VMware 4817V62 Administration Guide - Page 166

vSphere Basic System Administration Convert Virtual Machine to Template You can use an existing virtual machine to convert into a template. Procedure 1 Start the vSphere client, and log in to the vCenter Server system. 2 From the Home page, click VMs and Templates. 3 Expand the inventory as needed, and select a virtual machine. 4 Turn off the virtual machine using the shut-down or power-off options. 5 Right-click the virtual machine and select Convert to Template. vCenter Server marks that virtual machine as a template and displays the task in the Recent Tasks pane. Clone Virtual Machine to Template You can clone an existing virtual machine into a template. Procedure 1 Start the vSphere client, and log in to the vCenter Server system. 2 From the Home page, click VMs and Templates. 3 Power off the virtual machine. 4 Right-click the virtual machine and click Clone to Template. The Clone Virtual Machine to Template wizard appears. 5 Give the new template a name, select its inventory location, and click Next. 6 Pass through the target location page and click Next. 7 Specify in which format to store the template's virtual disks. Option Same as Source Thin Provisioned Thick Description Use the format of the original virtual disk. Use the thin format to save storage space. The thin virtual disk starts small and at first, uses just as much storage space as it needs for its initial operations. When the virtual disk requires more space, it can grow to its maximum capacity and occupy the entire datastore space originally provisioned to it. Only VMFS datastores version 3 and later support virtual disks in the thin format. Allocate a fixed amount of storage space to the virtual disk. The virtual disk in the thick format does not change its size and from the very beginning occupies the entire datastore space provisioned to it. 8 Click Next. 9 Click Finish. vCenter Server displays the Tasks inventory panel for reference and adds the cloned template to the list in the information panel. 166 VMware, Inc.