In CloudShare, a blueprint is a container for an environment’s snapshots, while a snapshot is a complete replica of an environment in its current state at the time the snapshot is created. The snapshot serves as a versioning system of your blueprint, within a blueprint. It includes a real-time backup of all environment components, as well as other configuration parameters. A snapshot also includes current RAM and disk states, so that all services and applications that were active when the snapshot was taken are preserved in their respective running states.
You can choose to create a snapshot manually whenever a real-time backup of the environment is required (for convenience, CloudShare can also automatically take a snapshot before an environment is deleted). When you create a snapshot, you can assign it to the existing blueprint, or use it to define a new blueprint.
By default, the latest snapshot automatically becomes the default snapshot used as the basis for new environments, unless you uncheck the Set as default checkbox during snapshot creation. However, you can manually assign an earlier snapshot from the blueprint as the default.
When more than five snapshots are created, CloudShare deletes the earliest created snapshot using a first-in, first-out (FIFO) queuing method. The default snapshot is never deleted. If needed, you can re-assign another snapshot to be the default.
By maintaining these additional two structure levels — blueprints and snapshots — CloudShare supports complete modularity and flexibility for managing an environment. For example, it enables you to use different instances of the same environment for different audiences or regions, or to revert to a previously-saved environment state.