Welcome to Module 9
VM Management on vCenter
By: Imran Afzal
Cloning VM
• A clone is a copy of an existing virtual machine. The existing virtual machine is called the parent
of the clone.
• When the cloning operation is complete, the clone is a separate virtual machine
Why Make a Clone?
• Installing a guest operating system and applications can be time consuming. With clones, you
can make many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process.
• Clones are useful when you must deploy many identical virtual machines to a group.
For example:
• An MIS department can clone a virtual machine for each employee, with a suite of
preconfigured office applications.
• A virtual machine can be configured with a complete development environment and then
cloned repeatedly as a baseline configuration for software testing.
• A teacher can clone a virtual machine for each student, with all the lessons and labs required
for the term.
By: Imran Afzal
VM Template
• A VMware template is a master copy of a virtual machine from which an administrator can
clone, convert or deploy more virtual machines
• A template includes the guest OS, a set of applications, and a specific VM configuration
• Templates save time and avoid errors when configuring settings and other choices to create new
Windows or Linux VMs
• A template cannot be powered on or edited once it is created
Difference between template and clone
• Template acts as a baseline image for a Virtual Machine with the predefined configurations as
per your organization's standards
• Cloning creates an exact duplicate copy of a Virtual Machine at that exact time
By: Imran Afzal
VM Export as OVF
• OVF is a file format that supports exchange of virtual appliances across • The export includes:
products and platforms. When you export a virtual machine as an OVF file, • .ovf
you create a directory that contains an OVF file and the virtual disk files. You • .vmdk
might consider an OVF as an archive of all the files that belong to the OVF • .iso
directory • .mf
• A VM should be powered off in order to be exported
Convert into OVF
Hypervisor Hypervisor
By: Imran Afzal
Difference Between OVF and OVA
• OVA stands for open virtual appliance
• It is a container that has all the VM export file (.ovf, .iso, .vmdk)
• It is a lot easier to use OVA file when transferring to another computer
.ova
• .ovf
• .vmdk
• .iso
• .mf
By: Imran Afzal
Organizing VMs
• VMs can be organized in:
• Folders
• VMs can be removed from inventory:
• Remove
• Register
By: Imran Afzal
Other Menu Options for VMs
• Power
• Guest OS
• Fault Tolerance
• VM Policies
• Compatibility
• Edit Resource Settings
• Edit Settings
• Move to
• Rename
• Edit Notes.
By: Imran Afzal
VM Fault Tolerance
• VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) provides continuous availability for
applications (with up to four virtual CPUs) by creating a live shadow instance
of a virtual machine that mirrors the primary virtual machine.
• If a hardware outage occurs, vSphere FT automatically triggers failover to
eliminate downtime and prevent data loss.
Simple to Set Up, Start and Stop:
• vSphere FT can safeguard any number of virtual machines in a cluster
because it leverages existing vSphere HA clusters.
• Administrators can start or stop vSphere FT for specific virtual machines with
a point-and-click action in the vSphere web client. Use vSphere FT for
applications that require continuous protection during critical times, such as
quarter-end processing.
By: Imran Afzal
Accessing vCenter through HTML5
• Two way to access vCenter
• Flash
• HTML5
By: Imran Afzal
