Best practice for cloning an ESXi VM

[jn865]

Hi,

I am looking for the best method of cloning an ESXi VM without causing IP address conflicts. I was thinking that I could follow the steps listed in this article (http://geektank.net/2009/02/howto-clone-a-virtual-machine-on-vmwares-free-esxi/) and before turning the VM on, change the network settings to point to a vSwitch that has no method of connecting to any other part of the network. Then I could get into the VM, change the IP address and host name, and then reconfigure the vSwitch to be connected externally. Would I have to Sysprep the machine I am cloning or no?

Am I on the right track or is there another way to do this?

Thanks

[jamesbowling · Accepted solution]

You will want to sysprep the machine to generate a new SID.  I typically have a vSwitch on my standalone hosts that is a "Deployment" vSwitch.  It has no pNICs attached to it and therefore no ability to go anywhere.  This will allow for the power on and change of the IP as you stated.  You will also want to make sure that you have a different MAC address for the VM as this can cause network problems of course.

[jn865]

Thanks for the reply. I figured Sysprep would be required to generalize the computer. Useful info to know.

[jamesbowling]

No problem.  Let us know if you have any problems and we can see about helping you out!