Creating a single rapid clone doesn't use FlexClone? (VSC 4.1)

[danieljlucas]

If I right-click a VM and choose NetApp-->Provisioning and Cloning-->Create rapid clones and pick the same controller and volume that the source VM is on, it still seems to copy files instead of using FlexClone. Does it do this for the first clone even if the source is the same controller and volume? My goal is not speed, it is avoiding aditional storage utilization.

[brianjm]

Hi Daniel,

  If the datastore is VMFS, then yes a copy is done, because VSC does not interpret the VMFS format.

  If the datastore is NFS, then you should be seeing a lightweight clone.  Let us know if that's not the case.

Thanks,

Brian

[danieljlucas]

Hello Brian,

The datastore is NFS, however I'm not sure what you mean by lightweight clone. Do you mean that it uses FlexClone to create a zero-cost copy?

Thanks,

Daniel

[brianjm]

Hi Daniel,

  I did think of some other reasons why the first copy is not a FlexClone.  Can you tell me...

   Is the VM powered on?  If so, then to avoid copying inconsistent data, we use vCenter to make a full copy.

   Does the VM have any snapshots?  This will cause a vCenter copy. 

   Was a VM transform requested as part of the clone?  That will cause a vCenter copy.

  Thanks,

Brian

[CRAMSEY86]

Here is the issue I am seeing:

I have an ESXi 5 Update 1 host that has the NFS Plugin for VAAI Installed on it. I am using VSC 4.1. Environment is NFS.

When I do the NetApp-->Provisioning and Cloning-->Create rapid clones and pick the same controller and volume on three of the VMs on the host it does the NetApp Clone and finishes in approx 2 minutes (while they are powered on). However, there is one VM on the host, that everytime I try it that way, it will do a normal VMware Clone.

[danieljlucas]

Wow, a lot of caveats. One or more of those would apply almost every time we would want to create a "rapid clone." If I'm doing a single clone under one of these circumstances, is there any reason I shouldn't just use vCenter cloning?

[hongwee]

Hi Brian,

Sorry to tag on this chat, so for VMFS clones there will not be any sort of dedupe savings as they are normal full clones per say?

Or at least until my dedupe runs on the volume, am i right to say that?

Regards,

Hong Wee