If you perform an application consistent snapshot by gracefully shutting down the VM prior to creating the snapshot, the virtual machine and database inside of it will be in a cleaner state. This will provide you with an application consistent snapshot instead of a crash consistent snapshot.
If you follow my advice above and gracefully shutdown and restart the vCSA appliance, you can use this time to perform a VM snapshot after a graceful shutdown. This creates a crash consistent snapshot. Most VMware System Administrators I have talked to, usually snapshot the running vCSA appliance and do not snapshot the memory. Application Consistent Snapshot – Snapshot after graceful shutdown Please Note: Make sure that you give the vCSA appliance enough time to boot, start services, and let some of the maintenance tasks run before initiating an upgrade. This allows you to clear out the memory, virtual memory, and restart all vCenter services prior to starting the upgrade. I noticed that I significantly reduced the amount of failed upgrades by simply gracefully shutting down and restarting the vCenter Server Appliance prior to an upgrade. Gracefully Shutdown and Restart the vCSA Appliance before Upgrading
I have a few very important tips and tricks to share which may help you either avoid a failed update or upgrade, or increase the chances of a successful restore from backup. You should also have your Backup application or suite performing regularly snapshot based backups of your vCSA.
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