Linked Clones Unavailable to VMs!

[zero269]

Hello,

Are you able to create a LINKED CLONE from a VM? I find so much information about how to do it, yet I am not able to.



After a great deal of frustration switching from a Directory storage to LVM-Thin, based on this Proxmox guide: VM Templates and Clones; I still did not have any luck.



After locating the following Proxmox forum threads, they were both a dead ends, and offered me no clues as to what my problem was, or if it was my problem at all, or perhaps a limitation of Proxmox.

• Linked Clone confusion
• Linked Clone feature is not available

Not even many other sites offered any insight to this issue either, which was rather surprising.

I'm a big fan of guides, and so I decided to search the 495 page Proxmox VE Administration Guide for the word linked. Buried down on page 185 was the following:



So, I decided to convert my VM to a Template and lo and behold I now see the option to create a LINKED CLONE from that Template. However, I can't change anything else?

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So, I assume somewhere in that guide I'll find that a LINKED CONE must reside on the SAME target storage as the SOURCE Template…? I understand the Format remaining the same due to its linked state, but the Storage location? That seems absurd in my opinion.

Any ways, I would encourage the team or person who is responsible for maintaining this VM Templates and Clones page to update it to include the information found on Page 185 in the Proxmox VE Administration Guide, Release 7.0 to help others find this VERY IMPORTANT question much easier when they are obviously looking at that VM Templates and Clones page for that specific reason. It shouldn't be buried in that massive guide.

They should also include this as well from the same page (p. 185):

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[dylanw]

Hello,

Thanks for the thorough post. I do intend on going through a few sections of the PVE admin guide and fixing certain bits up, so it's nice to get feedback from our users. However, after reading some of your comments, I also feel there are a few things I need to straighten up.

Are you able to create a LINKED CLONE from a VM? I find so much information about how to do it, yet I am not able to.

Unfortunately not. As is mentioned in the documentation snippet that you posted, linked clones can only be made from templates (due to the read-only requirement).

I'm a big fan of guides, and so I decided to search the 495 page Proxmox VE Administration Guide for the word linked. Buried down on page 185 was the following:

I wouldn't say it's "buried" within the Proxmox VE Administration Guide. The document follows a very clear structure, and this particular entry is found in the "Copies and Clones" section of the chapter "Qemu/KVM virtual machines". A look at the table of contents may have pointed you there as easily.

So, I assume somewhere in that guide I'll find that a LINKED CONE must reside on the SAME target storage as the SOURCE Template…? I understand the Format remaining the same due to its linked state, but the Storage location? That seems absurd in my opinion.

Within the "Linked Clone" section which you posted, directly below where your screenshot cuts off, this information is given: "It is not possible to change the Target storage for linked clones, because this is a storage internal feature."
Requiring the linked clone to remain on the same storage as the template is an understandable restriction, as per definition, it's data resides on the template's storage device. To do otherwise would see the cloned vm split across two independent storage devices.

In any case, when I go over this section, I will keep your areas confusion in mind

 

[zero269]

Hi dylanw,

It's great to hear back from someone who can look in to updating the guide. That's great news!
I appreciate you proving additional insight regarding some of the topics in my “constructive criticism”; I’m sure it mostly comes off as a rant, but one thing I forgot to note in the beginning is that I’m new to Proxmox and just started playing with just this week. With that said, I have over 10 years experience using VMware products in both a personal and professional capacity, so I am not new to virtualization environments.

It’s too bad that I can’t integrate Proxmox into my traditional virtualization strategy: CREATE > LINK > USE > DESTROY.

When I say create, I mean LINKED Clones from both SOURCE images, and even LINKED off of other LINKED clones. I LINK off sysprep’d (Audit/OOBE) systems, and systems that startup READY TO USE. My SOURCE images can be on a different drive, and even located on my NAS while the linked clone is on my desktop. As I’m starting to understand Proxmox it’s more of a CREATE and USE long term environment. I really wish Proxmox would enhance their LINKED CLONES capabilities that are similar to Workstation; which is just a Type 2 hypervisor.

Either way, I decided to run Proxmox as a VM in Workstation for now as I run ESXi/vCenter on my physical host. Once I get a good handle on Proxmox, it may soon wind up on the Host and ESXi/vCenter can be retired considering I only get 60 days with full features any way…