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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / How to clone a VM host...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

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Posted on by Community Member

Hi there,

I have a single virtual machine (VMware) that has a complete AX2012 R2 testing environment with everythiing needed already installed.

Now I have to mount 2 more environments exactly the same way as the one I've got. I dont want to create new VM from scratch and install everything cause it's very long and painful. If it's possible to do so, I'd rather like to clone my existing VM (with everything in it), give it another server name and then do the rename of all that needs to be renamed or reconfigure on that new cloned server.

How can I do that? Is it possible?

Sorry Im new in the AX world....:-\

Gin

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  • Brandon Wiese Profile Picture
    Brandon Wiese 17,788 on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    Copying a VM is very easy.  Simply shut down the VM machine, and copy all of the associated files into a new directory.  For VMware, this will be a .vmx files, one or more .vmdk files (representing virtual hard disks), and other associated .vm* files.  Basically everything within the VM directory makes up your virtual machine.

    When you launch the copy of the VM, VMware will ask if it was moved or copied, and you should respond copied.

    If you intend to run those copies at the same time (either on the same network or even on the same machine) then you may have to deal with name collision or other domain issues.  For example, if they are domain joined, then copying a domain joined machine will not be an option at all.  If, on the other hand, your VM is its own domain controller and the entire VM acts as its own micro-domain, then all is usually well.  How your VM was built and what access it needs to the outside world will influence whether you can readily copy the VM and if those copied will co-exist in the world together.

    Good luck!

  • Brandon Wiese Profile Picture
    Brandon Wiese 17,788 on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    Also if they have a hard coded IP address, then they will not co-exist on the same network together easily.  They will "see" each other and that will be a conflict.  You can use networking features within VMware to isolate them from each other or even run them on different hardware, again isolated from each other.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    Thanks Brandon for the tips.

    My actual VM does not has its own domain controller, and yes I will need to "see" the 3 VMs in our domain. So they need to be renamed (server name, IIS, AX, SQL, everything I guess...)

    So that was my point, how can I do that after cloning my actual VM? Do I have to reconfigure some of the components (SSRS?, etc.). Cause those 3 machine need to live in the same domain name.

    Thanks for your time! :)

  • Verified answer
    Brandon Wiese Profile Picture
    Brandon Wiese 17,788 on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    Well that is quite a bit more complex.

    First, you can save a lot of downstream effort if you go into your current VM and change as many URL, path, or machine name references to LOCALHOST and any IP references to 127.0.0.1, so long as they keep everything working.

    What you want to do is SysPrep the VM.  Note that while this is technically easy to do, it can break many things on a working machine.  In particular, if you SysPrep a domain joined machine, it (used to anyway) removes the domain machine account as if you dis-joined the domain.  Thus, you want to make a copy of the VM, bring it online but (very important) disconnected from all networks, SysPrep the VM (process slightly different depending on the version of Windows Server you are using), and then on the first reboot give it a fixed IP address and machine name that is different from the original machine, and then on the subsequent reboot reconnect to networking and re-join the domain.

    Then will begin the process of pointing each component at the new machine name, and this is where any work you did up front pointing things at LOCALHOST will pay off, since that always works.  Unfortunately what you want to do, while technically possibly, is highly not recommended and I'm not sure anyone has an exhaustive list of every place where the old machine name is stored.  Most Microsoft products are now much better about surviving a SysPrep and still working.  SQL Server in particular has made huge improvements here, but only with the database engine component, as SSRS technically is not supported and there may be references to the machine name buried in places you may never find (deep registry, records in databases, etc.).

    In my opinion, having never tried what you are suggesting, I think you are in for far more work and headache with this approach than doing it from scratch a second time.  I know setting it all up again seems painful, but I honestly think it is less painful than trying to copy a working setup of this complexity.  My 2 cents.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    Alright Brandon! You convinced me very well with your last post. Thank you for your time! I'll ask the IT team here to mount some nice fresh and clean new AX environments :)

  • Verified answer
    Brandon Wiese Profile Picture
    Brandon Wiese 17,788 on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    You might be able to save some time by doing what you want partially.  In other words, install Windows Server, fully patch, install SQL Server, patch and hotfix, install the AOS and AX client, restore the database, install IIS, and then call that your gold image.  Most of those pieces will SysPrep just fine.  Then after cloning the machine (carefully, as I described), then focus on installing only those pieces that are SysPrep problematic, like SSRS, SSAS, and EP.  This might be the approach that guarantees the least amount of work overall for a large repetitive deployment.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: How to clone a VM hosting a standalone AX2012 environment??

    Okay! Thanks again! :)

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