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Clone a VM

A VM clone is a copy of an existing virtual machine (VM). The cloned VM has the same configuration settings and identifiers as the parent VM. After you clone a VM, the cloned VM acts as a separate virtual machine.

Cloning is a quick way to create a new virtual machine that shares the same properties as the parent. You may want to clone a VM for the following reasons:

  • Software testing. Developers can clone an active VM to test new changes to their code.

  • Forensics. Security administrators can clone an infected machine and connect it to an air-gaped network to investigate the source of the infection while the parent VM can be destroyed or remediated.

Prerequisites​

  • An active cluster in Palette with the Virtual Machine Orchestrator (VMO) pack.

    warning

    Ensure that the Snapshot feature gate is enabled in the Virtual Machine Orchestrator (VMO) pack. This is enabled by default, but may be modified during cluster profile creation and editing. This feature gate allows Palette to access the KubeVirt resources required for correctly cloning your VMs and their data volumes. Learn more about the KubeVirt clone capabilities on the Clone API page in the official project documentation.

    Select the VMO pack in your cluster profile. Then, click on Values under the Pack Details section. Verify that Snapshot is present in the charts.virtual-machine-orchestrator.kubevirt.kubevirtResources.additionalFeatureGates field.

    kubevirtResource:
      name: kubevirt
      useEmulation: false
      additionalFeatureGates:
        - Snapshot

  • Outbound internet connectivity for port 443 is allowed so that you and your applications can connect with the Spectro Cloud reverse proxy.

  • Users or groups must be mapped to a Virtual Machine RBAC role. You can create a custom role through a manifest and use Palette's RoleBinding feature to associate users and groups with the role. Refer to the Create Role Bindings guide to learn more.

  • A namespace for VMs. Although you can deploy VMs from the default namespace, we recommend creating at least one namespace dedicated to VMs as a way to organize and manage them. To learn how to create a namespace, check out Create a Namespace.

Clone a VM​

  1. Log in to Palette.

  2. From the left Main Menu, click Clusters and click on your cluster.

  3. Click on the Virtual Machine tab.

  4. Select the VM to clone and click either the three-dot Menu or Actions.

  5. Power off the parent VM and click Clone. If you forget to power it off, the parent VM will automatically be powered off while cloning is in progress.

  6. Give the clone a name, an optional description, and select a namespace.

  7. Optionally, you can enable the checkbox to start the cloned VM automatically when cloning is complete.

Validate​

From the Virtual Machines tab, verify the cloned VM is listed and displays Running status.