How to Modify the Properties of a Virtual Machine Template

Article
01/17/2008

You can modify any existing Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) template to change settings for one or more components on that template. After you make changes, any new virtual machines that are created from that template will use the updated settings. Changes made to a template affect only the template itself. Changes do not affect any existing virtual machines that were created earlier from this template.

When you run the New Template Wizard to create a template, you identify the template and its owner, configure hardware profile settings, and configure guest operating system profile settings. However, when you open the properties page of an existing template, additional properties are available that can be configured only after the template exists: The General tab on the properties page includes two new fields: Cost Center and Tag. In addition, the properties page includes two new tabs: Custom Properties and Self-Service.

Use the following procedure to navigate to a specific template and to modify template properties.

To modify the properties of a template

In Library view, expand the Library Server node in the navigation pane, navigate to the library server on which the template you want to modify is stored, click VMs and Templates, right-click the template in the results pane whose properties you want to modify, and then click Properties.
On the General tab, perform the following tasks.
1. Modify one of more of the following settings:
  Name (required). Identifies the template to Virtual Machine Manager.
  Description (optional). Describes the characteristics, purpose, and so on, of this template.
  Owner (required). Identifies the Active Directory domain account of the owner of this template.
  Cost Center (optional). Specifies the cost center for a virtual machine created from this template. Identifying a cost center enables you to collect data about the allocation of virtual machines (or resources allocated to virtual machines) by cost center. You can then use the Virtual Machine Allocation report to calculate chargeback to cost centers for virtual machines associated with each cost center.
  Tag (optional). Specifies a word or phrase that you can use to group specific virtual machines as a set. You can use the tag as a filter to search for that set of virtual machines.
  Operating System (optional) Although a template must have an operating system that is installed on virtual machines created from this template, this field is for informational purposes only.
2. To save the settings, click Apply; to save the settings and close the template properties screen, click OK.
On the Hardware Configuration tab, perform the following tasks.
1. Use the procedures available in one or more of the following topics to modify hardware components on this template:
  How to Configure CPU Requirements for a Virtual Machine
  How to Configure the Amount of Memory for a Virtual Machine
  How to Configure the Floppy Drive for a Virtual Machine
  How to Configure IDE Devices for a Virtual Machine
  How to Add and Configure SCSI Adapters for a Virtual Machine
  How to Add and Configure Network Adapters for a Virtual Machine
  How to Configure Virtual Machine Priority for Host CPU Resources
2. To save the settings, click Apply; to save the settings and close the template properties screen, click OK.
On the OS Configuration tab, perform the following tasks.
1. Use the procedures available in one or more of the following topics to modify guest operating system components on this template:
  How To Configure Guest Operating System Profile General Settings
  How to Configure Guest Operating System Profile Networking Settings
  How to Configure Guest Operating System Profile Scripts
2. To save the settings, click Apply; to save the settings and close the template properties screen, click OK.
On the Custom Properties tab, perform the following tasks.
1. Add or modify one of more of the following settings:
  Custom 1–Custom 10 (optional). You can add up to 10 custom properties to virtual machines created with this template by typing values in one of more of the Custom fields. You can also add columns for custom properties to the results pane in the Administrator Console and sort or group your virtual machines by those properties.
  
  Note
  
  For more information about custom properties, including methods to add custom properties to virtual machine displays in the Administrator Console, see "How to Add and Display Custom Properties for a Virtual Machine.
2. To save the settings, click Apply; to save the settings and close the template properties screen, click OK.
On the Self-Service tab, perform the following tasks.
1. Add or modify the following setting:
  Quota Points (optional; used only for self-service users who share a self-service policy). You can specify a value for the Quota Points setting if the virtual machines created with this template are for self-service users. You can use quota points to limit the number of virtual machines that self-service users can deploy at one time. The quota applies to all virtual machines deployed on a host, including virtual machines that are not currently running.
  The simplest schema is setting a limit of one point per virtual machine. For example, if you assign one point for each virtual machine and assign a quota of 5, the self-service user or members of the self-service group can create up to 5 virtual machines. In this example, a point is consumed each time a user creates a virtual machine and is returned each time a user stores or deletes a virtual machine.
2. To save the settings, click Apply; to save the settings and close the template properties screen, click OK.

How to Modify the Properties of a Virtual Machine Template

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