User`s guide

Parallels Server 4 Bare Metal Basics 16
Parallels Server Bare Metal Configuration
Parallels Server Bare Metal allows you to flexibly configure various settings for the physical
server in general as well as for each and every Container. Among these settings are disk and
user quota, network parameters, default file locations and configuration sample files, and others.
Parallels Server Bare Metal stores all OS virtualization-related configuration information in two
types of files: the global configuration file /etc/vz/vz.conf and Container configuration
files /etc/vz/conf/<CT_ID>.conf. The global configuration file defines global and
default parameters for Container operation, for example, logging settings, enabling and
disabling disk quota for Containers, the default configuration file and OS template on the basis
of which a new Container is created, and so on. On the other hand, a Container configuration
file defines the parameters for a given particular Container, such as disk quota and allocated
resources limits, IP address and hostname, and so on. If a parameter is configured both in the
global configuration file and in the Container configuration file, the Container configuration file
takes precedence. For a list of parameters constituting the global configuration file and the
Container configuration files, refer the Parallels Command Line Reference Guide.
The configuration files are read when the Parallels Server Bare Metal software and/or
Containers are started. However, Parallels Server Bare Metal standard utilities (for example,
pctl) allow you to change many configuration settings on the fly, either without modifying the
corresponding configuration files or with their modification (if you want the changes to apply
the next time the Parallels Server Bare Metal software and/or Containers are started).
Hardware Virtualization Layer
This section familiarizes you with the second component of Parallels Server Bare Metal - the
hardware virtualization layer. This layer provides the necessary environment for creating and
managing Parallels virtual machines.