Snapshot trees in Hyper-V and automated backup
One important feature is missing from VMware Server 2 – the ability to make multiple snapshots. And I did not discover how to make snapshot hierarchies with it. (Although it is possible with Workstation 6 – screenshots here.)
That is something you can easily do with Hyper-V. On installing Exchange? Ever tried with/without DC? Forefront? Spamassassin? Combinations? Now it is possible. I have installed a Windows Server 2008, activated it and run a snapshot with Visual Studio installed, another without etc.
You can always revert your VM to a snapshot (in German horribly translated as “Snapshot anwenden”) and, in case you don’t need it anymore, safely delete it. The next time you power off/shutdown your VM the delta will get integrated. Plus, you can assign a different drive for your snapshots. Handy!
Tore Lervik, the programmer behind the sidebar widget, has written a script which utilizes snapshot functionality for backups. But beware: There is no data de-duplication, therefore your backup space will get filled very vigorously:
