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VMware ACE Administrator’s Manual
Expiration Policies
You can use expiration policies to limit the lifetime of a virtual machine. You may find
this useful, for example, if you need to provide a computing environment for a
contractor and want to be sure it can be used only for the duration of the contract.
Setting a virtual machine to expire can also be useful if you want to provide a time-
limited demonstration to potential customers.
In the policy editor, you may select one of the following options for expiration:
• Never — The virtual machine does not expire.
• After x days from installation — The virtual machine runs for the specified
number of days after the package is installed, then cannot be used. Consider
this option for such uses as time-limited demonstrations.
• On this date — The virtual machine runs until and on the specified date. It
cannot be used after the specified date. Consider this option for such uses as
computing environments for contractors.
You can extend the life of an expired virtual machine in three ways.
• You can create your own plug-in — a renewal script you specify in the policy
editor. That script is distributed with the VMware ACE package. For example, you
can design the plug-in to query a server on your network and, based on the
results of that query, do one of the following:
• Make no change.
• Renew the virtual machine for a specified number of days.
• Renew the virtual machine until a specific date.
• Set the virtual machine so it never expires.
• Expire the virtual machine.
For more information on creating your own plug-in, see Writing Plug-In Policy
Scripts on page 244.
• You can use the policy editor to change the expiration date, then create a new
VMware ACE package containing only the updated policies. When your end
users install the new package, they get the new expiration date.
• If an end user sends you a hot fix request asking for an extension, you can send a
hot fix with a different expiration setting.