Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide
114 VMware, Inc.
! Persistent!!changes!are!immediately!and!permanently!written!to!the!disk.!All!
changes!to!an!independent!disk!in!persistent!mode!remain,!even!when!you!revert!
to!the!snapshot.
! Nonpersistent!!changes!to!the!disk!are!discarded!when!you!power!off!or!revert!
to!the!snapshot.
Ways of Using Snapshots
The!following!examples!illustrate!the!most!common!ways!to!use!a!snapshot.
Always Saving Changes (No Snapshot)
If!you!do!not!take!a!snapshot,!your!virtual!machine!runs!the!same!way!a!physical!
computer!does.!All!changes!you!make!while!you!are!working!with!a!virtual!machine!
are!saved!and!you!cannot!return!to!an!earlier!state.
Running!your!virtual!machine!without!a!snapshot!provides!the!best!performance.!
To!
ensure!a!virtual!machine!does!not!have!a!snapshot,!choose!Snapshot!>!Remove!
Snapshot.
To!configure!the!virtual!machine!not!to!use!snapshots,!choose!VM!>!Settings!>!Options!
>!Snapshots,!and!check!Disable!snapshots.!
You!can!also!configure!the!virtual!disk!in!independent!mode!to!make!sure!the
!virtual!
machine!doesn’t!use!snapshots.!For!more!information,!see!“Independent!Disks”!on!
page 121.
Making Risky Changes
If!you!plan!to!make!risky!changes!in!a!virtual!machine!(for!example,!testing!new!
software!or!examining!a!virus),!take!a!snapshot!before!you!begin!to!make!those!
changes.!If!you!encounter!a!problem,!click!Revert!on!the!console!toolbar!to!return!the!
virtual!machine!to!its!state!at!the
!time!you!took!the!snapshot.
If!the!first!action!you!take!causes!no!problems!and!you!want!to!protect!the!virtual!
machine!in!its!new!state,!you!can!take!a!new!snapshot.!You!can!have!only!one!snapshot!
at!a!given!time.!When!you!take!the!new!snapshot,!you!replace!your
!previous!snapshot,!
and!the!contents!of!the!previous!snapshot!are!written!to!the!virtual!disk.!You!do!not!
lose!any!data.
Snapshots and a Virtual Machine’s Hard Disks
When!a!snapshot!is!created!and!the!virtual!machine!writes!data!to!disk,!that!data!is!
written!to!a!new!virtual!disk!file.!Virtual!disk!files!have!a!.vmdk!extension!and!are!
stored!in!the!virtual!machineʹs!working!directory.!These!files!can!grow!quite!large!as!