Deploy/Build VM using template

[deepak_ashwath]

Hi All,

Well its a basic straight question I have, hope i get some answers from this forum

I have around 20 VMs to be built where all are SuSE 10 of the same configuration.

Can i create one Virtual machine, create a template out of this VM, and start creating the other 19 VMs using the newly created template.

Is it like that?

Or can anybody give a clear "step by step procedure in virtual center" to create VMs using template. Since i will be assigning static IPs to all the VMs, how can I go about this issue.

The Help section in VC also tell that we need to clone the template to create a new VM-what exactly does this mean?

What is the difference between Clone & Template?

Thanks,

Deepak.A

[riker82]

Hi deepak

you can create your vm, configure it as you want, and then shutdown it, right click and choose "convert to template".

After this you can deploy as much as vms you want. But be carefull: you can use "Customization Specification" for create a specification for all SUSE server. When you create your specification via wizard, choose "PROMPT THE USER FOR AN ADDRESS WHE SPECIFICATION IS USED" option for setting an IP address for each vm.

[deepak_ashwath]

Hi Riker,

Thanks for that really guiding answer.

After doing "Convert to a Template"

The original VM will still exist OR the VM itself will get converted to a template?

And once i have the template, what are the steps i have to follow in VC to start creating new VMs.

Also what exactly is "Clone template to a new Virtual machine mean"?

Difeerence between clone and template

Since I am working on Production Virtual center, i cannot take any chances experimenting.

Thanks

Deepak

[imclaren]

Hi,

The original VM will be converted to a template, but can be converted back to a VM just as easily.

"Clone template to a new Virtual machine" means that the folder which contains the template will be copied, and the configuration file altered to tell Virtual Center that it is a VM and not a template (that's how I look at it anyway). The original template will remain in place to be cloned again when necessary.

With Windows VMs, sysprep can be integrated with this process to clear out the guids and make the new VM unique. I'm not sure how this is achieved in Linux though...

Hope this helps,

Iain

[riker82]

with clone you can create 1 virtual machine from 1 virtual machine.

With template you can create severals virtual machine from 1 template.

With customization specifications you can "sysprep" (please translate this word in unix world) a linux machine too... At least with Red Hat one.... (I've tested only this distro)