US Patent 11716377 Fast provisioning of machines using network cloning

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for cloning a set of one or more applications implemented by a first set of machines connected through a first logical network that defines a virtual private cloud in a set of one or more datacenters. The method instantiates a cloned, second set of machines that is a replicated copy of the first set of machines. The method identifies a set of network configuration data that configures a set of logical forwarding elements (LFEs) of the first logical network. The method uses the identified set of network configuration data to define a cloned, second logical network to connect the cloned, second set of machines.