{
  "slug": "distributed-snapshot",
  "term": "Distributed snapshot",
  "aliases": [
    "global-state snapshot"
  ],
  "definition": "A distributed snapshot records a coordinated global state of participating processes and their communication channels.",
  "note": "In the Chandy-Lamport model, channels are reliable and FIFO with finite delivery delays. Channel state includes messages sent but not yet received at the recorded boundaries. This is not a filesystem snapshot or, by itself, a durable backup.",
  "status": "shipping",
  "advantages": [],
  "limitations": [],
  "related": [
    "snapshot",
    "application-consistent-snapshot",
    "crash-consistency",
    "backup"
  ],
  "supersedes": [],
  "supersededBy": [],
  "firstSeen": null,
  "lastSeen": null,
  "updated": "2026-10-13",
  "citations": [
    {
      "id": "chandy-lamport",
      "title": "Chandy and Lamport (1985): Distributed Snapshots: Determining Global States of Distributed Systems, sections 2-4, ACM TOCS 3(1), 63-75",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Determining-Global-States-of-a-Distributed-System.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    },
    {
      "id": "hesela-recovery",
      "title": "Snapshots and backups: which failures can you recover from?",
      "url": "https://hesela.com/analyses/snapshot-backup-recovery-boundaries/",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    }
  ]
}