore	Replaces the VM’s disk with the snapshot. See Restore a VM from a snapshot.	Needs a Ready snapshot whose source VM still exists, and permission to update.
Delete Snapshot	Removes the snapshot for good. See Delete a VM snapshot.	Available for every snapshot, including one whose VM is deleted. Needs permission to delete.

When an action is unavailable, hold the pointer over it to see why.

Take or schedule a snapshot from this page

To take a snapshot, select Create Snapshot, choose the VM from VM, enter the Snapshot Name, and select Create. The name rules are in Create a VM snapshot. You can choose a VM that is Running or Stopped on a plan that supports snapshots, and TIR says why any other VM is left out. If no VM can be chosen, see Troubleshooting TIR Snapshots. If the project has no VM yet, create one first.

To schedule snapshots, select Schedule Snapshot, choose a VM, and select Next to set up or change that VM’s schedule. A schedule belongs to one VM. Here too, only a VM that is Running or Stopped, on a plan that supports snapshots, can be chosen. See Schedule VM snapshots.

A snapshot whose VM is deleted

A snapshot outlives its VM. Its source VM is then marked VM deleted, and the snapshot stays available.

For a deleted VM’s snapshot, Create VM and Delete Snapshot work. Restore, Rename, and Create Auto Scaling Group need a source VM that still exists.

For help with any message on this page, see Troubleshooting TIR Snapshots.