Snapshot enables the administrator to preserve the state of the virtual machine so that it can be returned to the same state repeatedly. For example, if the administrator does some patching or upgrading of the operating system of the virtual machine, snapshots give him the ability to withdraw those changes if any problem occurs during the operation.

Snapshot preserves both the state of virtual machine and data at a specific point in time. State refers to the virtual machine's powered state, which can be powered on, powered off, or suspended. Data includes the files that make up the virtual machine, including the disks, memory, and other virtual hardware devices like NICs. It is important to understand that snapshots should not be used for backup purposes, as the virtual machine size can increase drastically. Once a snapshot is created, all changes to virtual disks are stored in delta files. As a result, a virtual machine might consume the doubled size on storage...