Virtualization tools developed and maintained by VMware are among the best tools on the market today. VMware Workstation is VMware's main desktop software and works on all operating systems that can be used as servers. A template is a master image of a virtual machine that can be used to create multiple virtual machines. This eases the task of creating virtual machines and minimizes the risk of errors. You can convert a virtual machine to a template (losing the virtual machine), clone the virtual machine to a template (keeping the virtual machine in place) or clone a template to a template (without using a virtual machine).
Instructions
Convert virtual machine to template
- 1Log in to your VMware vCenter server by using the correct user name and password.
- 2Click on the "Inventory" button to open the Inventory. It displays all of your virtual machines. Select the virtual machine you want to convert to a template, and press on the "Shutdown" button to turn it off.
- 3Right-click on the virtual machine, select the "Template" option and click on "Convert to Template." The machine is marked as template and can be used to create other virtual machines.
Clone virtual machine to a template
- 4Click on the "Inventory" button to open the Inventory. It displays all of your virtual machines. Select the virtual machine you want to convert to a template, and press on the "Shutdown" button to turn it off.
- 5Right-click on the virtual machine, select the "Template" option and click on "Clone to Template."
- 6Type a name for your new template, select a folder to save its inventory to and click on the "Next" button.
- 7Click "Next" on the target location page. Select the format in which to save the template's virtual disks. You can pick from "Same Format as Source," "Thin Provisioned Format" and "Thick Format."
- 8Click on the "Finish" button to create the template. Select the virtual machine you used to create the template, and press on the "Start" button to start the machine.
Clone a template to a template
- 9Right-click on the template in the Inventory window, and select the "Clone" option. Type a name and a description for your new template, and click on the "Next" button.
- 10Select a host or cluster, and click on the "Next" button. Select one of your datastores, and click on the "Next" button.
- 11Select the format in which to store the template's virtual disks. You can pick from "Same Format as Source," "Thin Provisioned Format" and "Thick Format." Click on the "Next" button.
- 12Review the template details you selected earlier, and confirm by clicking on the "Finish" button. The template is cloned to another template.
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