Selector snapshots overview

Review these topics to learn about selector snapshots and understand how to use them.

Selector snapshot use cases

The following examples describe some common use cases for selector snapshots:

Selector snapshot concepts and terms

Snapshots introduce some new concepts and terms for working with selectors.

Selector snapshot: A snapshot is a new instance of an existing selector. Some key points to remember about snapshots are as follows:
  • A snapshot is a separate selector object. Making a change to one snapshot in a snapshot set does not affect the other snapshots in the set.
  • A snapshot is not a copy. If you snapshot an object associated with a selector, snapshot creates a separate instance of the object. Copy maps relationships between objects, it does not create new objects.
  • A snapshot is not a revision of a selector:
    • Snapshot does not support comparing changes between two selector snapshots.
    • Changes to selector snapshots are not tracked or identified with a version number as in a source control system. However, you can correlate selector snapshots to milestones by using a snapshot naming scheme that includes version numbers, for example, 7.5.0, 3.4.01.

Snapshot set: A snapshot set is the set of all the selector snapshots that are descendants of one base snapshot. At a minimum, the set includes the base or parent snapshot and a child snapshot. In the UI, the Snapshot icon Snapshot icon beside the selector name indicates that a snapshot set for the selector exists.

Base snapshot: Initially, all selectors have a snapshot name of Base Snapshot. You can change Base Snapshot to another name. The base snapshot is the parent of the snapshot set.

Default selector snapshot: The default selector snapshot is the current, working selector. Only one snapshot in the set can be the default. If you do not specify a default snapshot, the base snapshot is the default.
  • In the console, the default snapshot is displayed at the top-level of the selectors list. Select Servers > Selectors to display the selectors list.
  • When you select a selector with snapshots, the default selector snapshot is used unless you select a different selector snapshot in the list box.
  • To access and work with other snapshots in the selector snapshot set, you must click the Snapshot Snapshot icon icon.

Selector snapshot views

Select the Snapshot icon Snapshot icon to display the Snapshot view. The Snapshot view shows the hierarchy of the snapshots in a set:
  • The base snapshot is at the top level and has the name Base Snapshot, if you do not assign it a unique name.
  • All selector snapshots are children of a base snapshot. Children of the same base snapshot are indented at the same level in the Snapshot column.
  • Selector snapshots that are created from a child snapshot become children of the child snapshot and are indented at the next level in the Snapshot column.

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