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How to create instance snapshot using Horizon on 3Engines Cloud🔗

In this article, you will learn how to create instance snapshot on 3Engines Cloud cloud, using Horizon dashboard.

Instance snapshots allow you to archive the state of the virtual machine. You can, then, use them for

  • backup,
  • migration between clouds
  • disaster recovery and/or
  • cloning environments for testing or development.

We cover both types of storage for instances, ephemeral and persistent.

The plan🔗

In reality, you will be using the procedures described in this article with the already existing instances.

However, to get a clear grasp of the process, while following this article you are going to create two new instances, one with ephemeral and the other with persistent type of storage. Let their names be instance-which-uses-ephemeral and instance-which-uses-volume. You will create an instance snapshot for each of them.

If you are only interested in one of these types of instances, you can follow its respective section of this text.

It goes without saying that after following a section about one type of virtual machine you can clean up the resources you created to, say, save costs.

Or you can keep them and use them to create an instance out of it using one of articles mentioned in What To Do Next.

What We Are Going To Cover🔗

  • Create snapshot of instance which uses ephemeral storage

  • Navigate to the list of instances in Horizon

  • Shut down the VM
  • Create a snapshot
  • Show what the snapshot will contain for ephemeral storage

  • Create snapshot of instance which uses persistent storage

  • Navigate to the list of instances in Horizon

  • Shut down the VM
  • Create a snapshot
  • What does creating a snapshot of instance with persistent storage do?
  • Exploring instance snapshot and volume snapshots which were created alongside it
  • What happens if there are multiple volumes?
  • Downloading an instance snapshot

Prerequisites🔗

No. 1 Account

You need a 3Engines Cloud hosting account with access to the Horizon interface: https://3engine.rootxwire.com/.

No. 2 Ephemeral storage vs. persistent storage

Please see article Ephemeral vs Persistent storage option Create New Volume on 3Engines Cloud to understand the basic difference between ephemeral and persistent types of storage in 3Engines.

No. 3 Instance with ephemeral storage

You need a virtual machine hosted on 3Engines Cloud cloud.

Using any of the following articles will produce an instance with ephemeral storage: