{"id":162,"date":"2009-05-29T12:33:09","date_gmt":"2009-05-29T11:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/?p=162"},"modified":"2009-09-06T08:23:23","modified_gmt":"2009-09-06T07:23:23","slug":"esxi-cloning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/?p=162","title":{"rendered":"ESXi Cloning"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESXi is virtualisation for the enthusiast, the underpaid or tight-fisted. To stop you just installing at and having it all your own way it is limited in what it can do. The limits are generous except for the minor point about a lack of Telnet\/SSH support. This means no RCLI. This obviously also means that the power tweakers and tinkerers (like me) are stuck with GUI clicking.<\/p>\n

However, a master of the art named Andrew Bradley explains in his blog how to unlock the powers of RCLI<\/a> and throws in instructions on how to clone your VMs for good measure. What a nice chap!<\/p>\n

For the GUI-lovers though, at least you can play with SCP to backup your VMs onto another device<\/a>. Finally – robust virtual machines for people with servers in their sheds. What do you mean you DON’T have a server in your shed? Oh dear.<\/p>\n

So here is how I do it. I do\u00c2\u00a0 a good build of Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu and save them in a folder called “Templates” I created in datastore1 on the VI Client. Creating a new server from this template goes as follows:<\/p>\n

VI Client:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Go to the Summary tab and right-click the datastore<\/li>\n
  2. Choose browse datastore and the contents are shown<\/li>\n
  3. Create a new folder (e.g. ‘New Server’)<\/li>\n
  4. Use VI Client to copy the VMDK from the template machine to this folder. In this case I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m copying from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\\templates\\windowsxp.vmdk\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\\New Server\\\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    PuTTy<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. SSH onto the ESX server directly<\/li>\n
    2. cd ‘\/vmfs\/volumes\/datastore1\/New Server’<\/li>\n
    3. mv ‘WindowsXP.vmdk’ ‘New Server.vmdk’<\/li>\n
    4. mv ‘WindowsXP-flat.vmdk’ ‘New Server-flat.vmdk’<\/li>\n
    5. vi \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNew Server.vmdk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/li>\n
    6. change the -flat.vmdk filename for the Extent Description to be the new filename<\/li>\n
    7. [Esc] :wq! to save\/exit vi<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Back to VI Client:<\/p>\n

        <\/span><\/p>\n
      1. Create a new custom VM<\/li>\n
      2. Name it the same as your folder name (eg. ‘New Server’)<\/li>\n
      3. When prompted for datastore, choose custom and browse to the newly renamed vmdk<\/li>\n
      4. Finish creating the VM (note: I use buslogic adapters)<\/li>\n
      5. Start the VM<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Console tab for your new VM<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Start, Control Panel<\/li>\n
        2. System<\/li>\n
        3. Under the Computer Name tab, click Change<\/li>\n
        4. Give it a new name<\/li>\n
        5. Restart when prompted<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          All done.<\/p>\n

          You can obviously copy your VMDK and -flat.VMDK files off to other storage from time to time so long as the VMs are turned-off. Effective if luddite backup….<\/p>\n

          [UPDATE: Scripted cloning for the lazy is now available: http:\/\/www.pgregg.com\/projects\/vmclone\/]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          ESXi is virtualisation for the enthusiast, the underpaid or tight-fisted. To stop you just installing at and having it all … More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[153,131,130],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/simkin.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}