Renaming by cloning a VM

[Andy90]

I have the request to rename a virtual machine.

In the past, I normally made a cold migration of the virtual machine and renamed it.

After updated vCenter to 5.0, I can rename the machine, but all the according files (.vmdk, etc) are not renamed.

But, it doesn't matter.

For renaming a virtual machine, I also found a KB article:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102951...

My colleague is normally using the process with the console (Renaming virtual machine files in-place using the console) and as you can see, this step is very long.

Therefore I thought about using the "clone" feature to rename it.

I tested it with a machine and after cloning it (sure I have enough free space), I delete the old one.

This is very fast and not so labor-intensive then renaming it with the console.

So my question is:

Does I have any disadvantages when I rename the virtual machines by using the clone-feature?

[jrmunday]

If your only requirement is to rename the machine (including all the files) then you can simply rename the guest using the vSphere client GUI and initiate a storage vMotion task which should re-name all the files accordingly.

[Rubeck]

This no longer works in vSphere 5 as Storage vMotion has been rewritten... Only the folder itself will be renamed, not the files within it..

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2008877

This apply for v5.1 too..

/Rubeck

[jrmunday]

That's annoying, thanks for the info.

[Rubeck]

That's annoying...

Indeed it is.... 😞

/Rubeck

[Andy90]

So how is the best way to rename the virtual machine right now?

In the past I also used the storage vMotion, but as you told us, it doesn't work with version 5.0 and 5.1

[jrmunday]

I'm afraid the long winded, but supported method;

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102951...