Skip to main content

📸 Snapshots

Ludus provides snapshot functionality for VMs in your range. Snapshots allow you to save the state of a VM at a point in time and revert back to it later.

This functionality is also exposed in the Proxmox web UI. These Ludus commands are for convenience.

Commands​

List Snapshots​

The list command displays all snapshots for VMs in your range in a hierarchical tree format.

ludus snapshots list

This will show all snapshots for all VMs in your range, organized by VM and displaying the snapshot hierarchy.

Example output:

VM 104 (win10-client)
└── pre-malware 2025-04-12 12:34:56 (Clean system before malware installation) [includes RAM]
    └── post-malware 2025-04-12 14:23:45 (After malware installation)
        └── current  (You are here!)

VM 105 (ubuntu-server)
└── initial-setup 2025-04-12 09:12:34 (Fresh installation) [includes RAM]
    └── configured 2025-04-12 11:45:23 (After service configuration)
        └── current  (You are here!)

Options​

You can filter the list to show snapshots for specific VMs:

ludus snapshots list --vmids 104,105
# or using the short flag
ludus snapshots list -n 104,105

Create Snapshots​

The create command (alias: take) creates a new snapshot for one or more VMs.

ludus snapshots create <snapshot-name>

By default, this creates a snapshot with RAM for all VMs in your range.

Example:

ludus snapshots create pre-attack

Options​

You can specify which VMs to snapshot:

ludus snapshots create pre-attack --vmids 104,105
# or using the short flag
ludus snapshots create pre-attack -n 104,105

Add a description to your snapshot:

ludus snapshots create pre-attack --description "Clean system before attack simulation"
# or using the short flag
ludus snapshots create pre-attack -d "Clean system before attack simulation"

Create a snapshot without RAM (which saves space and is faster but upon revert your VM(s) will be powered off):

ludus snapshots create pre-attack --noRAM
# or using the short flag
ludus snapshots create pre-attack -r

Revert to Snapshots​

The revert command (alias: rollback) reverts VMs to a previous snapshot state.

ludus snapshots revert <snapshot-name>

Example:

ludus snapshots revert pre-attack

By default, this reverts all VMs in your range.

Options​

You can specify which VMs to revert:

ludus snapshots revert pre-attack --vmids 104,105
# or using the short flag
ludus snapshots revert pre-attack -n 104,105

Remove Snapshots​

The rm command (aliases: delete, remove) deletes a snapshot from one or more VMs.

ludus snapshots rm <snapshot-name>

Example to remove a snapshot from specific VMs:

ludus snapshots rm old-snapshot --vmids 104,105
# or using the short flag
ludus snapshots rm old-snapshot -n 104,105

Example to remove a snapshot from all VMs in the range:

ludus snapshots rm old-snapshot

Notes​

  • If you revert to a snapshot that does not include RAM (taken with -r or --noRAM), the VM will be powered off
  • When ZFS storage is used for VMs, snapshots must be reverted in the order they were taken. Directory (default) and LVM-thin storage types do not have this limitation and users can create "branching" snapshots.
  • Testing mode uses the snapshot name ludus_automated_clean_snapshot. If you remove this snapshot while in testing mode, you will not be able to stop testing. Ludus does not prevent you from creating or modifying a snapshot with this name.