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<table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td width="20%">[[Managing Hosts with the VMM Administrator Console|Previous]]<td align="center">[[VMM 2008 Essentials|Table of Contents]]<td width="20%" align="right">[[Managing Virtual Machine templates are stored in Machines with the VMM Libraries and are used to enable new virtual machines to be created quickly and Administrator Console|Next]]</td><tr><td width="20%">Managing Hosts with the VMM Administrator Console<td align="center"><td width="20%" align="right">Managing Virtual Machines with consistent hardware and operating system configurations. Templates also control the virtual machine configurations that are available to users when creating new virtual machines within VMM Self-Service Portals.Administrator Console</td></table><hr>

 <htmlet>vmm</htmlet>  VMM 2008 Virtual Machine templates are stored in VMM Libraries and allow new virtual machines to be created quickly and with consistent hardware and operating system configurations. Templates also serve to control and restrict the virtual machine configurations that are available to users when creating new virtual machines within VMM Self-Service Portals. This chapter of [[VMM 2008 Essentials]] provides an overview of the components various elements that make up comprise a template and covers the basics of creating and managing VMM 2008 virtual machine templates.

Once the settings are complete, click on ''OK'' to create the new profile. After the hardware profile has been created, it will be listed under ''Profiles'' in the ''Resources'' pane located in the top left corner of the VMM Administrator console window. The settings may be changed at any time by right clicking on the profile and selecting ''Properties'' from the resulting menu. Similarly, a hardware profile may be copied or deleted by right clicking on the required profile and selecting ''Copy'' or ''Delete'' respectively.

* '''Computer name''' - Allows the name of the computer to be defined. Since a profile may be used for many different virtual machines on the same network, having the sdame same computer name for all systems is likely to cause problems. To avoid this problem, an asterisk may be entered into this field to instruct VMM to assign a random computer name to the guest OS when it is created.

The template creation process begins by selecting the ''Library'' view of the VMm VMM Administrator Console and clicking on the ''New template'' link located in the ''Library Actions'' section of the ''Actions'' pane located on the right hand side of the console window. This selection will invoke the ''New Template'' wizard as shown below:

Before using an existing virtual machine as the basis for a template there are some important points to be aware of. Firstly, the source virtual machine will be destroyed as part of the template creation process. To avoid this, be sure to clone the virtual machine and use the clone as the source for the template. Secondly, in order for an existing virtual machine to be used as the basis for a template, the machine must be powered off. Currently running Running virtual machines will not be included in the list of those available for use as the basis for a template.

If, on the other hand, an existing virtual hard disk is to be used, use the corresponding ''Browse'' button to navigate to the required item. By default , two blank hard disks are stored in the VMM Library for this specific purpose (a small 16GB disk and large 60GB disk).

Having selected a suitable source for the template, click the ''Next'' button to proceed to the ''Template Identity'' screen where the template should be given a name and optional description. If the default owner displayed by the wizard is incorrect, either enter the correct owner identity or use the ''Browse'' button to identify an another user before clicking ''Next'' to proceed to the ''Hardware Configuration'' screen:

* If a pre-existing virtual hard disk was selected from the library as the source for the template, the configuring configuration from an existing hardware profile may be imported by selecting the profile name from the ''Hardware profile'' menu. Once applied, the profile settings may be modified before proceeding with the template creation process. Once the hardware settings have been configured, click ''Next'' to proceed to the ''Guest Operating System'' screen. If the template was sourced from an existing virtual machine, all settings may be inherited from that machine by selecting the ''Customization is not required'' option of the ''Guest operating system profile'' menu. Alternatively, new settings may be configured by selecting ''[New]''. Yet another option is to import the settings from an existing guest operating system profile by selecting the profile name from the ''Guest operating system profile'' menu. Clicking ''Next'' after the guest operating system profile settings have been configured displays the ''Select Library Server'' screen. By default, the wizard will list library servers it is already aware of. Select the required server and click ''Next'' to proceed to the Select Path screen. Use the ''Browse'' button to select an appropriate location in the VMM Library share folder to store the template. Once a location has been specified, click ''Next'', review the ''Summary'' screen and, assuming the summary matches expectations, click ''Create'' to generate the template. The template creation process may take some time to complete depending on the size of the virtual hard disk. If the template is based on an existing virtual machine, the process involves the running of SysPrep on the guest operating system image which may take a considerable amount of time. == Creating a Virtual Machine from a Template == Once a template has been created it is ready to be used to create virtual machines on host systems. To create a new virtual machine, ensure that the Library view of the VMM Administrator Console is displayed and select the ''Library Servers'' entry in the Library Resources pane in the top left hand corner for the console. Once selected, a list of templates will appear in the center pane:  [[Image:vmm_library_resources2.jpg|Displaying the VMs and Templates stored in the VMM Library]]  To create a virtual machine based on the template, right click on the template in the list and select ''New virtual machine'' from the resulting menu to display the ''New Virtual Machine'' wizard as illustrated below:  [[Image:vmm_new_virtual_machine_from_template.jpg|The Create Virtual Machine Wizard]]  On the initial screen, enter the name for the new virtual machine and click ''Next'' to proceed to the ''Hardware Settings'' screen. This screen will contain the settings pre-configured from the template and do not need to be configured unless there is to be any deviation from the template settings. The same is true of the ''Guest Operating System'' screen which is displayed when the ''Next'' button is pressed. The next screen entitled ''Select Destination'' defines where the new virtual machine is to be placed. The only option available here is to create the virtual machine on a host, so keep the default and proceed to the ''Select Host'' screen. The ''Select Host'' screen provides a list of available hosts. Select the desired target host for the virtual machine, proceed to the ''Select Path'' screen and choose a location on the target host file system for the new virtual machine. Click ''Next'' to choose the virtual networks on the target host to which any configured network adapters are to be connected. The ''Additional Properties'' screen provides the option to define what should happen to the virtual machine when the target host system starts up and stops. The final screen displays a summary of the new virtual machine settings. Review the information and click ''Create'' to create the new virtual machine on the selected host.