Specifications

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VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
Running Virtual Machines from
DVD-ROM or CD-ROM Discs
You can store a virtual disk on DVD-ROM or CD-ROM, and run the virtual machine
from your GSX Server host’s DVD/CD-ROM drive. You do not have to copy the virtual
disk files from the DVD-ROM or CD-ROM to the GSX Server host.
One suggested use for this method is to install GSX Server on a host you want to use
for product demonstrations, which could be a laptop. Instead of taking up limited
hard disk space with virtual disks, you can have any number of virtual machines with
virtual disks burned onto DVD-ROM or CD-ROM and point each virtual machine’s
configuration file to the virtual disk on the DVD-ROM or CD-ROM.
Other uses include sales or proof-of-concept demonstrations where you want to keep
virtual disk files off a customer’s system but want to illustrate a multiple machine
demonstration in the customer’s environment. Or you can have multiple physical
servers in a datacenter run virtual machines without copying the virtual disk files to
the servers themselves. Yet another use is, if you need a “master” virtual machine for
some purpose, you can create a write-protected copy of your original virtual machine.
The virtual disk must be an independent disk in nonpersistent mode, since any
changes you make in the virtual machine cannot be written to the DVD-ROM or
CD-ROM. The redo log for the virtual machine must be on the GSX Server host. For
more information about independent disks, see Independent Disks on page 164.
Similarly, if you want to take a snapshot of the virtual machine, the redo log for the
virtual machine must be on the GSX Server host before you take the snapshot. For
more information about snapshots, see Taking Snapshots on page 153.
Note: If you take a snapshot of the virtual machine and you want to save the
changes made to the virtual disk after the snapshot was taken, you must copy the
virtual disk to the GSX Server host’s hard drive, then update the snapshot. Otherwise,
you can keep appending changes to the redo log. In addition, if you copy the disk file
to a Windows host, you need to make the disk file writable.
Before you run a virtual machine with a virtual disk stored on DVD-ROM or CD-ROM,
you should consider whether you may need to modify the virtual machine’s BIOS at
some point. In this case, the virtual machine’s BIOS, which is stored in a file called
nvram, must be located on the GSX Server host. Or, you can add a setting to the
virtual machine’s configuration file that allows for the nvram file to be on the DVD-
ROM or CD-ROM, where it cannot be modified.