Nutanix - How to take and restore a VM Recovery Point (aka Snapshot)

Nutanix recovery points are a feature of the Nutanix hypervisor platform that allows administrators to create a point-in-time copy of a virtual machine’s local disk for backup, testing, or other purposes.

When should you use them?

A recovery point in Nutnaix is a point-in-time copy of the virtual machine’s disk that can be used for backup, testing, or other purposes. When a recovery point is taken, the current state of the virtual machine’s disk is saved, and all future writes are directed to a new delta file. 

This allows the virtual machine to continue running while the recovery point is taken, and it can be used to revert the virtual machine’s disk to the state it was in when the recovery point was taken.

recovery points can be used in several ways:

1. To revert a virtual machine to a previous state, for example, after a software update, installation, or configuration change goes wrong.

2. To create a point-in-time backup of a virtual machine, which can be used for disaster recovery.

3. To create a test or development environment that is identical to the production environment.

It’s important to note that taking too many recovery points or keeping them for a long period of time can cause disk space issues and also can impact the performance of the virtual machine. It’s recommended to use recovery points for short-term usage and regularly consolidate and delete them.

When will recovery points expire?

A recovery point will automatically expire and will be removed 14 days from the time it is created. If you have special circumstances which may require longer-term recovery points, please consult with a member of the Infrastructure Services team.

What permissions will I need?

The Nutanix platform supports many servers and applications across the Dartmouth Campus and is a highly secure environment. Therefore your access to Nutanix must first be approved by your department head, and a request for access submitted to the Infrastructure Services Team.

To create and restore recovery points manually, do the following.

Create Procedure

1. Log on to the Prism Central Web Console with your CyberArk account.

2. Click the hamburger icon at the top-left corner of the window. Go to Compute & Storage > VMs > List in the left pane.

3. Select the guest VMs for which you want to create a recovery point.

4. Click Create Recovery Point from the Actions drop-down menu.

5. To verify that the recovery point is created, click the name of the VM, click the Recovery Points tab, and verify that a recovery point is created.

Restore Procedure

Due to the destructive nature of rolling back a recovery point, it is strongly recommended that you open a TDX ticket with the Infrastructure Services team to restore a VM.