- NAME
-
- gcloud alpha compute disks snapshot - create snapshots of Compute Engine persistent disks
- SYNOPSIS
-
-
gcloud alpha compute disks snapshotDISK_NAME[DISK_NAME…] [--async] [--chain-name=CHAIN_NAME] [--csek-key-file=FILE] [--description=DESCRIPTION] [--guest-flush] [--labels=[KEY=VALUE,…]] [--snapshot-names=SNAPSHOT_NAME,[…]] [--storage-location=LOCATION] [--region=REGION|--zone=ZONE] [GCLOUD_WIDE_FLAG …]
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
(ALPHA)gcloud alpha compute disks snapshotcreates snapshots of persistent disks. Snapshots are useful for backing up data, copying a persistent disk, and even, creating a custom image. Snapshots can be created from persistent disks even while they are attached to running instances. Once created, snapshots may be managed (listed, deleted, etc.) viagcloud compute snapshots.Refer to the Snapshot best practices guide. https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/snapshot-best-practices
gcloud alpha compute disks snapshot waits until the operation returns a status of
READYorFAILED, or reaches the maximum timeout, and returns the last known details of the snapshot.Note: To create snapshots, the following IAM permissions are necessary
,compute.disks.createSnapshot,compute.snapshots.create, andcompute.snapshots.get.compute.zoneOperations.get - EXAMPLES
-
To create a snapshot named
snapshot-testof a persistent disk namedtestin zoneus-central1-a, run:gcloud alpha compute disks snapshot test --zone=us-central1-a --snapshot-names=snapshot-test --description="This is an example snapshot" - POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS
-
DISK_NAME[DISK_NAME…]- Names of the disks to operate on.
- FLAGS
-
--async- Return immediately, without waiting for the operation in progress to complete.
--chain-name=CHAIN_NAME- Create the new snapshot in the snapshot chain labeled with the specified name. The chain name must be 1-63 characters long and comply with RFC1035. Use this flag only if you are an advanced service owner who needs to create separate snapshot chains, for example, for chargeback tracking. When you describe your snapshot resource, this field is visible only if it has a non-empty value.
--csek-key-file=FILE-
Path to a Customer-Supplied Encryption Key (CSEK) key file that maps Compute
Engine resources to user managed keys to be used when creating, mounting, or
taking snapshots of disks.
If you pass
-as value of the flag, the CSEK is read from stdin. See https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/customer-supplied-encryption for more details. --description=DESCRIPTION- Text to describe the snapshots being created.
--guest-flush- Create an application-consistent snapshot by informing the OS to prepare for the snapshot process.
--labels=[KEY=VALUE,…]-
List of label KEY=VALUE pairs to add.
Keys must start with a lowercase character and contain only hyphens (
-), underscores (_), lowercase characters, and numbers. Values must contain only hyphens (-), underscores (_), lowercase characters, and numbers. --snapshot-names=SNAPSHOT_NAME,[…]-
Names to assign to the created snapshots. Without this option, the name of each
snapshot will be a random 12-character alphanumeric string that starts with a
letter. The values of this option run parallel to the disks specified. For
example,
gcloud alpha compute disks snapshot my-disk-1 my-disk-2 my-disk-3 --snapshot-names snapshot-1,snapshot-2,snapshot-3
will result in
my-disk-1being snapshotted assnapshot-1,my-disk-2assnapshot-2, and so on. The name must match the(?:[a-z](?:[-a-z0-9]{0,61}[a-z0-9])?)regular expression, which means it must start with an alphabetic character followed by one or more alphanumeric characters or dashes. The name must not exceed 63 characters and must not contain special symbols. All characters must be lowercase. --storage-location=LOCATION- Google Cloud Storage location, either regional or multi-regional, where snapshot content is to be stored. If absent, a nearby regional or multi-regional location is chosen automatically.
-
At most one of these can be specified:
--region=REGION-
Region of the disks to operate on. If not specified, you might be prompted to
select a region (interactive mode only).
To avoid prompting when this flag is omitted, you can set the
property:compute/regiongcloud config set compute/region REGIONA list of regions can be fetched by running:
gcloud compute regions listTo unset the property, run:
gcloud config unset compute/regionAlternatively, the region can be stored in the environment variable
.CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_REGION --zone=ZONE-
Zone of the disks to operate on. If not specified and the
property isn't set, you might be prompted to select a zone (interactive mode only).compute/zoneTo avoid prompting when this flag is omitted, you can set the
property:compute/zonegcloud config set compute/zone ZONEA list of zones can be fetched by running:
gcloud compute zones listTo unset the property, run:
gcloud config unset compute/zoneAlternatively, the zone can be stored in the environment variable
.CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE
- GCLOUD WIDE FLAGS
-
These flags are available to all commands:
--access-token-file,--account,--billing-project,--configuration,--flags-file,--flatten,--format,--help,--impersonate-service-account,--log-http,--project,--quiet,--trace-token,--user-output-enabled,--verbosity.Run
$ gcloud helpfor details. - NOTES
-
This command is currently in alpha and might change without notice. If this
command fails with API permission errors despite specifying the correct project,
you might be trying to access an API with an invitation-only early access
allowlist. These variants are also available:
gcloud compute disks snapshotgcloud beta compute disks snapshot
gcloud alpha compute disks snapshot
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Last updated 2025-07-22 UTC.