Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 10
Using Templates and vApps
Creating VMs manually and installing guest operating systems (guest OSes) into those VMs
is i ne on a small scale, but what if you need to deploy lots of VMs? What if you need to ensure
that your VMs are consistent and standardized? Through vCenter Server, VMware vSphere
offers a solution: VM cloning and templates. In this chapter, we'll show you how to use cloning,
templates, and vApps to help streamline the deployment of VMs in your environment.
In this chapter, you will learn to
Clone a VM
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Create a VM template
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Deploy new VMs from a template
Deploy a VM from an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) template
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Export a VM as an OVF template
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Work with vApps
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Cloning VMs
If you've ever wished there were a faster way to provision a new server into your environment,
then you'll be glad to know that VMware vSphere fuli lls that wish in a big way. When you are
using vCenter Server in your environment, you have the ability to clone a VM; that is, you can
make a copy of the VM, including the VM's virtual disks. How does this help provision new
VMs faster? Think about it: What takes the most time when creating a new VM? It's not the
creation of the VM itself, because that takes only minutes. It's the installation of the guest OS—
whether it is Windows Server, Linux, or some other supported guest OS—that takes up the bulk
of the time needed to create a new VM. Using vCenter Server to clone a VM—which means also
cloning the VM's virtual disks—keeps you from having to install the guest OS into the cloned
VM. By cloning VMs, you eliminate the need to perform a guest OS installation into every
new VM.
The First Guest OS Installation Is Still Needed
We mentioned in the text that cloning a VM eliminates the need to perform a guest OS installa-
tion into every new VM. h at's true—assuming you actually installed the guest OS into the VM
that you're cloning. As you consider using VM cloning to help provision new VMs, recognize that
you still need to install the guest OS into your source VM. Some things just can't be eliminated!
