Difference between deploying from a template and reverting to a snapshot?

[peter79]

Guys,

I have a VM which is currently working perfectly which I'm doing some testing on,  I want to take a point in time copy in case there are any issues before it goes in to production.

My 2 options are a snapshot or create a template.  My concern is that if I take a snapshot it could be in existence for up to a week (if not more).  That's well outside VMware best practices (as well as my own).

I could create a template from the VM and deploy from it if required.

This leads me to my question.  Is there any difference (in terms of end result) between reverting to a snapshot and deleting a VM and deploying a replacement from the template.  From a guest OS point of view would both VM's be the same?

I hope my post made sense to you guys.

Thanks,

[VMwareNewbe]

Hi Peter,

As you intend to keep the Snapshot for longer than VMware's best practice, I would suggest you Clone the VM instead.

Rgds,

[peter79]

Yeah thats what my gut is telling me all right.  I'm just wondering if I clone it will that change the OS's SID. 

[VMwareNewbe]

Yes, it will create a new SID,  but that's shouldn't be a problem providing you have a local account with local admin rights and a domain account  with rights to add servers to domain.

When you have finished with the Clone you must power it off

Power on original server - use the local account to logon

Change the server to be part of workgroup - restart

Logon with the local account - Join the server to the Domain (provide domain account and password) Restart

That should be it.

Rgds

[NinjaHideout]

Cloning will only change the OS's SID if you choose to do Guest Customization (the cloning wizard has a dedicated step for that).

If you choose not to do it, from the OS's perspective, a snapshot or a clone are the same thing.