Create Checkpoint

Applies To: System Center 2012 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator, System Center 2012 SP1 - Orchestrator

The Create Checkpoint activity is used to save the state of a virtual hard disk that is attached to a virtual machine and all of the disk's contents, including application data files. For virtual machines on Hyper-V and VMware ESX Server hosts, a checkpoint also saves the hardware configuration information.

You can create a checkpoint as a temporary backup before you update the operating system or an application, or before you make a configuration change on a virtual machine. The checkpoint allows you to restore the virtual machine to its previous state if the operation fails or adversely affects the virtual machine. You can create checkpoints only for a virtual machine that is deployed on a virtual machine host. You cannot create checkpoints for a virtual machine that is stored in the library. For a virtual machine that is running on a Hyper-V or VMware host, you can create a checkpoint without stopping the virtual machine. For a virtual machine that is running on a Virtual Server host, you must shut down the virtual machine before you create a checkpoint.

You can create multiple checkpoints for a single virtual machine. Be aware that checkpoints use hard disk space, and, when allowed to proliferate, can affect the performance of a virtual machine when it is running, during migration, and when storing it to the library. Therefore, it is a best practice to remove unnecessary checkpoints.

For the procedure to configure this activity, see Configuring the Create Checkpoint Activity.

The following tables list the properties and published data for this activity. The activity publishes all of the data from the required and optional properties into published data.

Create Checkpoint Property

Optional Properties

Create Checkpoint Published Data

Configuring the Create Checkpoint Activity

To configure the Create Checkpoint activity

1. From the Activities window, drag a Create Checkpoint activity to the active runbook window. Double-click the Create Checkpoint activity icon.

2. Click the Properties tab.

3. In the Configuration section, click the ellipsis button (...), and select the Name of the Virtual Machine Manager computer that you want to connect to with this activity. Click OK. The properties required to define this activity are displayed in the Properties section.

4. In the Properties section, assign a value to the required property. If applicable, to automatically populate the value from the data published by any previous activity in the workflow, right-click the property box, point to Subscribe, and then click Published data. Click the published data element you want to use, and then click OK. To view additional elements, select Show Common Published Data.

   For a list of the data elements published by each activity, see the Published Data tables in the activity topic. For information about the Common Published Data items, see Published Data in the System Center Orchestrator 2012 Runbook Guide.

5. To use additional properties, click Optional Properties. In the Add/Remove Property dialog box, select the properties you want to apply to this object from the Available list, and then click the right arrow button (>>). The properties appear in the Selected list. To remove a property from the Selected list, click the property, and then click the left arrow button (<<). Click OK. Assign values to the properties or Subscribe to Published data from any previous activity in the workflow, and then click OK.

6. For information about the settings on the General and Run Behavior tabs, see Common Configuration Instructions for all Activities.

7. Click Finish.

Other Checkpoint Activities

The Integration Pack for System Center Virtual Machine Manager contains the following additional Checkpoint activities.

• Get Checkpoint

• Manage Checkpoint