Creating a test clone

You can use test clones to try out migrated VMs on Compute Engine before putting them in production. When you create a test clone, Migrate for Compute Engine clones the VM from the source platform, then moves the clone to Compute Engine for testing.

Limitations

Test clones have the following limitations:

  • Changes on the destination are not persisted back to the source platform.
  • Each VM can have only one test clone at a time.
  • When the source platform is Azure, you must stop the source VM before using the test clone operation. During this time, Migrate for Compute Engine takes a snapshot of the VM. Once the test clone is running, you can start the source VM again.
  • When the source VM is Azure or AWS, you can create a test clone only with Migrate for Compute Engine Manager waves.

Before you begin

Creating a test clone

You can create test clones in the following ways:

  • From a wave in the Migrate for Compute Engine Manager.
  • Through commands in VMware vCenter (when you have installed the vSphere vCenter plug-in).

Creating a test clone with the Migrate for Compute Engine Manager

When using the Migrate for Compute Engine Manager, you run test clones from a migration wave with a valid runbook. A runbook is a list of VMs you want to migrate.

  1. Download a runbook CSV that includes the VMs you want to migrate with as test clones.

    Make the necessary edits to the runbook CSV so that you can create a valid wave from it.

  2. Create a valid wave from the runbook you downloaded.

  3. In the Migrate for Compute Engine Manager, on the Waves tab, select your wave.

  4. Click Action > New Job.

  5. In the New Job dialog, select Test Clone from the dropdown.

  6. Click Start to start creating the test clone.

More information on this process is described on the Create a job page.

Creating a test clone with VMware vCenter

When your source platform is VMware, you can create test clones using the vCenter user interface.

  1. Open the vSphere web client and select the desired virtual machine.
  2. Right-click on the VM and select Migrate for Google Compute Engine Operations > Test Clone.
  3. Select the Cloud Extension from the drop-down menu.
  4. On the Cloud Extension screen, name the test clone VM if desired, and click Next. The Cloud Instance screen appears.
  5. On this screen, rightsizing recommendations are presented.

    Once you have decided which instance to use, select it from the Instance Type dropdown.

    Cloud Instance screen, showing available instance sizes and recommendations

  6. Click Next. The Networking screen appears.

  7. Select the desired Subnet from the drop-down menu.

  8. Enter the required Network Tags in a comma-separated list. Network tags are used to assign instances to certain firewall rules and network routes. For example, if several VM instances are serving a website, tag those instances and then use that tag to apply a firewall rule that allows HTTP access.

  9. Select the Instance Service Account (optional) from the drop-down menu.

  10. Choose a dynamic or static IP address from the Configure Private IP drop-down list:

    • Select Auto to assign an available address on the subnet automatically, or
    • Select Static to input a reserved static IP address. To create one, see Compute Engine's guide to Reserving a Static Internal IP Address.
  11. From the Edge Node drop-down list, select the primary node from your Cloud Extension to handle the migration .

  12. Choose whether you would like to give this test clone an External IP. If yes, you can use an ephemeral IP address or enter the external IP address created on the Google Cloud console.

  13. Click Next. The Summary screen appears.

  14. Review the summary and then click Finish.

What's next?