What should you do before performing any major upgrade on a business-critical application hosted on a Windows 2022 server?

Creating a snapshot of all virtual disks is an important precaution before performing any major upgrade on a business-critical application. A snapshot captures the current state, data, and configuration of the virtual machine at a specific point in time. This allows you to easily revert back to that state if the upgrade encounters issues, ensuring that your application can quickly recover from any disruptions without significant downtime or data loss.

Capturing a snapshot provides a safety net which is essential in production environments where reliability is paramount. It enables you to test the upgrade process while maintaining a fallback option, thus minimizing risk. The reliability and availability of business-critical applications depend on proper upgrade procedures, making snapshots a best practice.

Other options, while they may contribute to a degree of preparation and safety, do not provide the same level of immediate recovery capability that a snapshot offers. Performing a full system backup is indeed important, as it can save data should the application fail after an upgrade, but it is a more time-consuming process compared to taking a snapshot. Shutting down all VMs might ensure all resources are available for the upgrade, but it does not address the need for a rollback capability. Updating drivers can enhance performance and compatibility, yet it does not directly relate to the immediate safety and recovery from issues