creating a test environment from a live ESX4 cluster

[ranj]

Hi

At my work place we use ESX4 in a 3 host cluster. We have a number of different VM's spread evenly across the cluster.

We have had ESX installed for about 6 months and I am relucantant to roll the new ESX4 U1 update on the production system whilst everything is working fine.

From a long time even before the ESX cluster I have struggled to create a test environment from the live system using tools like virtual box or VMware workstation. I am keen to give it another try though.

Due to constraints I wasn't able to create a test environment at install, I now have a bit of time to do this so I wanted to create a mini test environment on my laptop. I have workstation 7 installed with the latest updates and my processor is VT enabled which has allowed me to install ESX as a VM in workstation 7.

I now want to take a copy of one of our windows 2008 DC's which is a VM in our ESX cluster for me to do some tests in the isolated environment as well as some other servers to test integration, AD, exchange etc.

Using vcenter I clicked on a production VM which I wanted to take a copy of and created a clone of this.

I have now done this and as its a clone and its not powered on I assumed I would be able to take all the VM files (vmdk etc) from the datastore and copy it to a local hard disk but it wont allow me to do this. I get errors when I try to copy. I also noticed the clone VM i am trying to copy has a white icon which looks different to the online VM's. I assume this is correct because its a clone VM.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how best I could do this? If anyone has created a replica of their live systems in a test environment I am keen to see how you have done this. I am also aware that I should never plug this test laptop into the production network unless I have ensured the network is completely separate from the main network. If there are any other pointers I should be aware of please let me know.

Your advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[ssiruuk2]

Ive done pretty much exactly what you've described here. i.e Took a clone of an existing VM (also running from shared datastore with 3 host cluster) and then copied the clone from datastore to another area of the network.

I used Veeam Backup and FastSCP (free) to move the actual VM files off the SAN. copied no problem.

If you want to create a test environment why dont you just create a new vswitch so your test environment is isolated from production, that way you can use your existing hardware etc and not have to bother using the laptop setup?

[ranj]

If you want to create a test environment why dont you just create a new vswitch so your test environment is isolated from production, that way you can use your existing hardware etc and not have to bother using the laptop setup?

Yeh I suppose I could do the vswitch, I rather not at the moment due to capacity issues. I would like to explore using workstation and see how well it works, I then know I can do things out of the office and I know its not affecting the production network at all.

I am still debating whether to use the clone feature or use VMware converter 4.0 to take copies.

My understanding of using vmware converter was that I would need to switch off a VM to create a copy of it.


Would the clone method work fine with directory systems as VM's e.g. active directory, exchange 2007? I am aware I would need to do a bit of tidying up once I put it into the test environment, but I was going to follow the instructions on this blog: http://guamaniac.wordpress.com/2007/...-using-vmware/


I was hoping also not to switch the VM's off as I didnt want to cause unnecessary downtime but if this is unlikely to work if someone could advise how best to do this.


Thanks

[Shakoor]

Hi Ranj,

If I remember correctly, this is how I copied a VM from one ESXi host to a test ESXi host. I just copied the cloned VM's fles to another ESX's datastore. Right Clicked on the .vmx file and selected "Add to Inventory". That seemed to work for me.Give it a try.

[ranj]

So I took a clone from the live ESX cluster of an exchange server VM. I have to mention that it was a running VM and i didn't stop it.

I copied the contents and have now tryed to integrate it into Workstation 7 and whilst the VM runs I now have a new problem which I am not able to resolve.


The Exchange VM which is running on x64 Windows 2008. When it runs and gets to the Ctrl+ALT+DEL screen, it does not allow me to enter a username and password, it seems the keyboard has stoppedworking and it is just stuck on that screen. I have tried all sorts of possibilities to unlock the machine and attempt to enter the password but it just doesnt seem to work.


Whilst booting up I can access the keyboard and go through the different options such as safe mode but when it gets into Windows it just doesnt to work.


Has anone seen this problem?