Exporting VDC Images from the Claranet Virtual Data Center

When you want to export a virtual machine from the VDC platform, you will first need to take a copy of your running image. A video of “Managing Instances” process is located at the following location http://cloudhelp.claranet.com/content/managing-instances-snapshots.

The file is exported as a thin provisioned vmdk sparse file. This will run in any recent copy of VMware Workstation, Server, Player, and ESXi (vSphere). It can however be converted using conversion tools to a format that is able to run on Microsoft Hyper-V, Xen, and other leading hypervisor products.

The export process below will only export the Operating System volume in a single vmdk file. External Volumes cannot be exported using this method. Standard copy/replication methods can be used to copy external volumes.

After logging in to the VDC, select the Virtual Data Centres tab.

clip_image002

clip_image004

Next select the running Virtual Appliance that the virtual machine in running in, by clicking on the right arrow next to the virtual appliance, circled in red.

This will open the Virtual Appliance and show the running Virtual Machines.

clip_image006Left click on the Virtual Machine you want to take a export and then left click the Create Instance button.

clip_image008

A window will appear that shows all the running virtual machines, as shown above.

Select the check boxes of the virtual machines you want to export and click the Create Instance button at the bottom.

The following windows will appear to confirm your choice.

clip_image010

Notes:

· The running virtual machine will be frozen whilst the virtual machine is cloned.

· The operating system image will be cloned and not the external volumes.

clip_image012

Whilst the virtual machine is being cloned a window similar to the graphic on the left will be shown.

As stated previously whilst this window is shown the virtual machine will be frozen. It is suggested that copies are taken during quiet times for your application, where the impact of the cloning will have less of an effect on your application (note Claranet do not limit this by time and it is dependent upon your individual application needs).

When complete we now need to select the Apps Library tab.

clip_image014

clip_image016

Then select the relevant Data Centre.

clip_image018

Next select the template of which you took a clone. The templates that have clones are denoted with a yellow M in the top left hand side of the graphic, as shown to the left.

clip_image020

Click on the graphic, and in the bottom part of the screen a list of available images will appear.

When you move your mouse pointer over the image your want to export three icons will appear in the top right of the icon, as shown below:

clip_image022

clip_image024

The first icon from the left is the download image icon, click on it. A security warning will appear as shown.

The reason for this is that we at Claranet value your data as much as you do and mandate that all data should be exported in a secure manner. We redirect from the HTTP interface to HTTPS to encrypt the contents of the image whilst it is transferred over the internet. You will need to select “No” here to allow the transfer to take place.

clip_image026

You are now prompted for your username and password for your VDC account. Enter them. After you have logged on, the system will ask you to save the file:

The file will then be downloaded.
 By Jay Fearn Google

If your interested in using the Claranet VDC product please fill in your contact details below:
[recaptcha_form]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.