SoftNAS also includes snapshots - point-in-time indices into the changing data stream.  An unlimited number of snapshots can be created.  Each snapshot provide the ability to recover to a point in time with no added overhead, except for retention of the data blocks associated with each snapshot.  In the event recovery of an earlier version of a volume or filesystem is needed, you can create "writable clones".  Clones are exactly the same as the original volume and files, except they are writable (only changes and differences are actually written to disk).

 

Once you have created and updated SoftNAS, it is advisable to also create an EBS volume snapshot image of as a backup.  EBS volume snapshots are copied to redundant Amazon S3 storage for safe-keeping as backups, which are available to be restored at any time.

 

The SoftNAS boot disk is stored on an EBS volume which will now be backed up using the EBS volume snapshot function.