Cloning is a function used to deploy a cloning image collected from a single managed server (source server) to other managed servers (destination servers).
This function shortens the time required for an initial installation as it can be used to install the same operating system and software on multiple servers.
Software maintenance can also be performed quickly and easily by deploying a cloning image collected from a server on which patch application or software addition or modification has been performed.
The information below is not copied when the cloning image is collected from the admin server; and will be automatically reconfigured when the cloning image is deployed. This enables a single cloning image to be deployed to different servers.
Hostname
IP address and subnet mask for the admin LAN
Default gateway for the admin LAN
Settings other than the above (such as those for applications and middleware) are not automatically reconfigured, please set them manually before and after the cloning operation when necessary.
The public LAN settings (IP address and redundancy settings) for servers to which the cloning image is deployed can be configured easily by using the network parameter auto-configuration function.
For details on the network parameter auto-configuration function, refer to "8.6 Network Parameter Auto-Configuration for Cloning Images".
Note
This function is disabled if ServerView Deployment Manager is used on the admin LAN. Please use the cloning function available in ServerView Deployment Manager instead. Refer to "Appendix H Co-Existence with ServerView Deployment Manager" for details.
When cloning servers, only content from the boot disk (first disk recognized by the BIOS on managed servers) is actually cloned.
Data disk content (second disk onwards) cannot be cloned. It is recommended to use other backup software, or copy features available in storage systems for such purposes.
Note that all partitions (Windows drives or Linux partitions) included in the boot disk will be cloned.
Disk | Windows drive | Cloning Target |
|---|---|---|
First disk | C: | Yes |
E: | Yes | |
Second disk | D: | No |
F: | No |
Because managed servers are restarted during the cloning process, it is necessary to stop all applications running on those servers beforehand.
The first partition must be a primary partition.
The cloning function only supports the following file systems on managed servers. Note that LVM partitions are not supported.
NTFS
ext3
LinuxSwap
Source and destination servers must meet the following conditions:
All server models must be identical.
The hardware configuration of each server must be identical, including optional cards and the slots they are mounted in.
The same BIOS settings must have been made for all servers according to the procedure in "BIOS Settings for Managed Servers" in "3.5 Configuring the Server Environment".
All servers must use the same redundancy configuration (if any) and the same number of redundant paths for LAN and SAN connections. All servers must also be able to access the same network and storage devices.
Note that LAN or fibre channel switches connected in a cascade configuration are viewed as a single device.
Some applications may require manual adjustments to function properly after cloning.
If necessary, manually perform such adjustments before or after the cloning process.
No more than four image processes can be executed simultaneously (image processes include backup and restore of system images, as well as collection and deployment of cloning images). If five or more processes are requested, the fifth and subsequent processes are placed on standby.
Restore operations executed during a server switchover or failback process are also placed on standby if four image processes are already running. It is therefore recommended to restrict the number of simultaneous image processes to no more than three and keep slot(s) open for high-priority requests, such as automatic (Auto-Recovery) or manual switchovers.
Software that needs to connect to an external server upon OS startup may not run properly after the collection or deployment of a cloning image.
In this case, restart the operating system after collecting or deploying the cloning image.
For servers on which the Watchdog function is enabled, cloning operations on that server may be aborted by an automatic restart or shutdown. The Watchdog is a function which automatically restarts or shuts down non-responsive servers when their operating system does not respond for a given period of time.
It is therefore highly recommended to disable the Watchdog function before a cloning operation.
For details on the Watchdog function, refer to the server manual.
When using MAK license activation with Windows Server 2008, Sysprep can be executed a maximum of three times.
Because this activation utility (sysprep) is run each time a cloning image is deployed, such images (ones collected from a MAK-activated server) cannot be (re-)collected and deployed more than four times (this count increases each time an image is updated or re-collected as a new image).
It is therefore not recommended to re-collect cloning images from image-deployed servers, but rather to collect a new image from a dedicated (freshly installed) master server.
When a software initiator is used for iSCSI connection, do not deploy a cloning image back to its source server as there is a chance that data will be damaged.
When using data disks, use a hardware initiator.
