[virt-tools-list] [Qemu-devel] Virt Tools Survey: What to do about virt-clone

[Michal Suchanek]

On 10 May 2011 13:56, Richard W.M. Jones <rjones at redhat.com> wrote:

> So I'd like feedback from "virt-clone next generation" users:
>
> (a) Is cloning guests useful for you or not?  Often or infrequently?

I clone guests quite often.

>
> (b) Do you currently use virt-clone to clone guests?

no

>
> (c) Do you have a homebrew method to clone guests?  What does it do?
>
> (d) Do you use another tool to clone guests?  (And how is it?)

I use cp(1)
>
> (e) When you clone a guest, do you "sysprep" it or would you like to?
> (Using the term "sysprep" generically here, I mean any sort of
> reinitialization for Linux or Windows guests).

I don't clone Linux much. I would find a script to goes through the
steps like resetting
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules and SSH keys handy. However,
not all needs resetting in all cases. Also this is not specific to
virt-clone, this is just a guest application which could be packaged
for distributions regardless of qemu virt-clone or whatever. Adding an
option to trigger it would be handy I guess (eg. a kernel boot
parameter which could be controlled from outside and also read by an
initscript included with such application).

Also the administrator might pre-configure this sysprepping
application to do the right thing, by default it could be interactive
I guess.

For Windows I uninstall the "ACPI compliant computer" device and run
my sysprep script when I want to run multiple instances of the guest
later. This requires a PS/2 keyboard (or emulation).

I don't think you can find a solution to easily trigger such process
on Windows. If you manage to do the above fully automatically you can
also include a script that checks for a file (or a kernel option of
that is possible in Windows) and triggers the process.

>
> (f) How do you feel about a multi-step process?
>
>  virt-clone -> virt-sysprep -> virt-resize (for example)

It's ok to have multiple tools.

Some people would want to use them separately or from scripts some
would want an UI to run all at once so it's good idea to design the
interface both intelligible and machine-usable.


Thanks

Michal