---
title: Prepare for Backup
slug: litmusedge/product-features/system/device-management/backup-restore/prepare-for-backup
description: Learn how to prepare for restoring a backup. 
docTags: 
createdAt: 2022-05-27T16:36:24.000Z
---

Review the following information to prepare for restoring a backup. 

:::hint{type="warning"}
**Important**: If you create a backup on an instance of Litmus Edge running on a virtual machine, you can't use the same backup to restore an instance of Litmus Edge running on a physical device. 
:::

Make sure you do the following before restoring a backup. 

- Obtain a license for backup and restore. A new license is needed each time the Litmus Edge device changes its MAC address. 
- Activate the device with Litmus Edge Manager. See [Activate an Edge Device](docId\:WaO2YpJsg1_aFdXtODqxW) for more information.

:::hint{type="success"}
**Tip**: 
**Request a License Key**

Contact your Litmus Edge representative to request a license key.

See [Upgrade a Node-Locked License](docId\:TOGjhJ9-f2mV08Dpkq91w) or [Upgrade a Node-Locked License Offline](docId\:xiYfGTAhryGvCzqqEMEZP) for steps on upgrading licenses.
:::

Your organization's standards and requirements dictate the frequency of device backups.

# Litmus Edge Configuration Backup and Virtual Machine Snapshots

Some virtual machines (such as VMware ESXI or MS HyperV) offer snapshots as a disaster recovery feature. Therefore, for these virtually deployed Litmus Edge instances, configuration backups should not be used as the primary means of disaster recovery.

A snapshot is the state of a virtual machine at a specific point in time. In addition to being able to save a Litmus Edge’s state like a configuration backup can, snapshots also preserve the virtual device’s memory and disc allocation.

For these virtual machines, configuration backups can be used instead to reset the configuration of a virtual device or to duplicate the setup of one device to many other virtual devices.