1. A method comprising: prior to cloning a first primary machine image to a first secondary machine image and a second primary machine image to a second secondary machine image, determining, by a controller executed by a processor, that the first primary machine image communicates with the second primary machine image; cloning the first primary machine image to the first secondary machine image and the second primary machine image to the second secondary machine image, such that communication from the first secondary machine image to a network name shared by the second primary machine image and the second secondary machine image is directed to the second primary machine image and is not directed to the second secondary machine image; after cloning the first primary machine image to the first secondary machine image and the second primary machine image to the second secondary machine image, changing, by a software agent running on the first secondary machine image, executed by a processor, and in communication with the controller, a global machine image-wide hostname file at the first secondary machine image so that the communication from the first secondary machine image to the network name shared by the second primary machine image and the second secondary machine image is now directed to the second secondary machine image and is not directed to the second primary machine image, wherein the global machine image-wide hostname file at the first secondary machine image maps network names only of network nodes other than the first secondary machine image to network addresses to which the network names resolve, and does not map a network name of the first secondary machine image to a network address of the first secondary machine image itself.