Installation guide

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VMware ESX Server Administration Guide

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. However, in production

environments, most virtual machines belong to teams rather than to

individuals. Setting up some kind of central directory structure is a

good idea.

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, then see Migrating Older ESX Server Virtual Machines on page 66.

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 67

Be sure to read these instructions carefully, before attempting to

migrate your virtual machine.

Create “golden master”

(template) virtual disks.

To manage ESX Server more efficiently, you can create a small

number of “golden master” (template) virtual disks. for easier

deployment.These are virtual disks that have complete guest

operating systems, installed applications, complete management-

agent installs, virus detection software, complete VMware Tools

installs, and so on. You can import the disks into a VMFS volume

whenever you want to create a new virtual machine.

Be sure that the golden master has the tools necessary to reset

system attributes (hostname and IP address, NetBIOS hostname,

domain and SID [Windows operating systems] for the virtual

machines you clone. Also, be sure that the user that will be running

the newly created virtual machine has the appropriate user and

group permissions.

Use the File Manager in the VMware Management Interface to import

the “golden master” virtual disks.

See Using the VMware Management

Interface to Manage Your Virtual Machines on page 85.

Task Description