VMWare snapshots, cloning, advance users please..

[Paullys50]

Well, I am a user of VMWare, for about a year consistently now. I have workstation and I am trying to figure out a good method to develop a "master" VM, which contains a snapshot as I install software and new versions of software. I want to just have a single VM to allow me to change software revisions versus currently I have a VM for each software variant.

Once I have a "Master" VM developed, I would like to then go to a specific snapshot, then clone that snapshot to a new VM. This clone VM would be used for the current project. This would allow me to build simulation platforms for a specific project. Because I have a master VM I won't have to worry about VM's getting bloated over time with various project files.

Here is a snapshot plan I have in mind:

|

|

Base Windows XP

|

|

Factory Talk Services/Activation

|

|

RSLogix 5, 500, 5000

|

|

+----------------+--------------------------+

|                |                          |

|                |                          |

FTView ME 5.0    SQL Express 2005           SQL Express 2008

|                |                          |

|                |                          |

FTView ME 5.1    InTouch 10.0               InTouch 10.1

|                |                          |

|                |                          |

FTView ME 6.0    InTouch 10.0.2             InTouch 10.1.SP3

You get the idea...is this possible? From what I have read it seems that this should be.

Now, my main question is VM size. I know the master will become extremely large, probably 40+ gigs. Will a clone of a snap shot essentially be an entire clone of the master? Or, can you clone just the snap shot and reduce the VM size?

I would be interested in everyone's approach.

 

[Steven715]

Hi there Paul I am not an advanced user but I think what your asking is a copy of the Harddrive of the Virtual Machine If this is the case you could just copy the .vmdk for me this will be Windows XP Professional.vmdk Just rename the file and then when you create a new VM just Change the location to where the copy is This is done under Name the Virtual Machine. I hope that this helps you. Steve
P.s Watch out for your licensing as you may not be licence to theoretically run 2 copies of windows XP on one licence.
Hope to Help

 

[dash]

I think what you are looking for is to use a "Linked Clone", but be aware that the "base" snapshot must always be available or your linked clone will not be able to boot. I use the linked clone in a similar manner to what you are wanting to do and it does help keep the size down. The other option is a "Full Clone", but it is a complete duplicate of the base package and can stand alone with out the original snapshot.

The "Master" as you called it will not change, it is a frozen snap shot of an image. If you go back and change the base image, it will not matter, because your linked clones are referenced to a snap shot that can no longer be modified. When you load MS updates they will update in the clone vmdk, not the snapshot of your base, even if you go back to the original image the clones will not pick up those changes. You will still have to run updates in each individual clone.

See screen shot below. After you use a snap shot for linked clones it is now "locked" from being changed. Maybe this image will help.

Darren

 

[dash]

This is what my images look like. The "base" is the Windows XP Mode (which if anyone is unaware if you have Win 7 prof or above you can download the image from MS and import into VMWare, which works MUCH better than the Virtual PC that MS uses for Win 7, well worth the $170, that way you do not have to have valid XP disc). All the other images (other than the Linux one of course) is built off this base as a linked clone. The base is around 4.3GB and the Rockwell linked clones vary from 10 to 20GB. Of course the 20 GB one has everything and is the main image I work from. It contains all RSLogix (5000 is V11 to V19), RSLinx, RSView 32, FT View ME 5.1, some Drive Tools stuff, etc.

The 10GB one is mainly RSLogix 5K V18-20 and FT View ME V6.

So basically I am saving around 4GB each time. You would save more since you will put all your PLC software in the base image and all those multiple versions of RSLogix 5K take up quite a bit of space.

Also, if you want you can put your FT License server in your host OS (provided you are not doing this on Linux or OS X).

Darren

 

[Operaghost]

I regularly use snapshots and clones. I work with a "base" VM and create snapshots which I then use as a basis for cloning. I never use the linked clone function as I prefer completely independent machines.

With snapshots you can create sort of a tree or timeline that you can easily move through both back and forth. You can jump to any snapshot at any time or create a clone from any snapshot.

I also use VMware's Converter utility which allows me to control the size of the virtual hard drive while I convert/clone.

Hard drive space can become an issue particularly if you are using a laptop. My VMs range from about 10GB to 40GB in size and each snapshot adds to that size. But at least when you create a clone, that clone can be much smaller.

OG

 

[Steven715]

I think what you are looking for is to use a "Linked Clone", but be aware that the "base" snapshot must always be available or your linked clone will not be able to boot. I use the linked clone in a similar manner to what you are wanting to do and it does help keep the size down. The other option is a "Full Clone", but it is a complete duplicate of the base package and can stand alone with out the original snapshot.

The "Master" as you called it will not change, it is a frozen snap shot of an image. If you go back and change the base image, it will not matter, because your linked clones are referenced to a snap shot that can no longer be modified. When you load MS updates they will update in the clone vmdk, not the snapshot of your base, even if you go back to the original image the clones will not pick up those changes. You will still have to run updates in each individual clone.

See screen shot below. After you use a snap shot for linked clones it is now "locked" from being changed. Maybe this image will help.

Darren

Thank you for that Darren I did not know you could do that I will have a play today.

Steve

 

[Paullys50]

Thank you for the feedback, I'll explore some ideas mentioned here!