Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide
26 VMware, Inc.
! <vmname>.vmdk.REDO_xxxxxx!!A!redolog!file!created!automatically!when!a!
virtual!machine!is!in!independentnonpersistent!mode.!This!file!stores!changes!
made!to!a!virtual!disk!while!the!virtual!machine!is!running.!More!than!one!such!
file!might!exist.!The!xxxxxx!indicates!a!unique!suffix!added!automatically!by!
VMware!Server!to
!avoid!duplicate!filenames.
! <vmname>.vmss!!The!suspended!state!file,!which!stores!the!state!of!a!suspended!
virtual!machine.
NOTE Some!earlier!VMware!products!used!the!extension!.std!for!suspended!
state!files.
! <vmname>.vmsn!!The!snapshot!state!file,!which!stores!the!running!state!of!a!virtual!
machine!at!the!time!you!take!a!snapshot!of!it.
There!might!also!be!other!files,!some!of!which!are!present!only!while!a!virtual!machine!
is!running.
Virtual Disks
A!virtual!disk!is!made!up!of!one!or!more!.vmdk!files.!If!you!specify!to!split!the!virtual!
disk!into!2GB!files,!the!number!of!.vmdk!files!depends!on!the!size!of!the!virtual!disk.
By!default,!all!virtual!disk!space!is!preallocated!when!you!create!the!virtual!disk.!Make!
sure!you!have!enough!disk!space!on!the!host!before!you!create!a!preallocated!disk.
If!you!do!not!allocate!all!disk!space!when!you!create!the!virtual!disk,!the!.vmdk!files!
grow!in!size!as!data!is!added!to!the!virtual!disk.!Almost!all!of!a!.vmdk!file’s!content!is!
the!virtual!machine’s!data,!with!a!small!portion!allotted!to!virtual!machine!overhead.!
If!the!virtual!machine!is!connected!directly!to!a!physical!disk,!rather!than!to!a!virtual!
disk,!the!.vmdk!file!stores!information!about!the!partitions!the!virtual!machine!is!
allowed!to!access.
NOTE Earlier!VMware!products!used!the!extension!.dsk!for!virtual!disk!files.
Permissions and Running Virtual Machines
When!you!create!a!virtual!machine,!by!default!the!virtual!machine!is!private,!which!
means!you!are!the!only!user!who!can!access!it.!If!you!choose!the!custom!path!when!
creating!the!virtual!machine,!you!can!specify!that!all!users!can!access!the!virtual!
machine.
When!a!virtual!machine!is!
private,!it!appears!only!in!the!inventory!of!the!console!of!the!
user!who!created!it.!The!virtual!machine!does!not!appear!in!the!inventory!of!consoles!