How to Create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012 R2
How to Create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012 R2
In the old post, we learned the steps to create Virtual Machine in Hyper-V server and even we learned the steps to create VM in SCVMM 2012 R2. In this post, we’ll learn the steps to create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012 R2. We don’t have functionality of creating template available in Hyper-V server therefore, we’ll use SCVMM 2012 to create template.
Consider a scenario where you have to deploy large number of servers or computers in your environment and on all the machines OS would remain the same besides some basic applications e.g. MS Office, Antivirus, some application agents, etc. In that case we can create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012 R2. Using the template we can create multiple other Virtual Machines, it would help in saving time and efforts.
Steps to create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012 R2
1. Open SCVMM 2012 by either clicking on Virtual Machine Manager console from the desktop or click on stat button, click on down arrow and select Virtual Machine Manager Console. Type the name of SCVMM server followed with the port number and click on connect.
2. From the console, select Library and then select “Create VM template”.
3. In the “Select Source” window, select the source to create VM template. You can use either an existing VM template or a virtual hard disk stored in the library or select an existing virtual machine that is deployed on a host.
4. Click on Browse and select the Virtual Machine that you want to convert to template. Click on ok.
5. Once the existing Virtual Machine is selected, click on next to continue.
6. Please take a note, creating a VM template would destroy the source of Virtual Machine i.e. 2k12-01 in this practical. However, if you don’t want the source to be destroyed then first create a clone of Virtual Machine and then create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012 R2. Click on Yes if want to continue.
7. Type the name of VM template, for this practical, we’ll define the name as 2k12-temp. Click on next to continue.
8. On the “Configure Hardware” window, configure hardware for the VM. You can import settings from a hardware profile or save a new profile based on your settings. For this practical, we are not changing anything therefore click on next to continue.
9. In the “Configure Operating System” window, you can configure identity, network settings and scripts for new virtual machine. Moreover, you can import settings from guest OS profile or save a new profile.
10. Select the library server for the VM. Click on next to continue.
11. In the “Select Path” window, select the VM path. Click on browse and select the directory to store VM.
12. Before you create Virtual Machine template in SCVMM 2012, review all the settings. You can click on previous tab to go back and make the changes, else click on create to create VM template. You can track the progress of this job in the Job’s workspace.
13. Once the template is created, we can see the same under Library in templates section. We can use this template to create multiple machines.