Milestone 7: Hyper-V Linked Clones and Automation

Overview:

• Creation of a Hyper-V Base Virtual Machine
• Configuration of Linked (Differencing) Virtual Hard Disks
• Deployment of Child Virtual Machines
• Automation of VM Management with PowerShell
• Comparison of Manual vs Automated VM Provisioning

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Environment:

• Hypervisor: Microsoft Hyper-V
• Network: HyperV-WAN
• Shell: PowerShell
• Disk Type: VHDX (Differencing Disk)

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Linked Clone Concept:

Linked clones allow rapid VM deployment by referencing a shared, read-only parent disk. Child disks only store changes, resulting in smaller disk usage and faster provisioning.

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Parent Disk Preparation:

1. Locate the base virtual hard disk used by the base VM.
2. Set the parent VHDX file to read-only to prevent modification by child disks.

Final Script:

$parentVHD = Get-Item "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\rocky-base.vhdx"
$parentVHD.Attributes = $parentVHD.Attributes -bor [System.IO.FileAttributes]::ReadOnly

`# Specificy path to the origianl VM VHD.
$parentVHD = Get-Item "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\rocky-base.vhdx"

# Change the origianl VHD to read only.
$parentVHD.Attributes = $parentVHD.Attributes -bor [System.IO.FileAttributes]::ReadOnly

# Create the new Differencing VHD
New-VHD -Path "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\rocky-clone1.vhdx" -ParentPath $parentVHD -Differencing
$childVHD = Get-Item "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\rocky-clone1.vhdx"

# Create the VM using the Differencing VHD and configure settings
New-VM -Name rocky-clone1 -MemoryStartupBytes 4GB -BootDevice VHD -VHDPath $childVHD -Path .\VMData -Generation 2 -Switch HyperV-WAN
Set-VMProcessor -VMName rocky-clone1 -Count 4

# Disable Secure Boot
Set-VMFirmware -VMName rocky-clone1 -EnableSecureBoot off

# Start up the VM and Display Details
Start-VM -Name rocky-clone1
Get-VM -Name rocky-clone1
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