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queensbridgeitt
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creating a test environment using workstation7 from a live ESX4 cluster.

Hi

At my work place we use ESX4 in a 3 host cluster. We have a

number of different VM's spread evenly across the cluster.

We

have had ESX installed for about 6 months and I am relucantant to roll

the new ESX4 U1 update on the production system whilst everything is

working fine.

Due to constraints I wasn't able to create a test

environment at install, I now have a bit of time to do this so I wanted

to create a mini test environment on my laptop. I have workstation 7

installed with the latest updates and my processor is VT enabled which

has allowed me to install ESX as a VM in workstation 7.

I now

want to take a copy of one of our windows 2008 DC's which is a VM in our

ESX cluster for me to do some tests in the isolated environment as well

as some other servers to test integration, AD, exchange etc.

In

vcenter I clicked on a production VM which I wanted to take a copy of

and created a clone of this.

I have now done this and as its a

clone and its not powered on I assumed I would be able to take all the

VM files (vmdk etc) from the datastore and copy it to a local hard disk

but it wont allow me to do this. I get errors when I try to copy. I also

noticed the clone VM i am trying to copy has a white icon which looks

different to the online VM's. I assume this is correct because its a

clone VM.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how best I could do

this? If anyone has created a replica of their live systems in a test

environment I am keen to see how you have done this. I am also aware

that I should never plug this test laptop into the production network

unless I have ensured the network is completely separate from the main

network. If there are any other pointers I should be aware of please let

me know.

Your advice is appreciated.

Thanks

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marcelo_soares
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Once you have your test environment up I would recommend using VMware Converter for copying VMs from one to another. You can download it for free here:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vcenter_converter_standalone/4_0

Install it on your client machine, point the source to the existing VM and the target to your test environment. It works better than doing operations by hand.

Marcelo Soares

VMWare Certified Professional 310/410

Virtualization Tech Master

Globant Argentina

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queensbridgeitt
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My understanding of using vmware converter was that I would need to switch off a VM to create a copy of it.

My plan was to use the clone feature within vCenter and take a clone of a VM which is running. I think it was called 'clone to template'

Would this work fine with directory systems as VM's e.g. active directory, exchange 2007? I am aware I would need to do a bit of tidying up once I put it into the test environment, but I was going to follow the instructions on this blog: http://guamaniac.wordpress.com/2007/03/01/clone-your-active-directory-in-12-minutes-using-vmware/

I was hoping not to switch them off as I didnt want to cause unnecessary downtime but if this is unlikely to work if someone could advise how best to do this.

Thanks

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queensbridgeitt
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So I took a clone from the live ESX cluster of an exchange server VM. I have to mention that it was a running VM and i didn't stop it.

I copied the contents and have now tryed to integrate it into Workstation 7 and whilst the VM runs I now have a new problem which I am not able to resolve.

The Exchange VM which is running on x64 Windows 2008. When it runs and gets to the CtrlALTDEL screen, it does not allow me to enter a username and password, it seems the keyboard has stoppedworking and it is just stuck on that screen. I have tried all sorts of possibilities to unlock the machine and attempt to enter the password but it just doesnt seem to work.

Whilst booting up I can access the keyboard and go through the different options such as safe mode but when it gets into Windows it just doesnt to work.

Has anone seen this problem?

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golddiggie
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My understanding of using vmware converter was that I would need to switch off a VM to create a copy of it.

My plan was to use the clone feature within vCenter and take a clone of a VM which is running. I think it was called 'clone to template'

Would this work fine with directory systems as VM's e.g. active directory, exchange 2007? I am aware I would need to do a bit of tidying up once I put it into the test environment, but I was going to follow the instructions on this blog:

I was hoping not to switch them off as I didnt want to cause unnecessary downtime but if this is unlikely to work if someone could advise how best to do this.

Thanks

</div>

Using the "Clone to template" option is to make a VM a template to be used for deploying more VM's later configured the same way. It's not your generic 'clone' function since it also uses the sysprep files for the Windwos OS so that you can customize the VM that you deploy from the template. You should have selected the standard/vanilla "clone" function instead. Once you have the clone created, browse the datastore it's on and download to your local storage/drive (it's one of the buttons in the Datastore Browser window). You may need to run the Workstation 7 converter utility (or import) to pull the VM into WS7.

VMware VCP4

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golddiggie
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If you used the 'clone to template' on the VM then you used the wronge clone mode. Go back, do a straight clone and then follow what I put in my above post...

VMware VCP4

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