A method and apparatus for managing snapshots of a file system using messages. A snapshot is a restorable version of a file system created at a predetermined point in time. A message is a persistent data structure supported by a file server. A message may include one or more snapshots, attributes for the message, and/or access control information for the message. The attributes and access control information are applied to all snapshots in the message. The attributes in the message enable users to perform automatic event-based management of the snapshots in the message. The access control information in the message provides granular access control to the snapshots in the message.