Parent and linked clones running simultaneously?

[wadams]

I've got Workstation 6.5 running on Windows 7 x64.  I created a linked clone of a Win7 vm.  Is it possible to run both the parent and the linked clone at the same time?  Nothing in the docs says you can't, but when I try I get the following error:

Cannot open the disk 'C:\Users\......vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
Reason: Failed to lock the file.

Any help appreciated!

Thanks

Wayne

[a_p_]

The answer is, you can't. A linked clone's virtual disk is basically a snapshot vmdk linked with the parent disk. Any modification to the parent disk would render the linked clone unusable. If you'd force to run a VM using the parent disk, you would most likely get an error like "Parent has been modified" when you try to start the linked clone.

André

[continuum]

depends on how you exactly created the linked clones and how the parent VM is configured.

If the parent uses a snapshot to protect the original basedisk which is also used  by the clone - then yes - parent and clone can run side by side

we need details of the parent VM

[wadams]

The steps I followed to create the clone were:

1) shutdown the parent

2) Use VMWare vCenter Converter standalone to create the linked clone.

Didn't really do anything else special.

[continuum]

Converter can NOT create linked clones.

You did something very special

[WoodyZ]

Ulli Hankeln wrote: Converter can NOT create linked clones.

From: VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3 User's Guide (Updated 11/30/2010)

[wadams]

Yes, I used 4.3 Converter to do it.  Those are exactly the instructions I followed.

[WoodyZ]

I made my first reply in this thread to show Ulli that creating a linked clone with Converter was possible however I personally would not create a linked clone in that manner since VMware Workstation is capable of creating the linked clone without using Converter.

[continuum]

Wow - Woody - you are right.

Converter 4.3 really has a feature that is labelled incorrectly as "create linked clone"

What a poor documentation - I just tried it and it definetely does not create a linked clone.

As the documentation says correctly : this is used for creating a VM that uses third-party disk-images.
It also states that starting the original will mess up the clone.

So it does not create a "linked clone" in the normally accepted meaning of the term "linked clone"

My original statement is correct:

Converter 4.3 can NOT create linked clones.

I will post this in the converter section now too.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/301038

[WoodyZ]

I'm not going to waste time arguing this with you however just because Converter does not create the linked clone in the same manner as the Clone Virtual Machine Wizard doesn't make the VMware Converter documentation wrong or the created object not a linked clone.  After all a linked clone virtual disk is nothing more than a snapshot disk anyway whether the parent is backed up by a snapshot or not.  Back in the days before VMware Workstation even had the capability to create a linked clone or multiple snapshots there were those of us that created multiple snapshots and linked clones manually and structurally was no different then what Converter is doing.

Converter does indeed create a linked clone albeit not the same manner/type in which Workstation does however the way Workstation does it doesn't mean that the Converter documentation is wrong nor is the resultant virtual hard drive not a linked clone by structural definition much less as defined in the Converter documentation.

So the bottom line is your comment "Converter can NOT create linked clones.' is not correct whether or not you think so!

[wadams]

Not to get in the middle of your guys argument , but you are saying that if I had used Workstation directly to create the "linked clone", I would be able to have both running simultaneously?

[WoodyZ]

I did not use VMware Workstation 6.x so I can't answer that for sure however with Workstation 7 I have no problem running the Parent VM and the Linked Clone VM at the same time.  If the Clone Virtual Machine Wizard in Workstation 6.x protects the Parent VM by creating a Snapshot for the Parent VM then the same should hold true as with Workstation 7.x.

[WoodyZ]

Back it the days when a linked clone was created manually by taking the single snapshot that it could take it (the snapshot virtual disk) would then be moved to a separate folder and edited to point properly to the parent virtual hard disk and then the parent virtual hard disk would be set as read only so as not to break the clone.

As I said earlier I wouldn't use Converter to create a linked clone since Workstation can and also protects the parent without manual intervention like would have to be done with the type of linked clone that Converter creates.

[continuum]

> but you are saying that if I had used Workstation directly to create the
> "linked clone", I would be able to have both running simultaneously?

Yes - if you understand "linked clone" in the normal way - meaning a technic to create a clone of the original VM in such a way that running both is possible.