> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction to Consul Snapshots

> Consul snapshots provide atomic backups of your cluster’s Raft state for disaster recovery and data restoration.

Consul snapshots provide an atomic, point-in-time backup of your cluster’s Raft state. They are the primary mechanism for disaster recovery (DR) and allow you to restore:

* Key-value entries in the KV store
* Service catalog definitions
* Prepared queries
* Active sessions
* Access Control Lists (ACLs)
* Internal metadata

Consistent snapshots ensure that all committed log entries across the Raft quorum are captured by the leader before the archive is created.

<Callout icon="lightbulb" color="#1CB2FE">
  By default, snapshots run in **consistent** mode. The cluster leader coordinates the process to guarantee data integrity.
</Callout>

<Frame>
  ![The image is an introduction to Consul snapshots, explaining that snapshots are taken in consistent mode by the leader, with options for followers to take snapshots using the -stale flag. It highlights the benefits and potential data loss risks of using the -stale flag.](https://kodekloud.com/kk-media/image/upload/v1752877796/notes-assets/images/HashiCorp-Certified-Consul-Associate-Certification-Introduction-to-Consul-Snapshots/consul-snapshots-introduction-stale-flag.jpg)
</Frame>

## Taking a Snapshot on the Leader

Run the following command on the current leader to save a consistent snapshot:

```bash theme={null}
consul snapshot save /path/to/consul-snapshot.gz
```

This will:

1. Verify leader status.
2. Generate a gzipped tar archive at the specified path.

## Offloading to a Follower with `-stale`

If you need to reduce load on the leader—or capture state when quorum is lost—you can offload snapshot creation to a follower:

```bash theme={null}
consul snapshot save -stale /path/to/consul-snapshot.gz
```

<Callout icon="triangle-alert" color="#FF6B6B">
  Using `-stale` may omit unreplicated log entries from the follower, potentially resulting in data loss. Only use this option when leader performance or cluster availability is impacted.
</Callout>

### When to Use Stale Snapshots

* Offload resource-intensive backup tasks from the leader
* Capture cluster state after quorum loss, to restore in a new cluster

## Snapshot Contents

| Component         | Description                                           |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| KV Store Entries  | All key-value data                                    |
| Service Catalog   | Registered services and metadata                      |
| Prepared Queries  | User-defined queries saved for repeatable lookups     |
| Active Sessions   | Locks and leader election sessions                    |
| ACLs              | Access Control policies and tokens                    |
| Internal Metadata | Raft indexes, configuration, and other system details |

## References

* [Consul Snapshots Documentation](https://www.consul.io/docs/backup-and-restore)
* [Raft Consensus Protocol](https://raft.github.io/)
* [HashiCorp Consul Overview](https://www.consul.io/)

<CardGroup>
  <Card title="Watch Video" icon="video" cta="Learn more" href="https://learn.kodekloud.com/user/courses/hashicorp-certified-consul-associate-certification/module/6525b457-c93a-43ac-839a-7a301c64b51b/lesson/63221434-2ccb-4499-8b14-4f4b5f21508b" />
</CardGroup>