Create a Virtual Machine from a Template

Create identical virtual machines from a template. You'll be able to customize hardware, software, and other configurations.

• The platform provides system parameters for VMs to control default settings globally. Before creating a VM, you can customize VM-related settings in the system parameters to control the default VM features. For more information, see System Parameters.
• Before creating a virtual machine based on a template, make sure there is already a virtual machine template available in the platform.

1. In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.

2. Right-click a valid parent resource (cluster or host) of virtual machines and select New Virtual Machine.

3. In the Select VM Creation Type dialog, choose From Template.

4. Click Next.

5. In the Select Virtual Machine Template dialog, select the target template and click OK.

6. In the Create Virtual Machine from Template dialog, set the following parameters:

   1. Complete the template information configuration.

      • Template: Select a template and create a virtual machine based on this template.

   2. Complete the basic information configurations.

      • Name: The name of the virtual machine

      • Quantity: The number of virtual machines to create this time

        When creating multiple virtual machines from a template, the following configurations will be cleared:

        • Added GPU, USB, and PCIe devices
        • Manually specified IP address

      • Group: The group the virtual machine belongs to; if not set, the default group will be used

      • Location: The host or cluster location of the virtual machine

      • OS: The operating system of the virtual machine, supporting mainstream operating systems including Linux and Windows

      • HA: Automatic restart mechanism for the virtual machine after abnormal shutdown, default is disabled. For more information, see VM HA

      • Power Status: Whether the virtual machine automatically powers on after creation, default is to power on automatically

   3. Complete the hardware information configurations.

      • CPU: Supports adjusting the total number of cores and the number of cores per socket, and setting CPU hot plug.

      • Memory: Supports adjusting the memory size and setting memory resource priority.

      • Disk: Supports modifying the cache mode of the disk and setting AIO acceleration. You can add a new hard disk to the virtual machine by clicking Add Hardware > Disk. The new hard disk allows customization of its capacity and properties.

      • NIC: Supports modifying the NIC model, port group, NIC queue number, MAC address, IP address, and DNS assignment. You can add a new NIC to the virtual machine by clicking Add Hardware > NIC. The new NIC allows customization of its address and properties.

      • CD/DVD Drive: Supports loading ISO image files onto the virtual machine for booting from an ISO optical drive.

      • GPU Device 1: Loads a GPU device onto the virtual machine, supporting physical GPU devices and vGPU devices.

        You can add a GPU device by clicking Add Hardware > GPU Device.

      • USB Device 1: Loads a USB device onto the virtual machine, supporting direct connection and redirection.

        You can add a USB device by clicking Add Hardware > USB Device. A single virtual machine supports adding up to 1 USB device.

      • Other Hardware: Does not support modifying the graphics card and sound card configuration in the template file.

   4. Complete the advanced settings.

      General Options

      • Description: Displays the description recorded in the template. You can modify the VM description.
      • Tag: Displays the tag recorded in the template. You can customize different tags.
      • OS Attribute: Configures the VM operating system attributes.
        • Do Not Customize: Inherits the hostname, administrator password, workgroup or domain configurations from the template.
        • Apply a Specification: Select an existing VM specification to apply the system configuration specified in the specification.
        • Manually Customize: Customize a new VM specification.

7. Review the configuration and click OK.

Some VM configurations require VMTools. After VM creation, it is recommended to install VMTools to enable certain configurations. For more information about VMTools, see Virtual Machine VMTools.