So I have a few servers running Hyper-V (they are 2008R2 Servers). This is mainly for a Test Environment, and im basically looking for a way to keep "States" of a Server (Lets pretend each VM is a Customer, and as changes get installed I create a snapshot)
I've been told that this is probably a bad practice, but Im looking for suggestions as well. Right now it's manual, but I'd like to automate it.
So something like this(Tree means a parent snapshot):
SnapshotAuto(Tree) - A Rolling Snapshot that gets created and deleted every week SnapshotChange(Tree) - a Set of Snapshots that contain a rolling past 3 changes
So under SnapshotAuto would be the rolling snapshot that gets created and deleted every week.
Under the SnapshotChange would be the past 3 Snapshots created for every new change we have. So Change 1 Change 2 and Change 3 States. Then when change 4 comes around I delete change 1. (If that makes sense)
Is there a better way to do this? Ideally I'd back up the snapshots as they get rolled out....but im not system admin so I don't know the best practices. I've also heard this is bad practice to rely on snapshots as it will slow down the VM (I don't know why, just something to do with differential disks?....I don't know enough about hardware/servers to know however). I think someone mentioned the VM would have to be stopped then started? But that's not a big deal for these VM's.
Any suggestions? If this is a bad idea I would like reasons why? (So i'll know for the future and to explain to my manager at why this won't work).
Edit: SIDEQUESTION:
If I "Export" a Snapshot Parent to a backup.....would that export the entire .VHD or .AVHD? IE: Could I export a parent snapshot and then apply it to a virtual machine?
Thank you