Clone an Instance

Overview

Cloning creates an exact copy of an existing instance — including its root disk, attached volumes, network configuration, security groups, and key pair. The clone can optionally be placed on a different network or availability zone. This is useful for scaling horizontally, creating test environments from production instances, or duplicating pre-configured application stacks.

Prerequisites

An instance in Active, Stopped, or Shutoff status
Sufficient quota for the new instance (vCPU, RAM, disk)

Dashboard
CLI

Open the Clone dialog

Navigate to Compute > Instances. Click the More dropdown on the instance row, then select Clone Instance under the Clone & Template group.

Clone Instance is only available for instances in Active, Stopped, or Shutoff status.

Configure the clone

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
Instance	Read-only	—	Source name	The instance being cloned
Name	Text	Yes	`{source}-clone`	Display name for the cloned instance
Network	Dropdown	No	Same as source	Optionally place on a different network
Available Zone	Dropdown	No	Same as source	Optionally place in a different zone
Auto Start	Checkbox	No	Checked	Start the clone automatically after creation
Description	Text area	No	—	Optional notes

Leave Network and Available Zone empty to use the same settings as the source instance. Override them only when you need the clone on a different network segment or fault domain.

Create the clone

Click Confirm. The clone appears in the instance list with status Build, transitioning to Active when ready (if Auto Start is checked).

Cloned instance is Active with the same configuration as the source.

Source credentials

source openrc.sh

Clone uses the platform Nova API extension:

Clone an instance

curl -X POST -H "X-Auth-Token: $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "polystack-clone": {
      "name": "my-instance-clone",
      "auto_start": true
    }
  }' \
  "$NOVA_ENDPOINT/v2.1/servers/<INSTANCE_ID>/action"

Clone to a different network

curl -X POST -H "X-Auth-Token: $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "polystack-clone": {
      "name": "my-instance-clone",
      "auto_start": true,
      "network_id": "<TARGET_NETWORK_ID>",
      "availability_zone": "az2"
    }
  }' \
  "$NOVA_ENDPOINT/v2.1/servers/<INSTANCE_ID>/action"

Clone uses the Polystack-developed polystack-clone Nova server action. The standard openstack CLI does not have a native clone command.

What Gets Cloned

Component	Cloned	Notes
Root disk	Yes	Full copy of the boot volume
Attached volumes	Yes	Copies of all data volumes
Network configuration	Yes	Same network unless overridden
Security groups	Yes	Same security group assignments
Key pair	Yes	Same SSH key pair
Flavor	Yes	Same vCPU, RAM, disk profile
Metadata	Yes	Instance metadata preserved
User data	No	Cloud-init scripts are not re-executed

Next Steps

VM Templates

Convert instances to reusable templates for standardized deployments

Instance Snapshots

Create point-in-time snapshots without full cloning

Create an Instance

Launch new instances from scratch using the 4-step wizard

Server Groups

Use anti-affinity to distribute clones across hosts

Core Services

Other Services

Clone an Instance

Overview