Cloning a VM creates a VM with the same hardware configuration, OS, applications, and data as the original. The clone has a new vNIC MAC address and UUID.
The system can automatically clone VMs when the existing VMs are not enough to process bursting traffic.
When the clone's image files are not stored in the storage pool of the source VM, make sure the remaining size of the pool is larger than the clone's disk size.
From the left navigation pane, select Data Center >Virtualization > Cluster name > Host name > VM name.
Click Clone VM.
Configure parameters as needed.
Click OK.
Basic Info
Source VM: Alias of the source VM.
Alias: Enter the alias of the clone. The default alias uses the source VM alias _clone format.
Clone Mode: Select the VM cloning mode.
Normal—If you clone a shutdown VM, the cloned VM and the source VM have identical disk data. If the source VM uses a level-3 image, the clone and the source VM share the basic disk image. If you clone a running VM, the disks of the clone are combined into a level-1 image. The clone does not share the disk image with the source VM. In this scenario, normal clone has the same effect as complete clone.
Fast—This method creates a VM based on incremental files. The cloned VM shares the base image with the source VM and does not have the incremental data of the source VM. The cloned VM uses level-3 images. This method increases the VM creation speed and saves storage space on servers. Only VMs that use thin-provisioned disks supports fast clone.
Complete—The cloned VM and the source VM have identical disk data. The cloned VM uses a level-1 image and does not share a disk image with the source VM. If multiple VMs are created by using this method, the storage space required for cloned VMs is the size of the source VM multiplied by the number of the cloned VMs.
Clone Destination: Select the clone destination.
Intra-Host—The source VM and the clone are on the same host.
Inter-Host—The source VM and the clone are on different hosts. For VMs bound with a physical CPU, make sure the source host and the destination host have exactly the same NUMA architecture in a clone operation. If the hosts have different NUMA architectures, the clone operation might fail or the VM performance might be affected.
Start Now: Set whether to start the clone VM immediately after cloning is finished.
Storage Info
Original Storage File: Storage file of the source VM.
Target Storage File: Specify a target storage file for the clone VM.
Target Storage Pool: Specify a target storage pool for the clone VM.
Network Info
Default: Does not configure network parameters for the cloned VM.
DHCP: Uses DHCP to configure network parameters for the cloned VM.
Static Assignment—Manually configures the following network parameters for the cloned VM:
IP Address: Enter an IP address for the cloned VM.
Subnet Mask: Enter a subnet mask for the cloned VM.
Default Gateway: Enter a default gateway address for the cloned VM.
Primary DNS Server: Enter the IP address of the primary DNS server.
Backup DNS Server: Enter the IP address of the backup DNS server.