virt-clone(1m)

1virt-clone(1M)          System Administration Commands          virt-clone(1M)
2
3
4

NAME

6       virt-clone - clone virtual machine images
7

SYNOPSIS

9       /usr/bin/virt-clone [option]
10
11

DESCRIPTION

13       The virt-clone utility is a command line tool for cloning existing vir‐
14       tual machine images. virt-clone copies disk images of an existing  vir‐
15       tual machine and defines a new guest with an identical virtual hardware
16       configuration. Elements that require uniqueness are updated to avoid  a
17       clash between old and new guests.
18
19
20       With  appropriate command-line arguments, virt-clone can run completely
21       unattended, with the guest automatically starting itself as well.  This
22       allows for easy automation of guest installs.
23
24
25       If  you do not specify options to virt-clone, the command runs interac‐
26       tively, prompting for input as required.
27
28
29       To run virt-clone, you must become  superuser  or  assume  the  Primary
30       Administrator role.
31

OPTIONS

33       The following options are supported:
34
35       --connect=URI
36
37           Connect to the hypervisor at URI.
38
39
40       -d, --debug
41
42           Display debugging information when running the install process.
43
44
45       -f disk_image, --file=disk_image
46
47           Path  to  the file, disk partition, or logical volume to use as the
48           backing store for the guest's virtual disk. If the  original  guest
49           has multiple disks, this parameter must be repeated multiple times,
50           once per disk in the original virtual machine.
51
52
53       --force-copy=target
54
55           Force to copy devices (for example, if hdc is  a  read-only  CD-ROM
56           device, specify --force-copy=hdc)
57
58
59       -h, --help
60
61           Display the help message and exit.
62
63
64       -m mac_addr, --mac=mac_addr
65
66           Fixed  MAC  address  for the guest. If the keyword random is speci‐
67           fied, a random address will be used.
68
69
70       -n name, --name=name
71
72           Name of the new guest virtual machine instance. This must be unique
73           among all guests known to the hypervisor on this machine, including
74           those not currently active. To redefine an existing guest, use  the
75           virsh(1M) tool to shut it down and delete it prior to running virt-
76           clone. This parameter will be prompted for if omitted on  the  com‐
77           mand line.
78
79
80       --nonsparse
81
82           Do not use a sparse file for the clone's disk image.
83
84
85       -o original_guest, --original=original_guest
86
87           Name  or  UUID for the original guest to be cloned. This guest must
88           be shut down since it  is  not  possible  to  safely  clone  active
89           guests.
90
91
92       --original-xml=filename
93
94           The  libvirt guest XML file to use as the original guest. The guest
95           does not need to be defined on the libvirt connection.
96
97
98       --preserve-data
99
100           Preserve a new file to use as the disk image for the new guest.
101
102
103       -u UUID, --uuid=UUID
104
105           UUID for the guest; if none is specified, a random UUID  is  gener‐
106           ated.  If you specify UUID, use a 32-digit hexadecimal number. Keep
107           in mind that UUIDs are intended to be unique across the entire data
108           center, and indeed, the world.
109
110

EXAMPLES

112       Example 1 Cloning a Guest with a Single Disk
113
114
115       The  following  command  clones  a guest named demo, which has a single
116       disk to copy.
117
118
119         # virt-clone \
120              --original demo \
121              --name newdemo \
122              --file /var/lib/xen/images/newdemo.img
123
124
125
126       Example 2 Cloning a Guest with Multiple Disks
127
128
129       The following command clones a guest  named  demo,  with  has  multiple
130       disks to copy.
131
132
133         # virt-clone \
134              --original demo \
135              --name newdemo \
136              --file /var/lib/xen/images/newdemo.img \
137              --file /var/lib/xen/images/newdata.img
138
139
140
141       Example 3 Cloning to a Device with Comparable Disk Space
142
143
144       The  following  command clones a guest to a physical device that has at
145       least as much disk space as had the original guest. . If  the  destina‐
146       tion  device  is  has  more  space,  the new guest can do a file system
147       resize when it boots.
148
149
150         # virt-clone \
151              --name demo \
152              --file /dev/HostVG/DemoVM \
153              --mac 00:16:3e:34:11:54
154
155
156

ATTRIBUTES

158       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
159
160
161
162
163       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
164       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         │      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        │
165       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
166       │Availability                 │SUNWxvmu                     │
167       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
168       │Interface Stability          │Volatile                     │
169       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
170

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

EXAMPLES

ATTRIBUTES

SEE ALSO