VPS snapshots capture disk state at a point in time through the control panel linked from your service. They are fast rollback tools — not a substitute for off-server backups.
Good habits
- Snapshot before kernel upgrades, control-panel updates, or major migrations
- Name snapshots with date and purpose so you do not restore the wrong copy
- Export critical databases and files to external storage weekly
- Test a restore on a staging VPS yearly — untested backups are guesses
Shared and cloud web hosting use cPanel backup tools instead — this article applies to KVM lines.