# Create and restore server snapshots

Save a full-disk restore point of a server at its cloud provider, choose when it deletes itself, and restore it over the server or into a new one.

## Before you start

- A server Nuvlo created at Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, UpCloud, Scaleway, Exoscale, Contabo, AWS or Google Cloud.
- A role that can manage servers. By default that is **Owner**, **Admin** and **Developer**.
- To restore a snapshot over an existing server: the **Owner** or **Admin** role.

## Snapshots and site backups

A snapshot copies the server’s whole disk: every site, database and setting on it. Your cloud provider stores it and bills you for it. Take one before risky changes, such as a big update.

A [site backup](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/back-up-a-site) copies one site to your own storage, and restores only that site. Use both: snapshots to undo server-wide changes, site backups to bring back a single site.

## What snapshots cost

Your provider bills snapshots by size for as long as you keep them. Nuvlo shows the expected monthly cost of each snapshot in the **Cost** column.

| Provider | Price to keep a snapshot | How it can be restored |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hetzner | €0.0143 per GB a month | Over the server, or into a new server |
| DigitalOcean | $0.06 per GB a month | Over the server, or into a new server |
| Vultr | $0.05 per GB a month | Over the server, or into a new server |
| Linode | $0.10 per GB a month. Linode images hold up to 6 GB of data. | Over the server, or into a new server |
| UpCloud | €0.056 per GB a month | Into a new server |
| Scaleway | €0.0358 per GB a month | Into a new server |
| Exoscale | €0.1008 per GB a month | Over the server |
| Contabo | Included. Contabo deletes snapshots after 30 days. | Over the server |
| AWS | $0.05 per GB a month, only for the data each snapshot adds | Into a new server |
| Google Cloud | $0.083 per GB a month, only for the data each snapshot adds | Into a new server |

Prices exclude VAT and come from each provider’s public price list (AWS: us-east-1; Google Cloud: its default multi-region location). Your provider’s bill is what counts.

## Step 1: Open the server’s Backups tab

Open the server from [Servers](https://app.nuvlo.dev/dashboard/servers) and go to the **Backups** tab. The **Snapshots** card lists the server’s snapshots, and its subtitle shows how your provider bills them.

You can also work from [Backups](https://app.nuvlo.dev/dashboard/backups): the **Server snapshots** card there lists snapshots of all your servers.

![The Backups tab of a server with the Snapshots card listing snapshots with size, cost and delete date](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/shots/server-snapshots--server-backups-tab.webp)

## Step 2: Name the snapshot

Click **Create snapshot**. On the Backups page, first pick the **Server**.

**Name (optional)** takes up to 100 characters, for example `Before the update`. Without a name, the snapshot is named after the server and the current date and time.

![The Create snapshot dialog with the name Before the update and the Delete automatically field](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/shots/server-snapshots--name-snapshot.webp)

## Step 3: Choose when it deletes itself

Under **Delete automatically**, choose **Tomorrow**, **In 7 days**, **In 30 days**, **In 90 days**, **On a date**, or **Never, keep it until I delete it**. A date can be up to 365 days ahead.

Nuvlo remembers the choice per server and suggests it for the next snapshot. The first time, it suggests **In 30 days**.

For Contabo, the latest choice is **When Contabo deletes it, after 30 days**, since Contabo removes snapshots itself.

![The Create snapshot dialog with a name and the Delete automatically options open](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/shots/server-snapshots--create-snapshot.webp)

## Step 4: Create the snapshot

Click **Create snapshot**. The snapshot shows **Being made now** until your provider has finished it, then the date, size, cost and delete date.

You can create up to 3 snapshots of the same server within 15 minutes.

## Step 5: Restore a snapshot

Click **Restore** on an available snapshot. The **Restore snapshot** dialog offers what your provider supports:

- **Replace** followed by the server name: the server’s disk is replaced with the snapshot. Everything changed since then is lost, and sites are offline for a few minutes. Only an **Owner** or **Admin** can do this.
- **Create a new server**: a separate server is made from the snapshot, with the same plan and region, and billed like any other. The original server isn’t changed. Enter the **Name of the new server**; it can’t be the same as the original’s.

Click **Replace** or **Create** followed by the server name. A replace shows its progress in the snapshot’s row; a new server appears under [Servers](https://app.nuvlo.dev/dashboard/servers) and is ready once setup finishes.

A new server counts toward your plan’s server limit. See [Usage and limits](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/usage-and-limits).

## Change when a snapshot is deleted

Open the snapshot’s **…** menu and choose **Change when it’s deleted**. Pick a new choice; the button says what will happen, for example **Delete it in 7 days** or **Keep it**.

When the time comes, Nuvlo deletes the snapshot at your provider. If the provider refuses, you get a notification and Nuvlo tries again the next day.

## Delete a snapshot

Open the snapshot’s **…** menu, choose **Delete snapshot** and confirm. Your provider deletes it right away, and it can’t be brought back.

## Keep snapshots when you delete a server

When you [delete a server](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/delete-a-server), the dialog offers **Also delete its** … **snapshots**.

> **Warning:** Deleting the server also deletes its snapshots unless you untick this box. It is ticked by default.

Kept snapshots stay in the **Server snapshots** card on [Backups](https://app.nuvlo.dev/dashboard/backups), marked with the old server’s name and **deleted**. Your provider keeps billing for them. You can restore them into a new server, which may take the old server’s name, or delete them.

Deleting a kept snapshot, or giving it a delete date, needs the **Owner** or **Admin** role.

Exoscale and Contabo delete a server’s snapshots together with the server, so there is nothing to keep there.

![The Server snapshots card on the Backups page, where snapshots of deleted servers are kept](https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/shots/server-snapshots--kept-snapshots.webp)

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Source: https://app.nuvlo.dev/docs/server-snapshots