Specifications

CHAPTER 5 Preserving the State of a Virtual Machine
157
Or consider a case in which you take a snapshot while an application in the virtual
machine is sending a transaction to a database on a separate machine. If you revert to
the snapshot — especially if you revert after the transaction starts but before it has
been committed — the database is likely to be confused.
Settings for Snapshots
You can specify what you want GSX Server to do with the snapshot any time the
virtual machine is powered off. To do so, go to VM > Settings > Options > Snapshot
and select one of the choices under When powering off.
Options when powering off include
• Just power off — leaves the snapshot as it is.
• Revert to the snapshot — reverts to the snapshot so the virtual machine always
starts in the same state; reverting to the snapshot discards changes.
• Update the snapshot— takes a new snapshot of the virtual machine state as it
was just before you powered off; this replaces the previous snapshot.
• Ask me — always asks what to do with the snapshot when you power off.
If the virtual machine has no snapshot, you can disable the snapshot feature by
selecting Disable snapshots. If you have a snapshot and want to disable the snapshot
feature, first go to the console window and choose Snapshot > Remove Snapshot.
Then return to the virtual machine settings editor and select Disable snapshots.
To lock the snapshot so no new snapshot can be taken, select Lock this snapshot.
Removing the Snapshot
You can remove the snapshot any time the virtual machine is powered off. Removing
the snapshot writes the contents of the snapshot to the virtual disk, it does not
destroy any data in the virtual machine. Moving forward, any changes you make as