{
  "slug": "application-consistent-snapshot",
  "term": "Application-consistent snapshot",
  "aliases": [
    "application-aware snapshot"
  ],
  "definition": "An application-consistent snapshot captures an application's data through a coordinated procedure that satisfies that application's consistency requirements.",
  "note": "For example, VSS writers prepare applications for capture and cooperate with a temporary write freeze. This does not mean capturing all RAM. A crash-consistent database image can also be recoverable through its documented log-replay procedure; application coordination and recoverability are different questions.",
  "status": "shipping",
  "advantages": [
    {
      "text": "Application participation can coordinate buffered data and transaction state before capture.",
      "citationIds": [
        "microsoft-vss"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    {
      "text": "A storage snapshot alone does not prove that application writers participated successfully.",
      "citationIds": [
        "microsoft-vss"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "snapshot",
    "crash-consistency",
    "backup",
    "distributed-snapshot",
    "restore-test"
  ],
  "supersedes": [],
  "supersededBy": [],
  "firstSeen": null,
  "lastSeen": null,
  "updated": "2026-10-13",
  "citations": [
    {
      "id": "microsoft-vss",
      "title": "Microsoft: Volume Shadow Copy Service, application writers and snapshot coordination",
      "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/file-server/volume-shadow-copy-service",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    },
    {
      "id": "postgresql-18",
      "title": "PostgreSQL 18: File System Level Backup, section 25.2",
      "url": "https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/backup-file.html",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    },
    {
      "id": "hesela-recovery",
      "title": "Hesela: Snapshots and backups: which failures can you recover from?",
      "url": "https://hesela.com/analyses/snapshot-backup-recovery-boundaries/",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    }
  ]
}