You can clone virtual machines or VM templates from your vCenter Server inventory to templates in the content library and use them later to provision virtual machines on a cluster or a host. You can also clone a virtual machine or VM template to update an existing template in the library.

Templates are primary copies of virtual machines that you can use to create virtual machines that are ready for use. You can make changes to the template, such as installing additional software in the guest operating system, while preserving the state of the original template. For more information, see VM Templates and vApp Templates in Content Libraries.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the virtual machine or template that you want to clone.
  2. Start the cloning task.
    • Right-click a virtual machine and select Clone > Clone to Template in Library.
    • Right-click a VM template, and select Clone to Library.
    The Clone to Template in Content Library dialog box appears.
  3. Select Clone as option.
    Option Description
    New template Create a new template and add it to your content library.
    1. Select New template.
    2. Select the content library where to add the template.
    Update existing template Update a template that already exists in your content library.
    1. Select Update existing template.
    2. Select the template to update.
  4. Enter a name and description for the template.
  5. From the list with content libraries, select the library in which you want to add the template.
  6. (Optional) Select the configuration data that you want to include in the template.
    You can select to preserve the MAC-addresses on the network adapters and include extra configuration.
  7. Click OK.

Results

A new task for cloning to OVF package appears in the Recent Tasks pane. After the task is complete, the template appears in the Templates tab for the content library.

What to do next

Use the template to create virtual machines on hosts or clusters in the vSphere inventory .