Specifications

CHAPTER 11 Glossary
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file and (optionally) a virtual disk or physical disk file.
See also Virtual Machine Settings Editor.
Nonpersistent mode — If you configure a virtual disk as an independent disk in
nonpersistent mode, all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual
machine with a disk in nonpersistent mode appear to be written to disk but are in fact
discarded after the virtual machine is powered off. As a result, a virtual disk or physical
disk in independent-nonpersistent mode is not modified by GSX Server.
See also Independent disk, Persistent mode
Persistent mode — If you configure a virtual disk as an independent disk in
persistent mode, all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine are
immediately and permanently written to a virtual disk in persistent mode. As a result, a
virtual disk or physical disk in independent-persistent mode behaves like a
conventional disk drive on a physical computer.
See also Independent disk, Nonpersistent mode
Physical disk — A hard disk in a virtual machine that is mapped to a physical disk
drive or partition on the host machine. A virtual machine’s disk can be stored as a file
on the host file system (see Virtual disk) or on a local hard disk. When a virtual machine
is configured to use a physical disk, GSX Server directly accesses the local disk or
partition as a raw device (not as a file on a file system). It is possible to boot a
previously installed operating system on an existing partition within a virtual machine
environment. The only limitation is that the existing partition must reside on a local
IDE or SCSI drive.
See also Virtual disk.
Preallocated disk — A type of virtual disk where all disk space for the virtual
machine is allocated at the time the disk is created. This is the default type of virtual
disk created by GSX Server.
Quick switch mode — A display mode in which the virtual machine’s display fills
most of the screen. In this mode, tabs at the top of the screen allow you to switch
quickly from one running virtual machine to another.
See also Full screen mode.
Redo log — The file that stores the changes made to a disk in independent-
nonpersistent mode. The redo-log file is deleted when you power off or reset the
virtual machine without writing any changes to the disk.
Resume — Return a virtual machine to operation from its suspended state. When
you resume a suspended virtual machine, all applications are in the same state they
were when the virtual machine was suspended.
See also Suspend.