Now, linked clones aren’t officially supported with ESX 3.5, except with Lab Manager. That doesn’t mean you can’t make it work.
Let’s do it?
1. Create a new VM, install all the software you want on it, patch it, do anything you want.
2. Take 2 snapshots with the VM running, one after the other.
(we take 2 because we need the first snapshot unlocked – VMware locks files it is currently using)
3. Copy the first snapshot VMDK to a folder on the VMFS LUN and delete the second snapshot from the original machine (only delete the second ebcause we still need the original VMDK unlocked)
4. Edit the vmdk (not xxxxxxx-flat.vmdk) file with the full path information of the disk:
5. Create a new Custom VM with no disks. Then remove it from the VC inventory.
6. On the service console, copy the first snapshot VMDK (using linux cp, not vmkfstools) to the folder with the new VM.
7. Edit the new VM’s vmx file and add the disk to it
8. Register the VM with the command: vmware-cmd -s register /vmfs/volumes/VMName/VMName.vmx and make sure the correct disk comes up:
9. Repeat 4-8 for however many VMs you want
10. Power the VMs on and change IP/hostname/SID if required to – you now have running linked clones – the only problem is that since you’re running snapshots as Virtual Disks, you have no way to inhibit their growth.
All done- obviously this is completely unsupported by VMware – don’t even try ring up support on this one.
Leo