Cloud and Virtualization Concepts

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

Document Version: 2020-10-20

Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc.

www.netdevgroup.com

NETLAB+ is a registered trademark of Network Development Group, Inc.

VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3
Objectives............................................................................................................................ 3
Lab Topology....................................................................................................................... 4
Lab Settings ......................................................................................................................... 5
1 Create a Linked Virtual Clone...................................................................................... 6
2 Create a Full Virtual Machine Clone ......................................................................... 16
3 Exporting a Virtual Machine ..................................................................................... 24

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 2

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

Introduction

In this lab, Cloud and Virtualization Concepts Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and
Exporting, we will create both linked and full type clones of a virtual machine and
examine the differences between the two clone types. Next, we will show two methods
for exporting a virtual machine to a format that makes it easy to transport to another
VMware application like VMware Workstation or VMware vSphere.

Objectives

● Create a linked VM clone

● Create a full VM clone
● Export a virtual machine using OVA
● Export a virtual machine using OVF

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 3

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

Lab Topology

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 4

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

Lab Settings

The information in the table below will be needed in order to complete the lab. The task
sections below provide details on the use of this information.

Virtual Machine IP Address Account Password

(if needed) (if needed)

Workstation 192.168.14.1 sysadmin Train1ng$

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 5

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

1 Create a Linked Virtual Clone

Create a linked clone of the Test Lubuntu virtual machine. A linked clone is a copy of a
virtual machine that shares virtual disks with the original virtual machine. This helps
conserve disk space while at the same time, allows ongoing changes to the original
virtual machine to not change the linked clone and not allow ongoing changes to the
linked clone affect the original virtual machine.

1. Open the VMware Workstation application. On the desktop, double-click the

VMware Workstation icon.

2. On the bottom toolbar, click the File Manager icon and select sysadmin.

3. In the File Manager window, double-click the vmware folder.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 6

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

4. Once in the vmware folder, verify that the folder’s view configurations are
correct by navigating to View > View as Detailed List.

5. Change focus to the VMware Workstation window, right-click Test Lubuntu

from the virtual machine inventory pane located to the left and select Manage >
Clone to open the Clone Virtual Machine Wizard.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 7

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

6. In the Clone Virtual Machine Wizard, click Next to continue.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 8

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

7. Select the radio button to clone from the existing Base snapshot. Click Next.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 9

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

8. On the Clone Type step, select Create a linked clone. Click Next.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 10

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

9. Name the clone Linked Clone of Test Lubuntu and make sure the location is
configured to /home/sysadmin/vmware/Linked Clone of Test Lubuntu. Click
Next.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 11

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

10. On the Summary step, review the information and click Finish.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 12

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

11. Once the cloning process is finished, click the Close button.

12. Change focus to the File Manager. There should now be a new VM folder called
Linked Clone of Test Lubuntu. Double-click the Linked Clone of Test Lubuntu
folder.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 13

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

13. In the folder, notice the cloned VM configuration is held in the Linked Clone of
Test Lubuntu.vmx file. Also, notice the size of the cloned virtual disk files of the
original Test Lubuntu machine.

14. Go back to the /home/sysadmin/vmware directory by clicking the back arrow.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 14

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

15. Double-click the Test Lubuntu folder.

16. Observe the contents of the Test Lubuntu folder. Notice the sizes of the virtual
disk files of the original VM are larger than those of the linked clone shown
previously in Step 13.

On a linked clone, the virtual disk file size is smaller than the original
VM disk file. The original VM disk files contain the data and all the
changes to the data are contained in the linked clone disk files.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 15

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

2 Create a Full Virtual Machine Clone

Create a full clone of the Test Lubuntu virtual machine. A full clone is an independent copy of a
virtual machine that shares nothing with the original virtual machine after the cloning operation.
This means that the full clone virtual machine does not need access to the original virtual
machine.

1. In the VMware Workstation window, right-click Test Lubuntu from the inventory
and select Manage > Clone.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 16

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

2. In the Clone Virtual Machine Wizard, click Next to continue.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 17

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

3. Select the radio button to clone from the existing Base snapshot. Click Next.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 18

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

4. Select Create a full clone. Click Next.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 19

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

5. Name the full clone Full Clone of Test Lubuntu. and confirm the location is set
to /home/sysadmin/vmware/Full Clone of Test Lubuntu. Click Next.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 20

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

6. On the Summary step, review the information and click Finish.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 21

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

7. Once the cloning process has completed, click the Close button to exit the
wizard.

8. Change focus to the File Manager window and go to the

/home/sysadmin/vmware directory by clicking the back arrow. Double-click the
Full Clone of Test Lubuntu folder.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 22

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

9. In the directory, notice the cloned VM is held in the Full Clone of Test
Lubuntu.vmx file. Also, notice that the sizes of the full clone virtual disk files are
identical to the original Test Lubuntu VM disk files. For example, notice the Test
Lubuntu-disk1-cl1.vmdk file below, its file size is identical to the original VMDK
file called Test Lubuntu-disk1.vmdk shown in Task 1, Step 16.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 23

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

3 Exporting a Virtual Machine

Exporting OVF or OVA templates allows you to create virtual appliances that can be
imported by other users. You can use the export function to distribute software as a
virtual appliance, or for distributing template virtual machines to users.

Export the Test Lubuntu virtual machine as an OVF (Open Virtualization Format). OVF
format provides a complete specification of the virtual machine, including the full list of
required virtual disks and the required virtual hardware configuration. You can specify
whether to export the virtual machine as an OVF, a folder with separate files, or as an
OVA, a single-file archive.

1. Change focus to the VMware Workstation application window, select Test

Lubuntu from the left pane and select File > Export to OVF.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 24

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

2. Export the Test Lubuntu VM as an .ova file format. Type Test Lubuntu.ova into
the Name field and double-click the Desktop folder.

3. Click Save. Wait 2-3 minutes for the action to complete.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 25

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

4. Using the File Manager, go to the /home/sysadmin/Desktop/ directory by

clicking Desktop underneath Places in the left column.

5. Once the exporting process is complete, verify that the Test Lubuntu.ova file is
present in the Desktop directory. Notice the exported Test Lubuntu VM is
packaged in a single OVA archive.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 26

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

6. Export the Test Lubuntu VM to an .ovf file format. Change focus to the VMware
Workstation window. While having Test Lubuntu selected, navigate to File >
Export to OVF.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 27

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

7. In the Export Virtual Machine window, verify that Test Lubuntu.ovf is already
written as the name. Double-click Desktop.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 28

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

8. Create a new folder by first clicking the Create Folder button followed by naming
it Test Lubuntu OVF. Click the Create button or press the Enter key to accept
changes.

9. Notice that it automatically should change your current directory in the new Test
Lubuntu OVF folder. Be sure to be in the Test Lubuntu OVF folder and click Save.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 29

Lab 3: Virtual Machine Cloning and Exporting

10. While the export is processing, change focus back to the File Manager and
navigate to the /home/sysadmin/Desktop/Test Lubuntu OVF directory.

11. Once the Test Lubuntu.ovf VM has finished exporting, it should appear in the
Test Lubuntu OVF folder. Notice the size of the disk.

Notice when exporting the Test Lubuntu VM in OVF format that there
is a set of files as opposed to the single OVA file from the previous
export process.

12. The lab is now complete; you may end the reservation.

7/28/2020 Copyright © 2020 Network Development Group, Inc. www.netdevgroup.com Page 30