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Snapshot comparison errors

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Overview

Snapshot comparison errors occur when Azure Documenter cannot generate or display the differences between two saved snapshots of your Azure environment. Snapshots capture the state of resources across your configured subscriptions at a point in time, and a comparison surfaces additions, removals, and configuration changes between the two points.

Business value

Resolving snapshot comparison errors quickly restores visibility into infrastructure changes over time — a capability that supports change auditing, drift detection, and governance reporting. Most snapshot errors are caused by missing or incomplete snapshot data, scope mismatches, or Service principal access issues that can be resolved without starting over.

How it works

A snapshot comparison requires two completed snapshots that share a common subscription scope. Azure Documenter compares the captured resource state across both snapshots and identifies differences. Errors occur when one or both snapshots are incomplete, when the subscription scope has changed between the two points, or when the Service principal no longer has access to the subscriptions that were in scope when a snapshot was taken.

Troubleshooting

  1. No snapshots are available to compare
    Cause: No snapshots have been generated yet for the configuration, or all existing snapshots have been deleted.
    Fix: Generate at least two snapshots before attempting a comparison. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm minimum snapshot count required and the entry point for triggering snapshot generation]

  2. Comparison shows no differences when changes are expected
    Cause: The comparison is running against two snapshots taken in close succession before the change occurred, or the changed resources are outside the subscription scope of the configuration.
    Fix: Verify the timestamps of the two snapshots being compared and confirm that the resources you expect to see changed are within the subscriptions covered by the configuration's subscription scope. Generate a new snapshot after the expected change and compare it against the earlier snapshot.

  3. Comparison fails to load or returns an error
    Cause: One of the selected snapshots is incomplete because the Service principal had insufficient access at the time the snapshot was taken. An incomplete snapshot may appear in the list but cannot produce a valid comparison result.
    Fix: Verify the Service principal used in the configuration has Reader access on all configured subscriptions. Generate a new snapshot with the corrected access, then run the comparison using the new snapshot. See Service principal permission errors{target=_blank}.

  4. Comparison results are missing resources from some subscriptions
    Cause: The Service principal did not have access to all subscriptions in scope when one or both snapshots were taken. Partial data capture produces a comparison that only reflects the subscriptions the Service principal could access at the time.
    Fix: Confirm the Service principal has Reader access on every subscription in the configuration. Generate a fresh snapshot with full access and compare it against a previous complete snapshot. See Service principal permission errors{target=_blank}.

  5. Snapshot comparison takes a long time to complete
    Cause: The configuration covers a large number of subscriptions or resource types, which increases the volume of state data the comparison must process.
    Fix: Allow sufficient time for the comparison to complete. If the comparison does not finish after an extended period, consider narrowing the subscription scope in the configuration — generate new snapshots for the reduced scope and retry the comparison.

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