An important mandate behind the VPS hosting infrastructure is the associated value system in addressing any issues that can occur in the server, or for data keeping purposes to address the requirements or equivalencies of what the server at a past time was to restore it in case of any issues. Often due to viruses, malware, or other technological considerations, there is a requirement for backups that will assess and help the system to restore to a previous point becomes necessary. It is under this use case and the requirement that we see the concept of Server Snapshots and Server Cloning. Both of these effects are important things to be noted for the continuation of a system that can be beneficial for the user to be acquainted with to address certain issues or modalities within the mandate of the server system. Under this blog, we address the questions of what exactly are server snapshots and server cloning and then highlight how to use them and what are the benefits of using them within your server framework, and how VPS hosting associates with both of these aspects.
Sometimes, there is just a great requirement for the commission of a backup to recreate a server piece by piece. At that exact moment, we see the relevance of server snapshots. From each byte, information is stored and the VPS is cloned exactly as it was. This is exactly what a server snapshot can do. It captures all the information that was present at that point in time in the server exactly to the standard and detail that was present in the server. The representation of every byte of data is kept in the snapshot. In practice what we see being snapshotted here is the storage which is the disk, yet it does not snapshot any of the processes which would be running concurrently with the snapshot being taken. The snapshot in other terms can be mentioned as a capture of a server’s content at a particular period of time that serves as an instant image of the server. This snapshot gives you the benefit of having a manual backup from which you have the ability to restore the virtual private server (VPS) to that point completed anytime.
There are various modalities that are to be taken into consideration when there is a requirement for the creation of the server snapshot and the management of the same. Each provider has their own mandate and standard for doing the same. Some would need the server to be shut down for the process and some offer snapshots even for servers that are running VMs.
There are some important things to note on this, however. If the system (VM) has not been powered down then there might be an inconsistent state on the filesystem. Usually, this does not pose an issue in the process as there is a similarity in how the VM would recover if it is powered down (non-graceful power-off). Yet, it is also important to note that if there is a running database system (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.) there might be a benefit for doing a DB dump first or powering the VM down before the snapshot of the server is taken.
There are some important reasons why the snapshot is useful for the server environment:
Server cloning is another option that is used for the purposes of backup in a way. The process of server cloning can be defined as the use of a tool that can benefit for instance in the creation of new web servers that help as a load balancer. There are also other benefits that can be had from server clones, where there can be a setting up of a similar service to what has already been present which would involve you skipping the hassle of the establishment of a new configuration and other building blocks from scratch for the new servers. Three major ways are highlighted for the methods of cloning the server. Firstly, cloning, then custom images, and lastly, backup cloning. There are differences based on use cases in which one method is chosen over the other.
On the first prong, cloning is the simplest. It replicates the existing cloud server and the storage devices of the server. There is a requirement for the server to be shut down when this activity is conducted and the time taken would be relatable to the size of the storage that is associated with the server and devices addressed in this case.
At the end of custom imaging, these are templates that are carbon copies of the system storage devices that are present in the user’s server. They can be best used for the purpose of horizontally scaling services as the use of the services grows from time to time. Initially, the process involving imaging would require that the server is shut down, but then onwards, new servers can thus be deployed without interruptions by using the custom images.
Lastly, for the purpose of backup cloning, there is a duplication of the storage devices when in use with zero downtime on the server. The backup of the server, manual or scheduled, can then be cloned into a storage device. Then when another server is powered down, the cloned storage can be added to that server.
Server cloning can be used for a variety of cases when there is a horizontal expansion or similar servers are being set up on the mandate of existing use cases. The system’s orientation and how the cloning process is used are also at the discretion of the user as what are the values and challenges that are sought to be addressed and how reflections and other mandates are run on these aspects.
GigaPros provides VPS hosting solutions and these are also easily applicable towards snapshots and cloning processes of the servers. The users can avail the benefits of the server cloning and snapshot process to bring forth the use cases to their best requirements and fulfillment of business needs. Packed with bundles of services discussed further in the following sections, the GigaPros VPS hosting solutions provide a whole host of values and benefits for the user.
GigaPros allows affordable and reliable VPS hosting solutions. These are the major offerings:
These are some of the benefits that you get by utilizing GigaPros VPS hosting options:
Server backups, repurposing server contents, horizontal growth through server cloning and snapshotting are some of the many aspects that are important for the ease of use of web hosting services. These services through their use cases provide ease of use as well as the developmental narrative that is beneficial to the customer and VPS web hosting solutions orientations towards these services are a key distinguishing factor on the quality of the provider’s service and also inculcate what the user can or cannot expect from the web hosting solution. This also highlights the benefits of scalability and protection of assets based on the servers for the users as a key factor.