Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 109
CHAPTER 5 Preserving the State of a Virtual
Machine
VMware!Server!provides!two!ways!to!preserve!the!state!of!a!virtual!machine.!You!can!
either!suspend!and!resume!virtual!machines!or!take!snapshots!of!virtual!machines.!This!
chapter!describes!these!features!and!covers!the!following!topics:
! “Suspending!and!Resuming!Virtual!Machines”!on!page 109
! “Taking!Snapshots”!on!page 112
Suspending and Resuming Virtual Machines
The!suspend!and!resume!feature!is!most!useful!when!you!want!to!save!the!current!state!
of!your!virtual!machine!and!pick!up!work!later!with!the!virtual!machine!in!the!same!
state!as!when!you!stopped.
After!you!resume!the!virtual!machine!and!do!additional!work,!you!can!return!to!
the!
state!the!virtual!machine!was!in!at!the!time!you!suspended!only!if!you!took!a!snapshot!
at!the!time.
NOTE To!preserve!the!state!of!the!virtual!machine!so!you!can!return!to!the!same!state!
repeatedly,!take!a!snapshot.!For!details,!see!“Taking! Snapshots”!on!page 112.
The!speed!of!the!suspend!and!resume!operations!depends!on!how!much!data!has!
changed!while!the!virtual!machine!has!been!running.!In!general,!the!first!suspend!
operation!takes!longer!than!subsequent!suspend!operations!do.
When!you!suspend!a!virtual!machine,
!a!file!with!a!.vmss!extension!is!created.!This!file!
contains!the!entire!state!of!the!virtual!machine.!When!you!resume!the!virtual!machine,!
its!state!is!restored!from!the!.vmss!file.!The!.vmss!file!cannot!be!used!to!resume!a!virtual!
machine!again!from!the!original!suspended!state.