Need help on linked clones.

[bustingbuster]

Ok i know that linked clones save some disk space but i didn't understand how...

For example i am creating a linked clone of vm with specs :
10gb hdd

x ram

x cpu

So does the linked clone also consumes 10gb space of the server ? If yes then how exactly this feature helps ?

Thanks.

[crawfordm]

A linked clone is made from a snapshot of the parent.  So the linked clone does not consume the 10GB of space.  All files available on the parent at the moment of the snapshot continue to remain available to the linked clone. Ongoing changes to the virtual disk of the parent do not affect the linked clone, and changes to the disk of the linked clone do not affect the parent.

[bustingbuster]

So lets say i installed windows in the main vm which occupied 7.5gb space out of 10gb then now the linked clone of it will occupy only 2.5gb of space on the server ? Thank you.

[WoodyZ]

bustingbuster wrote: So lets say i installed windows in the main vm which occupied 7.5gb space out of 10gb then now the linked clone of it will occupy only 2.5gb of space on the server ?

No, each Snapshot .vmdk, which is what a Linked Clone is, and any additional Snapshots in either the Parent and the Linked Clone have the potential to grow to the size allocated for the virtual hard disk.  Snapshot Disks are Delta Disks and only contain the differences between the given Snapshot (Child Disk) and its Parent.  These Disks are chained together and even though you e.g. allocate 10 GB to a disk then with Snapshots it has to potential to grow and consume 10 GB x the number of Snapshots.  Now Potential and Actual sizes will obviously be different as the likelihood of growing each disk to it max is not typically of normal usage.

[Linjo]

No, the linked clone is the delta between the parent and the current state. The size depends on how much have changed on the linked clone.

// Linjo