Clone an Existing VM Instance

Cockpit administrators can use the Virtual machines page in the web console to clone existing virtual machine (VM) instances as needed. VM cloning is useful when deploying identical VMs to a group of users.

Note:

When a VM is cloned, the system makes a copy of the source VM XML configuration and its disk images. A new name is assigned to the newly cloned VM and the data stored on the cloned virtual disk is identical to the data stored on the source VM disk.

What Do You Need?

  • The Cockpit web console must be installed and accessible.

    For details, see these topics: Install and Enable Cockpit and Log in to the Cockpit Web Console.

  • The Cockpit-machines add-on application must be installed in the web console and the Oracle Linux virtualization packages must be installed and enabled on the host system. For more information, see Install Cockpit Virtual Machines and Enable Virtualization.
  • A source VM instance for cloning must exist on the host system.
  • The source VM instance must not contain these configuration properties:
    • A persistent network MAC address other persistent properties that could prevent the clone from working correctly.
    • Sensitive data, such as SSH keys and password files.
  • All minimum KVM system requirements must be met on the Cockpit host system to create, run, and manage VM instances.
  • The source VM instance must be shut down before the cloning process. For more information, see Start, Shutdown, Remove, or Interrupt a VM Instance.

For more information, see Clone: Existing KVM Instance and KVM Host: System Requirements in one of the following locations:

Steps

Using the Cockpit web console, follow these steps to create a clone of an existing VM instance on the host system.

  1. In the Cockpit navigation pane, click Virtual machines.
    The Virtual machines page appears.
  2. In the Virtual machines page, navigate to the VM instance that you want to clone and select Clone from the actions menu [⋮].
    The Create a clone VM based on [name] dialog box appears.
  3. In the Create a clone dialog box, perform one of the following:
    • Accept the system-assigned name for the clone VM and click Clone.
    • Edit the name provided for the clone VM and click Clone.
    A new VM instance is created based on the source VM configuration. The newly created VM appears in the Virtual machines list on the Virtual machines page.