To create a template, you create a new VM, install the OS, updates and patches and all the software you want and then “Sysprep” it. Templates allow quick provisioning of a VM without having to install the OS and the related software and patches from scratch every time we need a new VM. This is a critical feature and it means I can have hundreds of different virtual machines cloned with different configuration and only using few megabytes. In a similar way, linked clones will not use any additional space unless modifications are made. Linked Clones are like database snapshots in SQL Server, they do not use any space unless modifications are made and are instant. Similar to clones but with the added benefit of not using the extra disk.
If you are a Hyper-V user, think about if you could run a new VM from a snapshot of the existing VM. More on that later:Ĭlones are the exact copy of the parent VM so they will have the same hostname and but it can be easily handled via a simple PowerShell script on startup. They are my templates but not actual VMware Templates. I have “master” VMs that only contain the Windows Server. I may also want multiple parallel configurations running over a longer period of time so a simple snapshot approach would be much more convoluted if possible at all. If I want to test specific configurations that I have not got yet, I will simply clone the existing VM and modify/update/patch or whatever needs doing to meet the criteria. Once I’m done the clone goes away and the parent VM stays untouched. If I need a new instance of a SQL Server to test a specific build I would simply clone the specific VMs and play with it. ClonesĪs a developer, I want things to happen quickly and be repeatable. Running applications in production is a different game and is out of scope for this discussion. I am writing specifically about my own requirement and experience for a local development environment. VMware did not pay me to write this, I am just sharing my experience as some may find it useful when making a decision.Īt the time of writing (June 2020) I am using VMware Workstation Pro 15.5 I am not benefiting in any way from this post.
This post is based on recent Twitter conversations where few people asked what everyone is using for local development. Hyper-V is part of Windows and is an obvious choice for many. Being able to run virtual machines on our local computers, whether for testing or development is very convenient and almost natural.
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