Providing that you have a vCenter server, you can take clones of virtual machines. Virtual machine clones are "almost" identical copies of a source virtual machine. By almost, we mean that the virtual machine data is an identical copy in a cloned virtual machine but certain identification markers such as the virtual machine MAC address and VM ID will be changed to keep them unique.
You can clone a virtual machine as long as there are no conflicting tasks on the source virtual machine. If there is a snapshot consolidation process underway then you'll need to wait for this to finish before you can start the cloning process.
Because a virtual machine clone is a copy of the virtual machine's configuration and data , you need to ensure that there is enough free space on the same or other destination datastore.
The process will fail if there is not enough readily available free space. When creating the clone, you'll also be asked to specify a DRS enabled cluster or specific vSphere host.
If you are not using DRS, then you must also ensure there is enough CPU and memory on the destination host to power on the virtual machine after the cloning process is complete. When running through the simple VMware vSphere clone wizard, you have the option to change some of the characteristics of the virtual machine hardware. This enables you to clone a virtual machine but alter virtual hardware such as the number of NICs or the amount of CPU and Memory for the new virtual machine.
One of the most powerful features of VMware clones is the ability to customize the virtual machine's operating system. Providing that the prerequisites are met, you can set a hostname or even change the IP address of the cloned virtual machine. All of this is possible during the cloning process without having to log in to the virtual machine at all! If you are frequently deploying new virtual machines, you might want to consider building a virtual machine template.
Once you have installed your operating system and base applications onto a virtual machine, you can proceed to convert this virtual machine into a template. This process can be completed in a matter of seconds. The real magic with templates comes when you build a new VM from a template and attach a customization specification. A customization specification allows you to customize the virtual machine hostname, timezone, network details and DNS configuration details within the operating system. You can use customization specifications with both templates and clones.
If you have a considerable number of virtual machines to create, you can combine the power of virtual machine templates and customization specifications with PowerCLI. This means that with a single command you can create many virtual machines from your template and fully customize them by specifying a customization specification. Virtual machine templates unlock the ability to quickly deploy many virtual machines, so there are several advantages made available to VMware admins:.
Eliminate Human Error. Building a new virtual machine from scratch is a simple enough task but to do this many times manually, makes room for human error. Templates and clones prevent misconfiguration of virtual machines, eliminating human error. Significant Time Savings. Because the virtual machine creation process can be fully automated, VMware admin time is reduced from hours or days down to just a few seconds to commence the virtual machine deployment process.
Standard Server Builds. Pure Capsaicin. VMware expert. A template can deploy many VMs at once, cloning doesn't do customization. You can convert a template to a VM to patch, then convert it back not clone. View this "Best Answer" in the replies below ». Spike May 3, at UTC. Gary D Williams This person is a verified professional. Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional.
You can convert a template to a VM to patch, then convert it back not clone Looks as though the process would be: 1. Clone to Template 2. Convert to VM 3. Clone to Template 5. Thai Pepper. Using VM guest OS customization is convenient and saves you time. Configure your clone settings from one place in just a few steps with the customization wizard. You can create multiple customization specifications for Linux and Windows virtual machines to make them useable as soon as the VM clone is deployed from the VM template.
If you are going to use guest OS customization specification, prepare your VMs so that they meet the requirements. Before creating a template, you should prepare your VM. Creating a new VM. Select the appropriate VM compatibility options. For example, if you have hosts with ESXi 6. Disconnecting unused devices from a VM.
If you are using a VM that already exists, disconnect unnecessary hardware devices such as virtual floppy disk drives, virtual COM controllers, LPT controllers, etc. This approach reduces the risk of potential attacks and, as a result, improves security.
Installing the required software on a VM. Install the operating system on the VM. Then install all the necessary updates, security patches, antivirus protection, and specific software needed for your purposes.
Configure your OS settings, such as environment variables, remote access, etc. Set passwords for users and the administrator s. Passwords should never expire; this way, you can prevent accounts from getting locked. You can also configure a default user profile. Installing VMware Tools. This is an important requirement for using VM templates because VMware Tools are used when customization specifications are applied for changing IP configuration, host name, time zone, or other guest OS settings when VMs are deployed from a template.
Removing unwanted software components from a VM. You can make your VM template more lightweight by optimizing the guest OS. The following are some general recommendations for Windows systems that may be useful for configuring your VMs:. You can carry out a deeper cleanup of your guest OS to optimize VM performance depending on your demands. In the following sections, you can learn about configuring a Linux virtual machine for the purposes of making a VM template with which you could use guest OS customization specification.
This walkthrough uses the example of Xubuntu 16 x It also discusses how to create a customization specification for further cloning of VMs from your template. In order to prepare Xubuntu Linux for guest OS specification customization, enter the Linux console Terminal and run the following commands as a user with root privileges:. Type ifconfig to view the IP configuration of network interfaces.
In this example, the virtual network interface used by the source VM has an IP address of Once your VM has been prepared, you can create a VM template. You must have access to vCenter Server for managing your ESXi hosts, virtual machines, storage, networks and other vSphere components.
As mentioned above, in the configuration examples considered in this blog post, a VM running Xubuntu Linux is used. Two methods can be used for VM template creation — converting to a template and cloning to a template. Converting to a template.
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