The Configuration Snapshot feature automatically takes a snapshot of the ORF configuration every time the configuration is saved.
ORF administrators can revert to snapshots taken earlier anytime, which comes in handy when experimenting with alternative configurations. It also helps in recovering from unexpected or intentional configuration changes, which resulted in an undesired outcome.
This feature can also prove useful when the configuration is edited concurrently from multiple ORF Administration Tools (connected remotely), and one overwrites changes applied by the other. The Configuration Snapshot feature can be used to track who made changes and helps in resolving possible conflicts by preserving multiple configuration states.
The Configuration Snapshot Manager can be accessed from the main menu of the Administration Tool ().
Whenever the configuration is saved, a snapshot is created automatically: these are called Automatic Snapshots.
ORF keeps only 20 Automatic Snapshots to save disk space and to keep the management of snapshots simple. When the number of Automatic Snapshots taken exceeds this limit, the oldest gets automatically deleted.
Automatic Snapshots are named Configuration Snapshot #X, where X is a sequential counter starting from 1, no comment property is added by default. The sequential counter is never reset (not even when an Automatic Snapshot is deleted automatically or manually).
Automatic Snapshots can be kept indefinitely by marking them as Baseline Snapshots.
The number of Baseline Snapshots is unlimited, they will never get deleted automatically.
Snapshots have the following properties:
Snapshots do not include data files, such as the Auto Sender Whitelist, Greylisting, DHA Protection Test and Honeypot databases, so it is not possible to revert to an earlier database state with this feature.
Snapshots can be taken by the Administration Tool running on the server (connecting to the local ORF instance) or by any Administration Tool running on a client computer (connecting to the remote ORF instance). In either case, snapshots are always stored on the managed server, never on the client.
Configuration Snapshots are not subject to Configuration Synchronization: they are local to the server where they were made and they are never transferred to subscriber servers.