Cloning Virtual Machines using VM Snapshot

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Understanding Root Account Privileges Methods
Creating and Adding Local Users to Sudoers List
Installing Linux Virtual Machine Guest Additions
Cloning Virtual Machines using VM Snapshot

One of the coolest features in virtualization is Cloning Virtual Machines using VM Snapshot. The following slideshares will show you how easy and fast to create copies of your Linux VM. The idea is to save time and focus on Testing or production. I am going to use Snapshot V1 using Linked Cloned Technology. Snapshot V1 can carry the Basic OS Setup, Basic Configuration, and the Latest Updates/Upgrades. You don’t need the following procedure if you are using Public VPS.

Objectives:

1. Using VirtualBox or VMware Station Snapshot as Template

2. VirtualBox – Creating Linked Clone VM from a Template

3. VMware Station – Creating Linked Clone VM from a Template

Prerequisites:

A. Basic VirtualBox or VMware Station Knowledge

B. Needed Packages and Drives should be Installed

Table of Contents

Using VirtualBox or VMware Station Snapshot as Template
VirtualBox – Creating Linked Clone VM from a Template
VMware Station – Creating Linked Clone VM from a Template

Using VirtualBox or VMware Station Snapshot as Template

The benefits of having VM snapshot to act like a Template are a lot, just to name a few: 1) You would know that root account holds the default password you set, 2) the system got latest updates and upgrades you installed, and 3) faster to deploy, which saves you tons of time. Therefore, Templates expedite the deploy process to create multiple Cloned VMs which will give you the opportunity to focus on testing or production.

As you probably guessed, after 1 month or so, you can run the Template VM again, update, upgrade, and create Snapshot V2. Once the snapshot is taken, you can create Linked Cloned or Full Cloned VMs from that New Snapshot for testing or production use.

The following slideshares will show you step by step how to 1) Create your first version1 Snapshot, 2) From that Snapshot, create Linked Clone VMs, 3) Organize Cloned VMs in specific folders. The slideshares suitable for either Debian, Ubuntu, and CentOS Linux, or any VM that have been created using VirtualBox or VMware Station.

TIP: Most of my testing happens on Linked Cloned VMs to save storage, however, when I need to roll VMs for Production, I use FULL Clone created from the Linked Clone tested VM.