About clones of VMware VMs or Microsoft SQL Server databases
A clone is a full copy of a managed application. Unlike LiveClones, clonescannot be refreshed and they don't permit prep-mounting. A clone consumes asmuch storage as the original application data. This is different from a mountoperation which uses a virtual copy that does not require additional storage.
Use the clone function to create an independent copy of a dataset.The most common uses are the following:
- Application development and testing
- Data audit for compliance
- Data warehousing
- E-discovery
- User acceptance testing
A clone of a VMware VM backup creates an entirely new VMware VM that has nodependency on the backup/recovery appliance. It is very similar to a restoreoperation in that it needs to copy all the data before the VM is available.SeeClone an image of a VMware VM.
A clone of a Microsoft SQL server database creates an entirely new databasethat has no dependency on the backup/recovery appliance. It is very similarto a restore operation in that it needs to copy all the data before thedatabase is available. SeeClone Microsoft SQL Server Databases.
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Last updated 2026-02-19 UTC.