Process for designing and creating virtual machines (VMs)

Designing and creating virtual machines (VMs) is a structured process that involves planning, provisioning, configuration, and deployment.

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🔧 1. Define Requirements

Before creating any VM, you need to clearly understand what the VM is for:

• Purpose: Web server, database, development environment, test sandbox, etc.
• Operating System: Linux, Windows, macOS, etc.
• Resource Needs:
  • vCPUs (virtual CPUs)
  • RAM
  • Storage (type and size)
  • Network bandwidth
• Performance/Availability: High performance? Fault tolerance? Snapshots or backups?

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🧠 2. Design the VM Configuration

This is where you map the requirements to a virtual hardware spec:

• vCPU Allocation: Based on workload. E.g., 2 vCPUs for a basic web server, more for compute-intensive VMs.
• RAM Size: Consider workload type (e.g., 8GB for a small server, 32GB+ for memory-heavy apps).
• Disk:
  • Size (e.g., 40GB for a minimal OS, 100GB+ for databases)
  • Type (HDD, SSD, NVMe)
  • Layout (single disk, multiple for OS/data separation)
• Network Interface Cards (NICs):
  • Number of adapters
  • Network assignment (e.g., VM network, VLAN)
• VM Options:
  • BIOS vs. UEFI
  • VMware Tools/Guest Additions (for better integration)

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🏗️ 3. Provisioning the VM

The process varies depending on the hypervisor/platform (e.g., VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, KVM, VirtualBox):

• Create the VM shell:
  • Use GUI (like vSphere Client) or CLI tools (virsh, VBoxManage, New-VM in PowerShell)
• Attach ISO or Template:
  • Mount an OS installer ISO
  • Or clone from a golden VM/template for speed and standardization

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💽 4. Install the Operating System

• Manual Install:
  • Boot VM from ISO
  • Run through OS installation wizard
• Unattended Install (for automation):
  • Kickstart (Linux), preseed, autounattend.xml (Windows)
  • Useful for bulk deployments

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🔌 5. Post-Installation Configuration

• Install VM drivers/tools:
  • VMware Tools, Hyper-V Integration Services, QEMU guest tools, etc.
• Configure network:
  • Set static IP or DHCP
  • Join to domain or workgroup
• Apply security hardening:
  • Disable unused services
  • Apply latest OS patches
• Tuning:
  • Disable unnecessary devices
  • Set CPU/memory reservations (if needed for performance)

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📦 6. Optional: Convert to Template

• If the VM is going to be reused as a baseline:
  • Clean up (sysprep for Windows, clean SSH keys for Linux)
  • Power off and convert to a template

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🔁 7. Ongoing Maintenance

• Backups
• Monitoring (CPU, RAM, disk I/O)
• Snapshots before changes
• Patch management

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⚙️ Automation Tools

For large-scale environments, VM provisioning is often automated via:

• VMware vRealize, Terraform, Ansible, Packer
• Cloud-Init (Linux cloud automation)
• PowerShell/PowerCLI (Windows, VMware)
• Auto Deploy & Host Profiles (vSphere)