Beyond the Box

Cloning VMWare Virtual Machines the right way

As consultants we must stay current on wide range of the Autodesk products that are available. When delivering a customised piece of software we ensure that it works in the latest and previous version (sometimes two previous versions) of Autodesk products (eg. AutoCAD 2012, AutoCAD 2013) and in few other Autodesk products as well (eg. AutoCAD Map 3D and Civil 3D).

We use virtual machines (VMs) to setup our test environment and we tend to clone an existing VM and customise it, based on our project requirements. When cloning an existing VM server, a small glitch ocurs: when an existing server "ABC" is cloned to a new server "XYZ", the existing server is disconnected from the Active Directory Domain, which creates a hassle for users of the existing, working system.

This is because certain machine attributes (such as SID, MAC Address and IP address) that are used as a means of identifying the machine on the network should be unique. Having two machines that are completely identical will cause an Active Directory disjoin or more generally, a network conflict. Successfully duplicating a virtual machine requires removing any attributes that are unique.

The SYSPREP utility prepares the server for duplication, which means that it removes the server's SID and other attributes that are unique.

Before you perform the clone, run sysprep on the machine to be cloned.  "C:\windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe"

Tick the 'Generalise' option so that a new SID is created for the machine, which will ensure the clone is unique.

Document your Tests with Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder

Being a tester, there have been several instances when I have had to record the steps to reproduce an error. Often I am testing software and systems in a Staging Environment where the testing tools are not available, so it requires extra effort to document the steps to reproduce any problems uncovered.

Now with Windows 7 there is a cool feature known as "Problem Steps Recorder".  Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) captures the steps performed by the user on an application as a set of screen shots with a text description of where they clicked. The capture can be saved as a file that can be used to reproduce and troubleshoot the problem.

Record and Save Steps

Click the Windows Start button and type "Record the steps to reproduce" in the Search box and hit Enter.

The Problem Steps Recorder is opened.

Click the "Start Record" button.

Now perform the steps to reproduce your problem. The Problem Steps recorder will capture all the steps performed by you and log information such as mouse clicks, text entered, program opening, closing, etc.

You can pause the recording at any time and resume it later.

When you are finished, click the "Stop Record" button. The "Save as..." dialog is opened to enter the file name, which is saved as a .ZIP file.

Send the Problem Steps via E-mail

Once the recording is complete and saved to a ZIP file, click the down arrow key on the far-right and select "Send to E-mail recipient...". This will open an email draft with your last recorded PSR file attached to it.

Report the Problem Steps

The PSR will not record anything that you type while recording, but the "Add Comment" feature can be used to add your comments to further describe the problem.

Click "Add Comment" and select the part of the screen that you want to comment on, using the mouse. Then type your comments in the comment box and click OK.

Adjust PSR Settings

The PSR settings are saved only for the current session. It will return to the default settings once you close.

Click the down arrow key on the far-right and this time, select "Settings..."

The Settings enable you to choose a default file name for the recordings. Click the browse button to enter the output file name.

Select "No" If you do not want to capture the screen shots along with the click information.

The default number of recent screen shots is set to 25 which can be increased or decreased.

Conclusion

Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder is a really useful tool for communicating exactly what you did to uncover a problem.

But there's more: the steps are also time based, so you are also recording how long operations are taking, which might help document performance issues. And for simple "how to" instructions, PSR can be a great tool to help a user understand where they are going wrong.