Instance Duplicate

You need a copy of a VM. Maybe you're setting up a new environment. Maybe you're testing a risky change and want a safe copy to experiment on. Maybe you just need to scale horizontally and the fastest path is cloning what works.

On Outscale, cloning a VM manually is a multi-step operation: snapshot every attached volume, create an image or launch from snapshots, configure BlockDeviceMappings to reattach all volumes, set security groups, pick the right subnet. That's a dozen API calls, each one a chance to mistype a parameter or forget a volume.

The console doesn't have a "duplicate" button. And most teams don't have the API scripting to do it cleanly.

What it does

Instance Duplicate clones an Outscale VM — with all attached volumes — in one operation. You pick the source instance, confirm the target configuration, and Vextnd creates a complete copy. Root volume, data volumes, everything. Through BlockDeviceMappings, not manual volume attachment after the fact.

The result is a new VM that's a replica of the original. Same disk layout, same data, same volume types and IOPS. Different instance ID, different IPs — obviously — but the same machine in every way that matters.

How it works

Select the instance to duplicate. Vextnd reads its full configuration: instance type, volumes (root + data), security groups, placement. You see a preview of what will be created.

Confirm — or adjust. Want a different instance type? Change it. Want to place it in a different subnet? Change it. The volumes copy as-is by default, preserving type, size, and IOPS.

Vextnd snapshots all attached volumes, creates the new instance with BlockDeviceMappings that reference those snapshots, and launches. The volumes are created and attached in the launch call itself — not bolted on afterward. This matters because BlockDeviceMappings is the correct, atomic way to launch an instance with volumes on Outscale. Manual attach-after-launch is fragile and can leave you with a running instance and detached volumes.

Every step is audited: snapshot creation, instance launch, volume mapping, final state. If any step fails, you know exactly what happened and what needs cleanup.

Why it matters

Duplication should be boring. It should be one click, not a project. When it takes 30 minutes and deep API knowledge, teams avoid doing it — which means they test risky changes on production machines, skip creating proper staging copies, and delay scaling because "cloning is a hassle."

Making duplication trivial changes behavior. Need a sandbox copy of production for a load test? Three clicks. Need to scale a worker by cloning the existing one? Three clicks. Need a safe copy before a risky upgrade? Three clicks.

The audit trail matters here too. When you duplicate an instance, there's a record of what was copied, from what source, by whom. For compliance-heavy environments, that's not a nice-to-have — it's a requirement.

Clone in one click. Start your free trial on Vextnd.