Specifications
www.vmware.com
36
VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
Setting Up a New Virtual Machine
The New Virtual Machine Wizard guides you through the key steps for setting up a
new virtual machine, helping you set various options and parameters. You can then
use the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings) if you need to make any
changes to your virtual machine’s setup.
• To create a new virtual machine from a console, see Creating a New Virtual
Machine with the New Virtual Machine Wizard on page 38.
• To create a new virtual machine from the VMware Management Interface, see
Creating a New Virtual Machine from the VMware Management Interface on
page 50.
• To create a new virtual machine on the GSX Server host from a VirtualCenter
client, see Creating Virtual Machines on a GSX Server Host from a VirtualCenter
Client in the VMware GSX Server Administration Guide.
What’s in a Virtual Machine?
The virtual machine typically is stored on the host computer in a set of files, all of
which are in a directory set aside for that particular virtual machine. In these examples,
<vmname> is the name of your virtual machine. The key files are:
• <vmname>.vmx — the configuration file, which stores settings chosen in the
New Virtual Machine Wizard or virtual machine settings editor. If you created the
virtual machine under an earlier version of VMware GSX Server on a Linux host,
this file may have a .cfg extension.
• nvram — the file that stores the state of the virtual machine’s BIOS.
• <vmname>.vmdk — the virtual disk file, which stores the contents of the
virtual machine’s hard disk drive.
A virtual disk is made up of one or more .vmdk files. If you have specified that
the virtual disk should be split into 2GB files, the number of .vmdk files depends
on the size of the virtual disk.
By default, all virtual disk space is preallocated when you create the virtual disk.
Make sure you have enough disk space on the host before you create a
preallocated disk.
If you decide to not allocate all disk space when you create the virtual disk, the
.vmdk files grow in size as data is added to the virtual disk. Almost all of a
.vmdk file’s content is the virtual machine’s data, with a small portion allotted to
virtual machine overhead.