Specifications

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VMware GSX Server Administration Guide
Shrink — The method to reclaim unused space in a virtual disk. If there is empty
space in the disk, shrinking reduces the amount of space the virtual disk occupies on
the host drive. Shrinking virtual disks is a convenient way to convert an older virtual
disk (created by GSX Server 1 for example) to the .vmdk format supported by GSX
Server 3. You cannot shrink preallocated virtual disks or physical disks.
Snapshot — A snapshot preserves the virtual machine just as it was when you took
the snapshot — the state of the data on all the virtual machine’s disks and whether
the virtual machine was powered on, powered off or suspended. GSX Server lets you
take a snapshot of a virtual machine at any time and revert to that snapshot at any
time. You can take a snapshot when a virtual machine is powered on, powered off or
suspended.
Supported partition — A virtual disk partition that VMware Tools can prepare for
shrinking, such as one of the drives that comprise the virtual hard disk. You can
choose to not prepare certain partitions for shrinking.
See also Shrink.
Suspend — Save the current state of a running virtual machine. To return a
suspended virtual machine to operation, use the resume feature.
See also Resume.
Unsupported partition — A virtual disk partition that VMware Tools cannot
prepare for shrinking. Unsupported partitions include read-only drive partitions,
partitions on remote devices and partitions on removable devices such as floppy
drives or CD-ROM drives.
See also Shrink.
Virtual disk — A virtual disk is a file or set of files that appears as a physical disk drive
to a guest operating system. These files can be on the host machine or on a remote
file system. When you configure a virtual machine with a virtual disk, you can install a
new operating system into the disk file without the need to repartition a physical disk
or reboot the host.
See also Physical disk.
Virtual machine — A virtualized x86 PC environment in which a guest operating
system and associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can
operate on the same host machine concurrently.
Virtual machine configuration — The specification of what virtual devices (disks,
memory size, etc.) are present in a virtual machine and how they are mapped to host
files and devices.