Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide
132 VMware, Inc.
Adding Virtual Disks to a Virtual Machine
Virtual!disks!are!stored!as!files!on!the!host!computer!or!on!a!network!file!server.!It!does!
not!matter!whether!the!disk!that!holds!the!files!is!IDE!or!SCSI.!A!virtual!IDE!drive!can!
be!stored!on!an!IDE!drive!or!on!a!SCSI!drive.!So!can!a!virtual
!SCSI!drive.
Use!the!virtual!machine!settings!editor!to!add!a!new!virtual!disk!to!your!virtual!
machine.!The!virtual!machine!should!be!powered!off!before!you!begin.!If!it!is!not,!shut!
down!the!guest!operating!system!normally,!and!click!Power!Off!on!the!VMware!Server!
Console!toolbar.
NOTE If!you!have!a!Windows!NT!4.0!guest!with!a!SCSI!virtual!disk,!you!cannot!add!
both!an!additional!SCSI!disk!and!an!IDE!disk!to!the!configuration.
To add a new virtual disk from the VMware Server Console
1Open!the!virtual!machine!settings!editor!(VM!>!Settings)!and!click!Add.!The!Add!
Hardware!Wizard!guides!you!through!the!steps!to!create!your!virtual!disk.!Click!
Next!to!start!configuring!the!virtual!disk.
2Click!Hard!Disk,!and!click!Next.
3 Select!Create!a!new!virtual!disk,!and!click!Next
.
4 Choose!the!type!of!virtual!disk.!The!Wizard!recommends!whether!to!use!SCSI!or!
IDE,!based!on!the!guest!operating!system!installed!in!the!virtual!machine.
5Set!the!capacity!for!the!new!virtual!disk.!
You!can!set!a!size!between!0.1GB!(100MB)!and!950GB!for!a!SCSI!virtual!disk!or!
950GB
!for!an!IDE!virtual!disk.!The!default!is!8GB.
By!default,!Allocate!all!disk!space!now!is!checked.
Allocating!all!the!space!at!the!time!you!create!the!virtual!disk!gives!somewhat!
better!performance,!but!it!requires!as!much!disk!space!as!the!size!you!specify!for!
the!virtual!disk.
A!preallocated
!virtual!disk!is!useful!for!clustering!virtual!machines.!For!more!
information!about!clustering,!see!“Using!HighAvailability!Configurations”!in!the!
VMware!Server!Administration!Guide.
If!you!deselect!this!option,!the!virtual!disk’s!files!start!small!and!grow!as!needed,!
but!they!can!never!grow!larger!than!the!size!you!set!
here.!
You!can!also!specify!whether!the!virtual!disk!is!created!as!one!large!file!or!split!into!
a!set!of!2GB!files.!To!split!the!disk,!select!Split!disk!into!2GB!files.!You!should!split!