What is a complete copy of a system's state and configurations known as?

A complete copy of a system's state and configurations is referred to as a full backup. This type of backup captures all data, system settings, applications, and configurations at the time of the backup. It serves as a comprehensive snapshot of the entire system, enabling a complete restoration in case of data loss or system failure.

The full backup is essential for disaster recovery, ensuring that an organization can fully restore its operations to a previous state without missing any data or configurations. It is important in scenarios where comprehensive data protection is required, and it allows for easy restoration processes since all crucial information is contained in this single backup.

Understanding full backups is crucial because they differ from other types of backups, such as incremental backups, which only save changes made since the last backup, or system snapshots, which may only capture the state of the system at a specific moment without retaining all files or applications. This difference highlights the importance of full backups in maintaining complete redundancy and recovery capabilities within a cloud or IT environment.