Virtual machine template management

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a virtual machine disk image represented by a volume chain comprising one or more copy-on-write (COW) volumes;

creating, by a processor, a virtual machine snapshot by making a most recently added COW volume of the volume chain read-only and appending a first read-write COW volume to the volume chain, wherein the most recently added COW volume comprises a plurality of modifications to the virtual machine disk image, and wherein the plurality of modifications occur since appending a last COW volume to the volume chain,

wherein the virtual machine snapshot is created in a first data storage domain in a first data center while a virtual machine is running:

responsive to receiving a message comprising an identifier, identifying, in view of the identifier, a first COW volume of the one or more COW volumes in the volume chain; copying an initial COW volume of the virtual machine snapshot to a template volume; generating a flattened image in the template volume by applying disk modification operations starting from the initial COW volume up to the first COW volume of the one or more COW volumes in the volume chain;

removing deployment-specific information from the flattened image to generate a modified flattened image;

creating, using the modified flattened image in the template volume, a virtual machine template in an export storage domain; and exporting the virtual machine template from the export storage domain to a second data storage domain in a second data center while the virtual machine is running, wherein the first data storage domain and the second data storage domain are not shared across the first data center and the second data center.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generalizing the virtual machine snapshot.

3. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to:

identify a virtual machine disk image represented by a volume chain comprising one or more copy-on-write (COW) volumes;

create a virtual machine snapshot by making a most recently added COW volume of the volume chain read-only and appending a first read-write COW volume to the volume chain, wherein the most recently added COW volume comprises a plurality of modifications, and wherein the plurality of modifications occur to the virtual machine disk image since appending a last COW volume to the volume chain,

wherein the virtual machine snapshot is created in a first data storage domain in a first data center while a virtual machine is running; responsive to receiving a message comprising an identifier, identify, in view of the identifier, a first COW volume of the one or more COW volumes in the volume chain; copy an initial COW volume of the virtual machine snapshot to a template volume; generate a flattened image in the template volume by applying disk modification operations starting from the initial COW volume up to the first COW volume of the one or more COW volumes in the volume chain;

remove deployment-specific information from the flattened image to generate a modified flattened image;

create, using the modified flattened image in the template volume, a virtual machine template in an export storage domain; and export the virtual machine template from the export storage domain to a second data storage domain in a second data center while the virtual machine is running, wherein the first data storage domain and the second data storage domain are not shared across the first data center and the second data center.

4. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

identify, by the processor, a virtual machine disk image represented by a volume chain comprising one or more copy-on-write (COW) volumes;

create a virtual machine snapshot by making a most recently added COW volume of the volume chain read-only and appending a first read-write COW volume to the volume chain, wherein the most recently added COW volume comprises a plurality of modifications, and wherein the plurality of modifications occur to the virtual machine disk image since appending a last COW volume to the volume chain,

wherein the virtual machine snapshot is created in a first data storage domain in a first data center while a virtual machine is running; responsive to receiving a message comprising an identifier, identify, in view of the identifier, a first COW volume of the one or more COW volumes in the volume chain, wherein the first COW volume comprises an intermediate COW volume other than the most recently added COW volume in the volume chain; copy an initial COW volume of the virtual machine snapshot to a template volume; generate a flattened image in the template volume by applying disk modification operations starting from the initial COW volume up to the first COW volume of the one or more COW volumes in the volume chain;

remove deployment-specific information from the flattened image to generate a modified flattened image;

create, using the modified flattened image in the template volume, a virtual machine template in an export storage domain; and export the virtual machine template from the export storage domain to a second data storage domain in a second data center while the virtual machine is running, wherein the first data storage domain and the second data storage domain are not shared across the first data center and the second data center.

5. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 4 , further comprising executable instructions causing the processor to:

generalize the virtual machine snapshot.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the deployment-specific information comprises one of a user name, a password, or a time zone.

7. The system of claim 3 , wherein the virtual machine snapshot is generalized.

8. The system of claim 3 , wherein the deployment-specific information comprises one of a user name, a password, or a time zone.

9. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the deployment-specific information comprises one of a user name, a password, or a time zone.