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Managing Snapshots

  • Updated on Aug 7, 2026
  • Published on Aug 5, 2026
  • 3 minute(s) read
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Taking a Snapshot via VAST Web UI

Snapshots can be scheduled using protection policies. This procedure creates a single snapshot.

  1. From the left navigation menu, select Data Protection and then Snapshots. 

  2. Click Create Snapshot.

  3. Complete the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Tenant

    Select a tenant where the local path that you want to capture resides.

    Name (required)

    Enter a name for the snapshot.

    Path (required)

    Enter the path to a directory. The snapshot will include all files and folders under the specified directory at the time of taking the snapshot.

    Expiration time

    If you want to make sure the snapshot expires some time in the future, specify that time here.

    Indestructible

    Enable this setting if you want the snapshot to be indestructible. This setting protects the snapshot from accidental or malicious deletion. For more information about indestructibility, see Indestructible Backups.

    Caution

    After saving the snapshot, you won't be able to delete the snapshot or disable its indestructibility without performing an authorized unlocking of the cluster's indestructibility mechanism.

  4. Click Create.

    The snapshot is created and listed on the Snapshots page.

Viewing Snapshots

In the left navigation menu, select Data Protection and then Snapshots.

The following information can be displayed for each snapshot:

Tip

To display or hide fields, click column_menu.png to the right of a column title, and then click columns.png to open a dropdown where you can select or unselect fields.

Field

Description

ID

The ID of the snapshot.

Name

The name of the snapshot.

Path

The path that is captured by the snapshot.

Policy

The protection policy that created the snapshot.

Type

Possible values:

  • remote. The snapshot was replicated to the cluster from an async replication peer. A restore point for each remote snapshot can be viewed on the Restore Point tab of the source replication peer's VMS Web UI.  

  • local.  The snapshot was created on the cluster, due to a local protection policy or a local manual snapshot.

Indestructible

Shows if the snapshot is indestructible (Yes) or not (No). For more information about indestructibility, see  Indestructible Backups .

Creation Time

The time the snapshot was created.

Expiration Time

The time the snapshot is scheduled to expire.

Aggregated Usage

An estimate of the amount of usable capacity that could be reclaimed by deleting the snapshot assuming that all snapshots on the same protected path that are older than the snapshot were already deleted.

Note that if you have snapshots on multiple protected paths that are holding some of the same data, such as two snapshots on nested protected paths taken close in time, that data will not be counted as reclaimable by this estimation for any of the snapshots.

Consider an example:  Suppose there is a protected path on /A/B . A snapshot, which we will call 'X' was taken on the protected path when there was 1GB of data residing under the path. Suppose snapshot X is the only snapshot on /A/B. Snapshot X 's Aggregated Usage will be 1GB. Now suppose that there is also a protected path on /A which also has one snapshot ('Y') which was also taken at the same point in time as snapshot X.  Snapshot Y protects the same 1GB of data from being deleted as snapshot X. In this case, deleting snapshot X would not reclaim any of the 1GB and therefore snapshot X's Aggregated Usage will be 0GB. Aggregated Usage for snapshot Y will also be 0GB unless A/ is holding onto additional data, such as data under A/C/.

Unique Usage

An estimate of the amount of usable capacity that could be reclaimed by deleting the snapshot without deleting older snapshots on the same protected path.

As with Aggregated Usage, this estimation takes into account any nested protected paths that may have snapshots on the same path, taken at the same time, holding the same data. The estimation will only show how much capacity should actually be freed by removing the specific snapshot without removing other protected paths or older snapshots on the same protected path.

Tenant

The tenant where the path and the snapshot reside.

Deleting Snapshots via VAST Web UI

Note

Removal of an indestructible snapshot requires first unlocking the cluster's indestructibility mechanism.

  1. On the Snapshots tab in the Data Protection page, open the Actions menu for the snapshot and select Remove.

  2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

If you try to delete a snapshot while the Snapshot, Replication, and Global Namespace services are in degraded mode, the snapshot can no longer be displayed in VAST Web UI or VAST CLI but remains on the host even after the degraded condition ends.

Managing Snapshots via VAST CLI

To manage snapshots via the CLI, use the following commands.

Tip

For full CLI command syntax, including VAST arguments, enter the command at the CLI prompt in the <command> <subcommand> format provided in the table, followed by ?.

Task

Command

Display snapshots

snapshot list

Display details of a specific snapshot

snapshot show

Take a snapshot

snapshot create

Modify a snapshot (includes locking and unlocking)

snapshot modify

Delete a snapshot

snapshot delete