Cloning a virtual machine to a template

Using the VMware Clone Virtual Machine to Template Task, you can clone a VMware virtual machine to a template from within the BigFix console.

Before you begin

Ensure that the analysis VMware Host Overview is active. If this analysis must be activated, a warning message is displayed in the VMware Clone Virtual Machine to Template Task. You cannot proceed without activating the analysis. Activating the analysis can take a few minutes.

To check the status of the analysis, from the navigation tree in the Server Automation domain, click Virtualization > Setup and Maintenance > Activate Analyses. In the Activate Analyses list, ensure that the VMware Host Overview analysis changes from Not Activated to Activated Globally and click the VMware Host Overview analysis. In the Analysis: VMware Host Overview window, click the Results tab. When the Results window is populated with one or more computer names, the analysis is gathered. If any of the computer names display the message "not reported", the analysis is not gathered.

For non English users, VMware vCenter only supports, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German and French. You can only use this Task if the console language that you selected in BigFix console is identical to the console language selected in VMware.

For non-English users: VMware vCenter supports only Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German and French. You can use this Task only if the console language that you selected in BigFix console is identical to the console language selected in VMware.

About this task

This Task is automatically populated with data from VMware. To work with other data, you must turn off validation and enter your own values into the parameter field. To override the data that is provided in the form, check whether a button exists in the Validation column for the parameter that you want to disable and select OFF. For more information, see Turning off validation in a task.

Complete the following steps to clone a virtual machine to a template.

Procedure

  1. Open the Server Automation domain.
  2. From the navigation tree in the Server Automation domain, click Virtualization > Host Management > Host Configuration.
  3. From the Host Configuration list, select the VMware Clone Virtual Machine to Template Task. If you are working with a copied Task, click Take Action and enter the required information when you are prompted by the alert boxes.
  4. In the Task: VMware Clone Virtual Machine to Template window, from the Virtual Machine Host list, select the host on which the virtual machine that you want to clone is running.
  5. From the Virtual Machine Name list, select the name of the virtual machine that you want to clone. If the virtual machine name that you want to clone is displayed more than once in the Virtual Machine Name list, you can verify that the virtual machine that you select is correct by viewing the Virtual Machine UUID field and the IP Address field. If you want to clone a virtual machine whose name is not displayed in the Virtual Machine Name list, select OFF on the validation button for Virtual Machine Name in the Validation column. If you disable validation for the Virtual Machine Name list, the validation for the Provisioned Disk size is also disabled and the Virtual Machine UUID field is cleared. You must ensure that the virtual machine name that you enter is correct or the Task fails in VMware. For more information, see Turning off validation in a Task
  6. In the Template Name field, enter the name of the new template.
  7. From the Template Host list, select a host for the new template.
  8. From the Datastore Name list, select a datastore for the new template.
  9. In the Maximum file size field, you can view the maximum file size that can be allocated to a virtual machine that is created on the datastore. You cannot clone a virtual machine that is larger than the maximum file size allowed for the datastore. If you select a template which has more than one hard disk, you must ensure that each hard disk has a provisioned disk size that does not exceed the maximum file size for the datastore.
  10. In the Datastore free space field, you can view the free space available on the datastore. The virtual machine provisioned disk size cannot exceed the freespace size that is available on the datastore.
  11. In the Provisioned Disk size field, you can view the disk space that is allocated to the new template. If you want to clone a virtual machine to template that has a greater provisioned disk size than the maximum size available in the Datastore free space field, select OFF on the validation button for Provisioned Disk size in the Validation column and enter a higher value.
    For example, if you know that virtual machines on the datastore are scheduled to be deleted and free disk capacity will become available, you can clone a new template that has a disk size greater than the maximum free space that is available. You can then schedule the task to run at a time when the greater disk size is available. You must ensure that this data is correct or the tasks fails in VMware. You cannot create a virtual machine with a provisioned disk size greater than the Maximum file size for the datastore even if you disable validation.
  12. When you complete the form, click Take Action.
  13. In the Take Action dialog box, ensure Specific computers selected in the list below is selected and from the list of Computer Names, select the host on which you want the new template to be created and click OK.

Results

When your virtual machine is cloned, the Status changes to Completed in the Action: VMware Clone Virtual Machine to Template window. The new template is visible in the Device List window of the Virtualization Device Inventory and in the Computers window in the All Content domain.