Guest Customization of
Instant Clone Virtual MachinesLast Updated December 16, 2024
The instant clone
operation produces a virtual machine whose memory is exactly the same as the
source virtual machine. This can cause conflicts in network addressing, if two
different virtual machines respond concurrently with the same network identity.
The conflicting network attributes are usually the host name, IP address, and
MAC address.
In the case of an instant clone derived from a frozen
source virtual machine, a conflict might not immediately arise, because the source
virtual machine is not active on the network. The instant clone simply assumes the
identity of the source virtual machine when the host unstuns it. However, a second clone
derived from the same frozen virtual machine could create a network conflict by
duplicating the same identity as the first instant clone.
For an instant clone derived
from the current running point of the source virtual machine, the problem is
more acute because the source virtual machine resumes operation simultaneously
with the instant clone.
To avoid network conflicts, you
customize the instant clone to adopt a new identity, before allowing both the
source virtual machine and the instant clone to run concurrently. In a
situation where temporary network disruption is tolerable, you can ignore the
conflict while you customize the network settings in the guest operating system
of the instant clone.
Otherwise, you have two options to avoid the race
condition that results when both virtual machines resume running from the same point.
You can either disable the virtual NIC before the instant clone operation, or else you
can specify that the virtual NIC in the instant clone will be disabled at the time when
it resumes running after the operation. You specify the latter by setting the
config
property of the spec
parameter when you
invoke the InstantClone_Task
method.