A process of obtaining, in effect, a multi-virtual-machine snapshot by taking a single-virtual-machine snapshot begins with creating, by a host hypervisor, a host virtual machine and a guest hypervisor. The guest hypervisor executes on the host virtual machine. Virtual machines to be included together in an effective multi-virtual-machine snapshot are migrated to the guest hypervisor. A single-virtual-machine snapshot is taken, by the host hypervisor, of the host virtual machine. The snapshot contains the state data for the virtual machines migrated to the guest hypervisor.