--- title: Prepare for Backup slug: bhdo-v2/prepare-for-backup 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 Belden Horizon Data Operations running on a virtual machine, you can't use the same backup to restore an instance of Belden Horizon Data Operations 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 Belden Horizon Data Operations device changes its MAC address. - Activate the device with Belden Horizon Data Manager. See [Activate an Edge Device](docId:70-Ge0h0fLr4i8GPrQzb1) for more information. :::hint{type="success"} **Tip**: **Request a License Key** Contact your Belden representative to request a license key. Once an additional license key has been received, go to **System **>** License** to enter the license key and activate the license. See [Upgrade a License](docId\:GYyzAkTUPN8j4WMG7AyXn) or [Upgrade a License Offline](docId\:OWTh2wWpMHFRf5oGX2ekq). ::: Your organization's standards and requirements dictate the frequency of device backups. # Belden Horizon Data Operations 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 Belden Horizon Data Operations 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 Belden Horizon Data Operations’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.