Specifications

Administration Guide
32 VMware, Inc.
Familiarizing Yourself with ESX Server
Table 1‐1!includes!tasks!from!the!VMware!Management!Interface!for!an!Administrator!
(root!user),!who!manages!and!maintains!ESX!Server.
Table 1-1. ESX Server Administrator Tasks
Task Description
Log!into!the!VMware!
Management!Interface!
and!familiarize!
yourself!with!its!
features.
As!the!root!user,!you!have!privileges!that!other!users!don’t!have.!In!
addition!to!the!Status!Monitor,!you!have!access!to!the!Options!pane!
that!allows!you!to!configure!ESX!Server, !including!networking,!
security,!SNMP,!users!and!
groups,!storage!configuration,!and!so!on.
See!Chapter 3,!“Using!the!VMware!Management!Interface.”
Create!users!and!
groups.
Create!users!and!place!them!into!groups!for!different!access!to!ESX!
Server.!For!best!practice,!the!root!user!should!not!own!virtual!
machines.!Users!who!create,!access,!and!modify!virtual!machines!
don’t!need!the!
additional!administrative!privileges!of!the!root!user.
You!might!choose!to!have!a!virtual!machine!owned!by!a!“flagship!
user”!instead!of!a!real!person.!By!using!a!“flagship!user,”!only!one!
user!account!owns!the!virtual!machines!that!are!in!production.!An!
advantage!of!using!flagship!accounts!is!that!flagship!
users!never!
leave!the!company!or!go!on!vacation.
See!“Creating!a!Flagship!User”!on!page 145.
Add!additional!disks!
and!partitions,!as!
needed.
When!creating!your!VMFS!volumes,!keep!the!default!access!type!
public,!unless!you!plan!to!use!your!virtual!machines!for!clustering.!
If!you!are!running!clustering!software,!select!“shared”!
as!your!
VMFS!volume!access!type.!See!“Configuring!Storage:!Disk!
Partitions!and!File!Systems”!on!page 196!and!“Configuration!for!
Clustering”!on!page 279.
Decide!how!to!organize!
your!virtual!machine!
configuration!files.
The!default!location!for!these!files!is!the!home!directory!of!the!user!
that!created!the!virtual!machine.!In!production!environments,
!most!
virtual!machines!belong!to!teams!rather!than!to!individuals.!Setting!
up!a!central!directory!structure!is!a!good!practice.!
Upgrade!any!existing!
virtual!machines!from!a!
previous!version!of!ESX!
Server!or!another!
VMware!product.
The!migration!procedure!is!heavily!dependent!on!the!version!of!the!
VMware!product!used!to
!create!the!original!virtual!machine.
If!you!are!migrating!a!virtual!machine!from!a!previous!version!of!
ESX!Server,!see!“Migrating!Older!ESX!Server!Virtual!Machines”!on!
page 62.
If!you!are!migrating!a!virtual!machine!from!VMware!Workstation!or!
VMware!GSX!Server,!see!“Migrating!VMware!Workstation!and!
VMware!GSX!Server!Virtual!
Machines”!on!page 63.
Read!these!instructions!before!attempting!to!migrate!your!virtu al!
machine.