Cloning an ESX system boot LUN

[toddloeppke]

Are there any gotchas with cloning ESX boot LUNs (_not_ a VM boot LUN)? If I shutdown ESX and clone the LUN (via storage array) and present the LUN to another server, except for "hostname", IPs, etc... anything else I need to watch for? Thx

[oschistad]

Watch this thread, there may be problems with the vmfs signature.

[kjb007]

MAC addresses, and other unique information tied to a host. It is generally not a good idea to clone your ESX system. You have to go back in and modify a lot of things, remove/add NICs, service console interfaces, config files, etc Spend some time and work out a kickstart file instead, and autobuild the hosts instead of cloning. You'll spend less time going back in and fixing all those unique things that must be changed, and it will be less error-prone.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[Troy_Clavell]

with the addition of Host Profiling in vSphere4 Enterprise Plus, it makes it so much easier. I too would recommend not trying to clone an ESX box.

...but if you insist, this KB article may be some help.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1000761