What Allows a VM to Work? - Paiet/Tech-Journal-for-Everything GitHub Wiki
Understand what the Virtual Machine Files are and why they are important.
Explain the basic concepts of VM Options.
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A virtual machine consists of several files that are stored on a storage device. The key files are the configuration file, virtual disk file, NVRAM setting file, and log file. You configure virtual machine settings through the vSphere Client, one of the vSphere command-line interfaces (PowerCLI, vCLI), or the vSphere Web Services SDK.
Virtual Machine Files
File Usage Description
.vmx vmname.vmx VM configuration file
.vmxf vmname.vmxf Additional VM configuration files
.vmdk vmname.vmdk Virtual disk characteristics
-flat.vmdk vmname-flat.vmdk Virtual machine data disk
.nvram vmname.nvram or nvram VM BIOS or EFI configuration
.vmsd vmname.vmsd Virtual machine snapshots
.vmsn vmname.vmsn VM snapshot data file
.vswp vmname.vswp Virtual machine swap file
.vmss vmname.vmss Virtual machine suspend file
.log vmware.log Current virtual machine log file
-#.log vmware-#.log Old virtual machine log files (where # is a number starting with 1)
Additional files are created when you perform certain tasks with the virtual machine:
- The .hlog file is a log file that is used by vCenter Server to keep track of
virtual machine files that must be removed after a certain operation completes
- The .vmtx file is created when you convert a virtual machine to a template.
The .vmtx file replaces the virtual machine configuration file (.vmx file)
What about VM settings and options?
You can view or change virtual machine settings from the vSphere Client. Not all options are available to every virtual machine and some options rarely must change from their defaults.
The host that the virtual machine runs on and the guest operating system must support any configurations that you make.
You can view and change virtual machine settings on the VM Options tab of the Edit Settings wizard.
You can select one of the following options:
General Options - In this section, you can view or change the following settings:
- Virtual machine name - Virtual machine configuration file location - Virtual machine working location - Guest operating system and OS version
Currently, you can only edit the virtual machine name. The information about the other settings is read only.
To change the operating system for a VM, you have to reinstall the OS - or consider deploying a new VM with your operating system of choice.
VMware Remote Console Options - In this section, you can change the locking behavior of a virtual machine and the settings for simultaneous connections.
Encryption - In this section, you can change the encryption settings of a virtual machine.
Power Management - In this section, you can change virtual machine suspend behavior.
VMware Tools - In this section, you can change the behavior of VMware Tools scripts. You can also customize the automatic VMware Tools upgrades, automatically synchronize the guest time of the virtual machine on startup or resume with the host, and periodically synchronize the guest time with the host.
Virtualization Based Security - Enable or disable VBS for the virtual machine.
Boot Options - In this section, you can change the virtual machine boot options. For example, add a delay before booting, force entry into the BIOS or EFI setup screen, or set reboot options.
Advanced - In this section, you can change the following advanced virtual machine options.
- Acceleration and logging settings - Debugging and statistics - Swap file location - Latency sensitivity
Fibre Channel NPIV - In this section, you can change the virtual node and port World Wide Names (WWNs).