Snapshots

Definition

A Snapshot is a point-in-time capture of configuration or metadata.

Snapshots are the foundation of ConfigCompare. A comparison is performed between two Snapshots.

Snapshot capture is the responsibility of ConfigSnap, the platform component that captures point-in-time representations of ERP configuration so they can later be compared, archived, and analysed.

This chapter describes concepts and behaviour; step-by-step operating guidance sits outside this reference.

Snapshot scenarios

Snapshots can be used for:

Baseline capture.
Pre-upgrade capture.
Post-upgrade capture.
Daily governance capture.
Weekly governance capture.
Milestone capture.
Pre-deployment capture.
Post-deployment capture.
Pre-refresh capture.
Post-refresh capture.
Historical analysis.

Snapshot scope and scale

Snapshot scope is controlled by the selected companies, configuration tables and Data Entities.

For D365 F&SCM, ConfigCompare provides a human-curated starter catalogue currently covering approximately 1,930 configuration tables and 200 Data Entities out of approximately 14,000 D365 F&SCM tables.

The catalogue is curated rather than generated, so a comparison returns the configuration that matters rather than every table in the system. This allows organisations to start with a meaningful configuration scope rather than treating every application table as equally relevant to Configuration Governance.

Configuration volume is easy to underestimate. The Contoso demonstration data holds an average of 46,148 multi-option settings for each legal entity: individual configurable decisions, not records. A production implementation carries a comparable weight of decisions, spread across environments, legal entities and time.

In a Contoso-scale reference environment with 30 legal entities, ConfigCompare captured 201,000 configuration records.

At this scale, Snapshot capture has completed in approximately 30 seconds, and comparison of captured Snapshots has completed in approximately 30 seconds.

Actual timings depend on selected scope, environment performance, infrastructure, concurrency, and workload conditions.

Scheduled Snapshots

ConfigCompare supports Scheduled Snapshots, which allow organisations to monitor configuration over time without relying on a user to capture every point of interest manually. Scheduled capture matters for governance because configuration changes are often only discovered after an issue arises; the accumulated Snapshots create the evidence needed to review what changed.

Scheduled Comparisons

Scheduled Comparisons compare captured Snapshots automatically, using alerts, notifications, and Rulesets to focus attention on relevant Differences.

Instant Comparison

A Snapshot can be captured with Instant Comparison enabled.

When a Snapshot is captured with Instant Comparison, ConfigCompare automatically pairs it with the previous Snapshot from the same environment with the same description, and compares the two, applying a nominated Ruleset and severity threshold as part of the same operation.

This allows a single scheduled batch job to capture a Snapshot, compare it with its predecessor, assess the results, and notify responsible parties. A weekday 06:00 job, for example, always compares each daily Snapshot against the previous daily Snapshot without anyone selecting comparison partners manually.

The combined operating pattern is described under operating model in Chapter 10: Monitoring & Alerts.

Deployment topology

Snapshot capture runs in each environment, but comparisons do not need to run where the Snapshots were captured, and they do not need to run in Production.

A common pattern for multi-environment estates is:

Every environment captures Scheduled Snapshots to a shared Azure Storage Account.
A nominated control environment (UAT, GOLD, or a purpose-built governance environment) runs the comparisons.
Synchronize with Azure Store, which can itself run as a batch job, updates the list of Snapshots held in the shared storage into the control environment so that Snapshots from the whole estate are available for comparison in one place.

Alternatively, remote Snapshot API calls can instruct another environment to capture a Snapshot without returning the underlying data, so that Snapshots from all environments become available for comparison together.

Organisations therefore do not need to manage comparison activity in every environment independently. Central Command Center extends the same principle to orchestration across multiple instances and tenants (see Chapter 18: Central Command Center).

Timeline analysis

Timeline analysis compares the same environment, company, or configuration area across time.

Examples include:

PROD today to PROD yesterday.
PROD this month to PROD last month.
UAT before testing to UAT after testing.
Pre-upgrade baseline to post-upgrade baseline.

Snapshot governance

Snapshots allow organisations to prove that a Difference exists and when it appeared relative to known events such as releases, database refreshes, upgrades, testing cycles, and support incidents.