Version data with Snapshots

Domino lets you create snapshots of both NetApp Volumes and Domino Datasets to support reproducibility, version control, and collaboration. A snapshot is a read-only, immutable record of your data at a specific point in time. You can tag snapshots, download them, or use them to create versions. You can also add commit messages to NetApp Volumes only. When you want to reproduce a training experiment, you can version a NetApp Volume or Domino Dataset so that you can return to a specific version used in the past. To do this with Domino:

Create a snapshot to create versions of a NetApp Volume or Domino Dataset.
Use a naming convention and a folder hierarchy to organize data your way in the read/write portions of a NetApp Volume or Dataset.

Snapshotting: NetApp Volumes vs. Domino Datasets

Feature	NetApp Volumes	Domino Datasets
Snapshot speed	Nearly instant, regardless of size (~3 sec for 100+ GB)	Time scales with size (seconds to hours)
Storage efficiency	Snapshots initially consume no extra space (redirect-on-write)	Snapshots duplicate physical data at snapshot time
Mounting in executions	Mounted like datasets; supports tag-based mounting	Mounted like volumes; supports tag-based mounting
Tag support	Yes	Yes
Commit messages	Yes	No - not supported
Writable after snapshot	No - read-only; cannot clone snapshot into a new volume	Yes - can create a new Dataset from a snapshot; original snapshot remains read-only

Use NetApp Volumes when you need fast, large-scale snapshotting or integration with external storage systems. Use Datasets if you don’t have NetApp Volumes set up, and you want to clone or branch datasets more flexibly within Domino.

Create a snapshot

You can take a snapshot from the overview page of a NetApp Volume or Dataset in the Domino UI. A snapshot captures the current state of the data in a read-only, versioned format. Caution: You should never modify files while a snapshot is in progress.

In the UI
In the CLI (Datasets only)
In the REST API

Go to the NetApp Volumes or Datasets tab in your project.
Select the NetApp Volume or Dataset you want to snapshot.
Click Take Snapshot and choose one of the following:
- Include all files: snapshots the entire contents.
- Include only selected files allows a partial snapshot.
Optionally, add a commit message (NetApp Volumes) or a tag name for the snapshot. You can add multiple tags for NetApp Volumes.
Click Confirm to begin.

Syntax:

domino create-snapshot <project-owner>/<project-name>/<dataset-name>

Domino NetApp Volume Apis/snapshots/{id} in the Domino NetApp Volume APIs documentation has details on how to do this.Endpoint:

/api/datasetrw/v1/datasets/<dataset-id>/snapshots

Body:

{
  "relativeFilePaths": [
    "string"
  ]
}

Example: Snapshot all files in the DatasetRequest:

import requests
import json

url = "test14995.test-api.tech/api/datasetrw/v1/datasets/649cb4dedeb75c31b6e7dafc/snapshots"

payload = json.dumps({
  "relativeFilePaths": [
    "/*"
  ]
})
headers = {
  'X-Domino-Api-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data=payload)

print(response.text)

Response:

{
    "snapshot": {
        "id": "64935f78867ba25a6903c6c4",
        "datasetId": "6488daa88548661d66844e23",
        "creatorId": "64876299e4941004222e2b93",
        "createdAt": "2023-06-21T20:37:12.95Z",
        "status": "pending"
    },
    "metadata": {
        "requestId": "adc8ecc5-9887-46ef-a38c-5569311bf4cd",
        "notices": []
    }
}

Commit messages (NetApp Volumes only)

A commit message is a short, optional description attached to a snapshot. This description is also editable. It’s useful for recording the purpose, contents, or context of the snapshot, especially when creating many versions over time. Examples:

“Cleaned version with NA values removed”
“Post-labeling data for training 3.2”
“Before joining with demographic.csv”

Commit messages help:

Track what changed
Clarify the purpose without editing the Dataset or Volume description
Improve transparency in team workflows

Add tags to a snapshot

Tags are human-readable labels that provide a stable, friendly path to a specific snapshot when you mount it in an execution. They let you reference a named snapshot in code or across projects, even if the tag later moves to a different snapshot.

Tags can be created or removed by NetApp Volume or Dataset owners or editors.
Tags can be reassigned to newer snapshots as needed.
Only the most recently added tag is used for automatic mounting in executions.

To add or remove a tag:

Go to the Snapshots section for the Dataset or Volume.
Select the snapshot.
Click +Tag Snapshot, enter a name, and click Add.
To remove a tag, click the X next to the tag name.

Snapshot mounting in executions

If a snapshot has a tag, Domino automatically mounts it in any execution that uses the NetApp Volume or Dataset. If a snapshot has multiple tags, only the most recently added one is mounted. This mount path is in addition to the default mount, and it depends on the data and project types: NetApp Volumes

Git-based projects - /mnt/netapp-volumes/snapshot-tags/<name>/<tag-name>
Regular projects - /domino/netapp-volumes/snapshot-tags/<name>/<tag-name>

Datasets

Git-based projects - /mnt/data/snapshots/<name>/<tag-name>
Regular projects - /domino/datasets/local/snapshots/<name>/<tag-name>

Datasets imported from another project use a different prefix. Understand Dataset paths lists every form. Pinning an asset to one snapshot changes this: a pinned Dataset gets no tag mount, while a pinned NetApp Volume keeps its tag mounts. Choose a snapshot per asset at launch has the details.

Choose a snapshot per asset at launch

When you launch a Workspace or Job, or define a scheduled Job, you can pin each mounted NetApp Volume or Dataset to a single snapshot. Pin a snapshot to work against known-good data instead of the live version, without moving tags.

Start a new Workspace or Job from your Project, or create a scheduled Job.
Open the Data Plane & Hardware tab. Domino lists each mounted NetApp Volume and Dataset in a table with Storage and Snapshot columns.
In the Snapshot column for an asset, choose one of:
- All snapshots, the default: mounts the asset the standard way, with its live data, every snapshot under its own snapshot number, and any tag mounts.
- A specific snapshot, listed as Snapshot #<version> - <date>: mounts that one version, read-only.
Repeat for any other mounted assets, then launch or save.

The picker has no tag option. Domino mounts tagged snapshots automatically, as described in Snapshot mounting in executions, except for a Dataset you pin. A pinned snapshot takes over the path the asset normally mounts at, read-only, so there is no separate snapshots/ path to read it from. Pinning also changes which other mounts the asset gets:

Asset	Pinned snapshot mounts at	What else changes
Dataset	`/domino/datasets/local/<name>`, or `/mnt/data/<name>` in a Git-based project, the same path the live data normally uses	Domino collapses the version and tag paths into it, so nothing mounts under `snapshots/<name>/`, neither the numbered versions nor the tag
NetApp Volume	`/domino/netapp-volumes/<name>`, or `/mnt/netapp-volumes/<name>` in a Git-based project	The read/write mount and the `snapshots/<name>` directory are disabled. Tag mounts under `snapshot-tags/<name>/<tag-name>` stay

How long the selection lasts depends on what you launch:

Execution type	The selection applies to
Workspace	Every restart of that Workspace, until you change it
One-off Job	That run only
Scheduled Job	Every run the schedule triggers

Create a new Dataset from a snapshot

You can create as many snapshots as you need, but existing snapshots are read-only. Note: You can’t create a new NetApp Volume directly from a snapshot, but you can copy a volume for use in Project Templates, which includes its existing snapshots. You can create a new Dataset from a snapshot, modify it, and take a new snapshot:

In the UI
In the CLI
In the API

Go to the existing snapshot.
Click Copy to New Dataset.
Complete the fields as needed.
Click Upload files to add files to the Dataset.
Click Take Snapshot > Include all files.

Syntax:

domino create-dataset-from-snapshot <project-owner>/<project-name>/<dataset-name> <snapshot-number> <new-dataset-name>

Endpoint:

/api/datasetrw/v1/datasets

Body:

{
    "name": "test-dataset5",
    "description": "A new dataset based on a snapshot",
    "grants": [],
    "snapshotId": "649cbe38fe7c5443a9cb1b62"
}

Example: Create a new Dataset from a snapshotExample request:

import requests
import json

url = "test14995.test-api.tech/api/datasetrw/v1/datasets"

payload = json.dumps({
  "name": "test-dataset5",
  "description": "A new dataset based on a snapshot",
  "grants": [],
  "snapshotId": "649cbe38fa7c5443a7cb1b62"
})
headers = {
  'X-Domino-Api-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data=payload)

print(response.text)

Example response:

{
    "dataset": {
        "id": "649cb689deb75c31b6e7dafe",
        "name": "test-dataset5",
        "description": "A new dataset based on a snapshot",
        "projectId": "649cb2b0deb75c31b6e7daf6",
        "createdAt": "2023-06-28T22:39:05.788Z",
        "snapshotIds": [
            "649cb689deb75c31b6e7dafd"
        ],
        "tags": {}
    },
    "metadata": {
        "requestId": "3d87b111-8052-4965-9044-0531ba49a93a",
        "notices": []
    }
}

Download a snapshot

You can download a snapshot:

Open the overview page for the Dataset or Volume.
In the Snapshots list, select the snapshot to download.
Click Download Snapshot to begin downloading.
- If the selected snapshot contains a folder or multiple files, it downloads as a .zip file (default) or .tar archive, depending on your system setting.

Delete a snapshot

Deletion behavior depends on the volume type and configuration.

Delete a NetApp Volume snapshot

Admins can directly delete snapshots for both NetApp Volumes and Datasets from the Admin UI. Delete a NetApp Volume has information about deleting NetApp Volumes.

Delete a Dataset snapshot

Marked snapshots are no longer mounted in executions and are flagged for admin removal. You can restore a snapshot if it is marked for deletion. They are not fully deleted until removed by a Domino admin.

Open the NetApp Volume or Dataset overview page.
Go to the Snapshots section.
Select the snapshot to delete.
Click Mark Snapshot for Deletion, then confirm.

Next steps

Get the path to a snapshot
Learn about Dataset best practices

Core Concepts

Features

Version data with Snapshots

Snapshotting: NetApp Volumes vs. Domino Datasets

Create a snapshot

Commit messages (NetApp Volumes only)

Add tags to a snapshot

Snapshot mounting in executions

Choose a snapshot per asset at launch

Create a new Dataset from a snapshot

Download a snapshot

Delete a snapshot

Delete a NetApp Volume snapshot

Delete a Dataset snapshot

Next steps

​Snapshotting: NetApp Volumes vs. Domino Datasets

​Create a snapshot

​Commit messages (NetApp Volumes only)

​Add tags to a snapshot

​Snapshot mounting in executions

​Choose a snapshot per asset at launch

​Create a new Dataset from a snapshot

​Download a snapshot

​Delete a snapshot

​Delete a NetApp Volume snapshot

​Delete a Dataset snapshot

​Next steps

Snapshotting: NetApp Volumes vs. Domino Datasets

Create a snapshot

Commit messages (NetApp Volumes only)

Add tags to a snapshot

Snapshot mounting in executions

Choose a snapshot per asset at launch

Create a new Dataset from a snapshot

Download a snapshot

Delete a snapshot

Delete a NetApp Volume snapshot

Delete a Dataset snapshot

Next steps