Uses of Database Snapshot

The following are the important usage of snapshots namely,

1. Reporting Purposes –> When your db is used for reporting purposes you can create snapshots so that they provide a static view of the data and also prevents blocks from occurring as insert or update statements are prevented as snapshots are read-only copies of your source db.

2. Querying data from standby servers –> In Database mirroring the mirror db will be in NORECOVERY mode and you cannot read the contents of the db. If you want to read through the contents of mirrored db or if you want to use the mirrored db for reporting purposes you can make use of Database Snapshots.

3. Safeguarding database from user/administrative error –> Before doing major updates, such as a bulk update, create a database snapshot on the database protects data. If you make a mistake, you can use the snapshot to recover by reverting the database to the snapshot. Reverting is potentially much faster for this purpose than restoring from a backup.

4. System upgrades –> Before applying service packs the DBA will take backup for all the databases which will be time consuming and also takes lot of space. In such scenarios database snapshots comes handy. Creating the snapshot consumes less amount of time and also the space required is very minimal.