Specifications

VMware, Inc. 135
Chapter 3 Using the VMware Management Interface
virtual!machine!starts,!add!an!option!serial0.startConnected to!the!configuration!
file!and!set!its!value!to!true,!as!described!in!“Setting!Startup!and!Shutdown!Options!
by!Modifying!the!Configuration!File!Directly!(Advanced!Users!Only)”!on!page 126.
To!reconfigure!the!virtual!machine!so!it!starts!with!the!first!serial!port!disconnected,!
change!
the!value!for!the!serial0.startConnected!option!to!false.
Changing!the!number!after!serial!affects!the!serial!port!that!is!available!inside!the!
virtual!machine.!Changing!the!number!after!/dev/ttyS!affects!the!port!that!is!used!on!
your!physical!computer.!For!example,!to!connect!the!virtual!machineʹs!second!serial!
port!(COM2)
!to!the!physical!computerʹs!second!serial!port,!add!the!following!lines!to!
the!configuration!file!as!described!in!“Setting!Startup!and!Shutdown!Options!by!
Modifying!the!Configuration!File!Directly!(Advanced!Users!Only)”!on!page 126.
! Add!an!option!called!serial1.present!and!set!its!value!to!true.
! Add!an!option!called!serial1.fileType!and!set!its!value!to!device.
! Add!an!option!called!serial1.fileName!and!set!its!value!to!/dev/ttyS1.
Using Disk Modes
ESX!Server!can!use!disks!in!four!modes:!persistent,!nonpersistent,!undoable,!and!
append.!
! Persistent!–!Persistent!mode!disks!behave!exactly!like!conventional!disk!drives!on!
a!computer.!All!writes!to!a!persistent!disk!are!written!permanently!to!the!disk!as!
soon!as!the!guest!operating!system!writes!the!data.!
! Nonpersistent!–!All!changes!to!a!nonpersistent!mode!disk!are!discarded!after!the!
virtual!machine!is!powered!off.!
! Undoable!–!You!have!the!option!later!of!keeping!or!discarding!changes!you!made!
during!a!session.!The!changes!are!saved!in!a!redo‐log!file.!When!you!power!off!the!
virtual!machine,!you!are!prompted!to!commit!the!changes,!keep!the!log!by!
continuing!to!save!changes!to!the!redo
!log,!or!discard!the!changes.
! Append!–!VMware!ESX!Server!supports!an!additional!append!mode!for!virtual!
disks!stored!as!VMFS!files.!Append!mode!maintains!a!redo!log,!however,!no!dialog!
box!appears!when!the!virtual!machine!is!powered!off!to!ask!whether!you!want!to!
commit!changes.!All!changes!are!continually!appended!to!the!redo
!log.!At!any!
N
OTE Only!one!operating!system!can!be!connected!to!the!serial!port!at!one!time.!You!cannot!
configure!more!than!one!virtual!machine!to!use!a!particular!serial!port!at!a!time.!To!use!
additional!serial!ports,!use!a!higher!number!in!the!lines!you!add!to!the!configuration!
file.!