How to Snapshot a Network File Storage Share

Snapshots for Network File Storage are currently available through the API only. Snapshots let you create a point-in-time backup of your share’s data. Snapshot data is available in a special hidden .snapshot directory at the root of the share itself.

Snapshots are billed based on their size. Each snapshot’s size is equal to the amount of storage used by the share at the time of creation. Read Network File Storage Pricing for details.

Snapshot a Share Using the API

To take a snapshot of a Network File Storage share via the API, use the NFS actions endpoint and set the action type to snapshot:

curl -X POST \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
    -d '{"type": "snapshot", "region": "atl1", "params": {"name": "<snapshot_name>"}}' \
    "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/nfs/<your_share_id>/actions"

Replace <your_share_id> with the ID of your share, and <snapshot_name> with the desired name for the snapshot. The snapshot name must be twenty characters or less.

curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type": "resize", "params": {"size_gib": 1024}, "region": "atl1"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/nfs/${nfs_id}/actions"

To list and delete snapshots via the API, read the NFS section of the DigitalOcean API reference.

Access Snapshots

Snapshots are stored in a special hidden, read-only .snapshot directory at the root of the share. Each snapshot is a separate subdirectory of .snapshot, named with the snapshot name followed by the snapshot ID.

To list out the contents of your snapshot directory, use the following command:

ls -l /mnt/example-nfs-share/.snapshot

Replace /mnt/example-nfs-share/ with your mount point.