How to duplicate a virtual PC with SharePoint, K2 and domain controller

Question

Is anyone aware of an easy way of duplicating and renaming a virtual PC (can be MS VPC, VMWare or Virtual Box), which is running SharePoint, K2 and acting as a domain controller? I’m looking for a method of creating an image which can be quickly and easily copied and run by multiple parties on the same network simultaneously without name conflicts. It’s either that or go through a ground-up build on each and every machine as far as I can see.

Answer 1

SharePoint doesn't like having the server re-named from under it's feet (so to speak). Neither does SQL Server (which I assume you'd have installed on the VM for the installation). Not sure about a DC being renamed, there's probably problems there as well...

Having said that, there are some instructions I've read for renaming both SharePoint machines and SQL Server machines, so you might get somewhere.

On the third hand, I've tried it a few times and always ended up rebuilding the server from the ground up for SharePoint as it can get subtly mangled in ways which aren't always apparent straight away (the admin interface and shared services seem to be especially easy to confuse). I've found that I can build a vanilla MOSS install pretty quickly these days...

Answer 2

Sharepoint writes the name of the server into configuration tables in SQL Server. So if you change the name of the server, things stop working.

What you can do, is to install just the OS. Then take a copy each time you need a new machine. Run sysprep

to give the machine a new name. Then install SQL Server and MOSS.

This is not exactly what you are after but it should save you some time.

Answer 3

I'd advise against it.. renaming an installed SharePoint machine is sure to cause you pain indefinately and unexpectedly. The way to go is with scripted installs:

• create copy of a VM with OS
• rename machine + run sysprep
• script install SQL
• script install MOSS
• script configure MOSS (replaces config wizard + a lot of manual settings)

It can all be done unattended.

As a shortcut to install short-lived development machines I have used the following. Just make sure the SharePoint configuration wizard runs after the rename and there should be no problem.

• create a copy of a VM having: OS+SQL+MOSS(no config wiz)
• rename machine
• script configure MOSS

It has the advantage of your development machines being identically installed. Takes about 10 minutes to create a fresh one. It doesn't have sysprep but they are renamed so you can run them all on your network. Not running sysprep has never caused me grief but I wouldn't do it for production environments. Running the configuration of MOSS scripted makes sure it will work on the renamed environment (and all MOSS farms are configured exactly the same, same ports, SSP setup, etc, yay!)

For MOSS configuration scripting see h tt p://stsadm.blogspot.com/2008/03/sample-install-script.html Plently of samples for SQL out there too.

Answer 4

I've done this, and it wasn't too bad.

Rename the SharePoint-server first, then rename the Windows server.

This posting has a nice checklist.

Don't forget to remove the NIC node from the settings file of the virtual machine, otherwise you get name collision due to duplicate MAC addresses. Here's a how-to.

Answer 5

I believe the solutions above are really good. But I would suggest an alternative ...

If this is a development virtual PC I would suggest that you do the following

1. Do not rename the server
2. Change the IP address to be on different network
3. Change the MAC address so that there are no packet collisions
4. Since you are using it as a development VPC, edit the computer's lmhosts file edit the entry to point to the new IP address

You might want to skip the step 2 and be on the same network. But changing the hosts file will still point back to you. For example you server name was "myserver" and it was pointed 192.168.1.100 which was the local ip (has hosts file entry) , then if you copy the server give it ip 192.168.1.150 and edit the hosts file and point myserver to 192.168.1.150, the system will still work flawlessly. There will some domain name collisions in the event log of the machine, but it wont affect your development.