cloning

[mdamda]

Hi i need to create a clone of the Virtual machine.

I need a identical copy of a VM named VM1,  application configuration is done on it.

I need to come up with VM2 same as VM1 and both will be online may be the application will be clustered,

If i need to do cloning, should i proceed with guest customization or not,

if i dont then it will have same GUID or SID.

After booting the VM i can do sysprep from c:\windows\system32,

Will cloning have the same mac address if i dont do guest customization.

Plz guide me

[ThompsG]

Hi mdamda,

If it was me I would proceed with Guest Customization when cloning the VM.

If the source machine is joined to an AD domain then having the same domain SID will cause issues however if the source VM is not domain joined then having the same local SID is not really an issue unless management applications determine uniqueness based on this.

There are other benefits from running through the Guest Customization (Sysprep) - doing so will also strip machine specific information. Top contenders here are normally WSUS or SMS which identify themselves by generating a unique GUID - if you don't remove this from the target VM then issues with reporting will happen. Mitigate this by simply using Guest Customization.

In regards to the MAC address - no matter if you using Guest Customization or not, the MAC address will be different :smileyhappy:

Kind regards.

[mdamda]

Thanks alot , i first cloned without cutomization and after reading ur msg i have deleted and cloned again using customization wizards.

[hussainbte]

After cloning the machine will get a new MAC. You cannot have same MAC machines as it will create conflict.

IF the machines are part of AD domain then sysprep is must.

you can either run sysprep during cloning and customization wizard. OR you can run sysprep after cloning.