Abstract: In one set of embodiments, during an initial pre-copying phase, copies of the virtual disks of a VM or VM template can be distributed across one or more datastores, prior to the start of any cloning. This effectively seeds each datastore with a disk pool comprising a certain number of copies of the VM/VM template's virtual disks. Then, at the time of receiving a user request to create k clones from the VM/VM template, up to k copies of the VM/VM template's virtual disks that already reside in the disk pools of one or more target datastores can be moved from those disk pools to the clones' home folders on the target datastores, thereby reducing or eliminating the need to create brand new copies of the virtual disks on demand.

Abstract: Instructions to fork a source VM are received, and execution of the source VM is temporarily stunned. A destination VM is created, and a snapshot of a first virtual disk of the source VM is created. A checkpoint state of the source VM is transferred to the destination VM. The source VM has one or more virtual disks. One or more virtual disks associated with the destination VM are created and reference the one or more virtual disks of the source VM. Execution of the destination VM is restored using the transferred checkpoint state and the virtual disks of the destination VM in a way that allows the source VM to also resume execution. Forking VMs using the described operation provisions destination VMs in a manner that makes efficient use of memory and disk space, while enabling source VMs to continue execution after completion of the fork operation.

Abstract: Instructions to fork a source VM are received, and execution of the source VM is temporarily stunned. A destination VM is created, and a snapshot of a first virtual disk of the source VM is created. A checkpoint state of the source VM is transferred to the destination VM. The source VM has one or more virtual disks. One or more virtual disks associated with the destination VM are created and reference the one or more virtual disks of the source VM. Execution of the destination VM is restored using the transferred checkpoint state and the virtual disks of the destination VM in a way that allows the source VM to also resume execution. Forking VMs using the described operation provisions destination VMs in a manner that makes efficient use of memory and disk space, while enabling source VMs to continue execution after completion of the fork operation.