6.5.1

Procedure
1 Start the Clone an Existing Virtual Machine Task
To make an original copy of a virtual machine, you can clone an existing virtual machine. You can
open the New Virtual Machine wizard from any object in the inventory that is a valid parent object
of a virtual machine. You can also open the wizard directly from the virtual machine that you are
going to clone.
2 Select a Virtual Machine to Clone
You select a virtual machine to clone, and you can optionally select to customize the guest operating
system and the virtual machine hardware. You can also select to turn on the virtual machine when
you complete the creation procedure. You can change the properties of the guest operating system,
such as the computer name, and network and license settings. Changing the properties helps
prevent conflicts that can result if virtual machines with identical settings are deployed. You can add
a CD device, such as an ISO file, to install the guest operating system, or reconfigure the virtual
machines' hardware, such as storage or networking, before you deploy the virtual machine.
3 Select the Virtual Machine Name and Folder
When you create a virtual machine, you provide a unique name for it. The unique name
distinguishes it from existing virtual machines in the virtual machine folder or datacenter. The name
can contain up to 80 characters. You can select a datacenter or folder location for the virtual
machine, depending on your organizational needs.
4 Select a Resource
When you deploy a virtual machine, you select the host, cluster, vApp, or resource pool for the
virtual machine to run in. The virtual machine will have access to the resources of the selected
object.
5 Select a Datastore
Select the datastore or datastore cluster in which to store the virtual machine configuration files and
all of the virtual disks. Each datastore might have a different size, speed, availability, and other
properties. The available datastores are accessible from the destination resource that you selected.
You can select a format for the virtual machine's disks and assign a storage policy.
6 Select Clone Options
You can optionally select to customize the guest operating system, customize the virtual machine's
hardware, and turn on the virtual machine when you complete the creation procedure. You can
customize the guest operating system to change properties, such as the computer name, and
network and license settings, which helps prevent conflicts that can result if you deploy virtual
machines with identical settings. You can add a CD device such as an ISO file to install the guest
operating system or you can reconfigure the virtual machine storage or networking, before you
deploy the virtual machine.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
VMware, Inc. 33