Thanks for great product, I like the PVE simple web user interface approach compared with Vmware and XenServer. One feature I really like to see in PVE is the VM cloning function. And do you have any plan to integrate Red Hat qemu-spice into PVE? SPICE is superior compared with RDP and VNC protocol especially when dealing with multimedia application.
VM Cloning and Red Hat SPICE integration
- Thread starter chunglam
- Start date
We see currently no useful integration scenario for Proxmox VE and its still in an early phase missing a lot of features and a long road map - but its under our radar.
VM cloning: not planned in the near future to have it on the gui. what you need in detail? describe your usage scenario!
A usage scenario I see for a cloning function is to allow rapid testing of an application change, i.e. clone machine and stick it on a private network bridge, install an update to the application and test it. Clone can be deleted afterwards and then change performed on the original.
Secondly, for storing a 'gold image' of a build that you want to deploy that's been sysprepped in the Windows world. I guess you'd prefer the virtual appliance model in this case though?
Chris
take a look on the command possibilities of KVM and the qcow2 format.
just make a backup with vzdump of this image and restore it wherever you need it. (also CLI only).
Tom,
Of course, almost anything is possible via the command line, but to do these things via the web interface would make the product more powerful IMO.
I know if I was demo'ing Proxmox to my management and I had to show them a cloning function they would lose interest immediately the CLI came into view. Despite the real facts of the situation, they'd see it that the product was incomplete.
I'm not criticising the product, it's great, just providing the opposite point of view...
Chris
Of course, almost anything is possible via the command line, but to do these things via the web interface would make the product more powerful IMO.
I know if I was demo'ing Proxmox to my management and I had to show them a cloning function they would lose interest immediately the CLI came into view. Despite the real facts of the situation, they'd see it that the product was incomplete.
I'm not criticising the product, it's great, just providing the opposite point of view...
Chris
Well, you can see it that ways. But cloning is a very dangerous action (from a security standpoint).
Dietmar,
What makes it dangerous? I hope to demo this to management at some stage and having a useful argument as to why we shouldn't do it would help.
Thanks
Chris
What makes it dangerous? I hope to demo this to management at some stage and having a useful argument as to why we shouldn't do it would help.
Thanks
Chris
An obvious effect is that you copy IP address. You need to manually change that before starting the clone (else strange things happens).
But you also copy secret key, like the sshd private keys, or license keys, ...
*Darn - just noticed Dietmar posted the same*
Cloning is a really bad idea because there are certain aspects of the system that are designed to be unique - cloning obviously duplicates them.
For example, ssh keys, MAC addresses although I am sure there are others. Of course, these can all be changed after the fact.
(I am obviously not Dietmar, but it is such a novelty that I knew the answer to this one I just had to share
)
Cloning is a really bad idea because there are certain aspects of the system that are designed to be unique - cloning obviously duplicates them.
For example, ssh keys, MAC addresses although I am sure there are others. Of course, these can all be changed after the fact.
(I am obviously not Dietmar, but it is such a novelty that I knew the answer to this one I just had to share
)Thanks for answers. From a user coming from Vmware world, cloning is very convenient function for our usage scenario. I know the implication of bad cloning operation, that is why we need one button operation to complete all steps including copying OS image, changing VM configuration file, changing mac address, changing SID for Windows OS or SSH keys for Linux, etc...
For qemu-spice, I have tried it in Fedora 12. It is very nice to see playing 720p movie in a Windows VM with acceptable frame rate. It will be very useful for desktop visualization and even more powerful if the Spice QXL GPU can be accelerated by a real GPU(NVIDIA or ATI).
For qemu-spice, I have tried it in Fedora 12. It is very nice to see playing 720p movie in a Windows VM with acceptable frame rate. It will be very useful for desktop visualization and even more powerful if the Spice QXL GPU can be accelerated by a real GPU(NVIDIA or ATI).
yes, this WOULD be nice. but I am 100 % sure that vmware or any other software can guarantee that they do everything - how should they know what you installed in the VM and and what to reset? so this feature is incomplete by design and can never work reliable in all scenarios - so think twice before you clone.
as far as I know its still not available for actual operation systems (windows7, Linux) but its under the radar.
Under Windows, you always may put the system in Sysprep before the you clone.
Then you get a new template you may clone each time you need it
sysprep only knows windows components. if you install other software, sysprep is not enough. ok for most cases but not for all.
false myth... and Mark Russinovich is sure not a dumb...it's not enough, you're right, but that's the minimum you need to do before cloning a Windows machine...
to avoid SID duplication for example
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2009/11/03/3291024.aspx