application-consistent-snapshot · shipping · also application-aware snapshot

Application-consistent snapshot

An application-consistent snapshot captures an application's data through a coordinated procedure that satisfies that application's consistency requirements.

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.

Relations

related

snapshot, crash-consistency, backup, distributed-snapshot, restore-test

Advantages

• Application participation can coordinate buffered data and transaction state before capture. [1]

Limitations

• A storage snapshot alone does not prove that application writers participated successfully. [1]

Citations

1. Microsoft: Volume Shadow Copy Service, application writers and snapshot coordination (accessed 2026-10-13)
2. PostgreSQL 18: File System Level Backup, section 25.2 (accessed 2026-10-13)
3. Hesela: Snapshots and backups: which failures can you recover from? (accessed 2026-10-13)

JSON: /data/terms/application-consistent-snapshot.json