Clone Vs Template in VMware?

Clone:  A Copy of virtual machine

• Can't be restore the cloned Virtual Machine.
• Clone of an Virtual Machine also be created while the Virtual Machine is switched on
• Cloning can be done in two ways namely Full Clone and Linked Clone.
• A full type clone is an independent copy of a virtual machine that shares nothing with the parent virtual machine after the cloning operation. Ongoing operation of a full clone is entirely separate from the parent virtual machine.
• A linked clone is a copy of a virtual machine that shares virtual disks with the parent virtual machine in an ongoing manner. This conserves disk space, and allows multiple virtual machines to use the same software installation.
• loning a virtual machine can save time if you are deploying many similar virtual machines. You can create, configure, and install software on a single virtual machine, and then clone it multiple times, rather than creating and configuring each virtual machine individually.

Template - A master copy or a baseline image of an virtual machine that shall be used to create many clones.

• Templates cannot be powered on or edited, and are more difficult to alter than ordinary virtual machine.
• You can convert the template back to Virtual Machine inorder to update the base template with the latest released patches and updates and to install or upgrade any software and again convert back to template to be used for future deployment of Virtual Machines with the latest patches.
• Convert virtual Machine to template can't be performed, when Virtual machine is powered on.  Only Clone to Template can be performed when the Virtual Machine is powered on.
• A template offers a more secure way of preserving a virtual machine configuration that you want to deploy many times.
•  While you are cloning a virtual machine or deploying a virtual machine by a template, resulting cloned virtual machine will be an independent of the original template or virtual machine.