Create and Restore Server Snapshots

A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of your server's disk. Snapshots are useful before major changes, OS upgrades, or as a lightweight backup strategy.

How Snapshots Work

When you take a snapshot, LightYear captures the current state of your server's disk. The snapshot is stored in our object storage infrastructure and can be used to:

• Restore the server to the snapshot state
• Deploy a new server from the snapshot
• Clone a server configuration to a different region

[!NOTE] Snapshots capture disk state only — they do not include RAM state. Any in-memory data not written to disk will not be captured.

Taking a Snapshot via the Control Panel

1. Navigate to Servers and click on your server.
2. Select the Snapshots tab.
3. Click Take Snapshot.
4. Enter a descriptive label (e.g., pre-nginx-upgrade-2026-04-24).
5. Click Confirm.

Snapshot creation typically takes 1–5 minutes depending on disk size.

Taking a Snapshot via the API

$curl -X POST https://api.lightyear.host/v1/servers/SERVER_ID/snapshots \
$  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
$  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
$  -d '{"label": "pre-upgrade-snapshot"}'

{
  "snapshot": {
    "id": "snap_abc123",
    "label": "pre-upgrade-snapshot",
    "status": "pending",
    "size_gb": 25,
    "created_at": "2026-04-24T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Restoring from a Snapshot

[!WARNING] Restoring a snapshot overwrites all current data on the server. This action cannot be undone. Ensure you have a recent backup of any data you want to keep.

1. Navigate to Servers → Your Server → Snapshots.
2. Find the snapshot you want to restore.
3. Click the ⋯ menu and select Restore.
4. Confirm the action by typing the server label.

The server will reboot and restoration typically completes in 2–10 minutes.

Snapshot Pricing

Snapshots are billed at $0.05 per GB per month. A 25 GB snapshot costs approximately $1.25/month.

Snapshot Best Practices

• Label snapshots with a date and reason (e.g., 2026-04-24-pre-kernel-upgrade)
• Delete old snapshots you no longer need to reduce costs
• Take a snapshot before any major system change
• Do not rely on snapshots as your only backup — use automated backups for critical data