Designate a virtual Machine (VM) as a Template

Before cloning a configured VM for use as a template in the creation and deployment of new VMs, all system-specific configuration such as MAC address tables must be deleted from the virtual hard-drive.

1. Use the halt sysprep command to erase all logs from the /opt file system and remove the persistent MAC address table.
2. Use the vSphere Clone to Template menu to create a new template from the existing VM.
   The resulting template can now be deployed as one or multiple VMs. Each new VM is created with unique MAC address, and inherits the boot parameters from the template
3. Use the View > Inventory > VMs and Templates menu to clone a template to an existing VM.
4. Right-click to clone the template.
   The Status Bar shows the progress of the operation.