Creating and restoring snapshots

A snapshot is a copy of your server’s disk state at a given moment. Taking one before a risky step — a kernel update, a large software install or a configuration change — lets you return to the previous state quickly if something goes wrong.

Creating a snapshot

1. Open your server from My services and go to the Manage tab.
2. In the Snapshots section at the bottom, enter a meaningful name in Snapshot name (for example before-update).
3. Click Create. You can follow its status in the list while it is created; your server keeps running.

The number of snapshots included in a plan is limited (it is shown on the plan card, for example “2 snapshots”). When you reach the limit, delete an old one to take a new one.

Restoring a snapshot

1. In the list, click Restore on the row of the snapshot you want to return to.
2. Confirm. The server is rolled back to the state the snapshot was taken in.

Careful: restoring undoes everything done on the server after the snapshot — files, database records, installations. Copy important data elsewhere before restoring.

Deleting a snapshot

Remove a snapshot you no longer need with the delete button on its row. A deleted snapshot is gone permanently and cannot be recovered.

Good practice

• A snapshot is not a backup: it lives on the same infrastructure. For important data also keep regular off-server backups.
• If a database is busy, briefly stopping the application or database before the snapshot gives a more consistent image.
• Don’t keep snapshots for long; they are meant as a short-term safety point.

If you want to start again from scratch, see Reinstalling the operating system.