vSphere Virtual Machine Administration - VMware Documentation

vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
Prerequisites
If a load generator is running in the virtual machine, stop it before you perform the clone operation.
You must have the following privileges to clone a virtual machine:
• Virtual machine.Provisioning.Clone virtual machine on the virtual machine you are cloning.
• Virtual machine .Inventory.Create from existing on the datacenter or virtual machine folder.
• Virtual machine.Configuration.Add new disk on the datacenter or virtual machine folder.
• Resource.Assign virtual machine to resource pool on the destination host, cluster, or resource pool.
• Datastore.Allocate space on the destination datastore or datastore folder.
• Network.Assign network on the network to which the virtual machine will be assigned.
• Virtual machine.Provisioning.Customize on the virtual machine or virtual machine folder if you are
customizing the guest operating system.
• Virtual machine.Provisioning.Read customization specifications on the root vCenter Server if you are
customizing the guest operating system.
Procedure
1 Start the Clone an Existing Virtual Machine Task on page 33
To make an original copy of a virtual machine, you can clone an existing virtual machine. You can
open the New Virtual Machine wizard from any object in the inventory that is a valid parent object of
a virtual machine. You can also open the wizard directly from the virtual machine that you are going
to clone.
2 Select a Virtual Machine to Clone on page 34
You select a virtual machine to clone, and you can optionally select to customize the guest operating
system and the virtual machine hardware. You can also select to turn on the virtual machine when
you complete the creation procedure. You can change the properties of the guest operating system,
such as the computer name, and network and license settings, which helps prevent conflicts that can
result if virtual machines with identical settings are deployed. You can add a CD device such as an
ISO file to install the guest operating system, or reconfigure the virtual machines' hardware, such as
storage or networking, before you deploy the virtual machine.
3 Select the Virtual Machine Name and Folder on page 34
When you create a virtual machine, you provide a unique name for it. The unique name distinguishes
it from existing virtual machines in the virtual machine folder or datacenter. The name can contain up
to 80 characters. You can select a datacenter or folder location for the virtual machine, depending on
your organizational needs.
4 Select a Resource on page 35
When you deploy a virtual machine, you select the host, cluster, vApp, or resource pool for the virtual
machine to run in. The virtual machine will have access to the resources of the selected object.
5 Select a Datastore on page 35
Select the datastore or datastore cluster in which to store the virtual machine configuration files and all
of the virtual disks. Each datastore might have a different size, speed, availability, and other
properties. The available datastores are accessible from the destination resource that you selected. You
can select a format for the virtual machine's disks and assign a storage policy.
32 VMware, Inc.