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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 195
Chapter 9 Preserving the State of a Virtual Machine
Suspending or Resuming a Virtual Machine
Thesuspendandresumeoperationsallowyousavethecurrentstateofyourvirtual
machineandcontinueworklaterfromthesamestate.
Beforesuspendingavirtualmachine,configurethehardsuspendorsoftsuspend
settings.See“ConfiguringHardSuspendorSoftSuspend”onpage 194.
To suspend a virtual machine
1 Selectthevirtualmachinethatis
poweredonintheInventorypanel.
2ClicktheSuspendbuttononthetoolbar.
Whenyoususpendavirtualmachine,afilewitha.vmssextensioniscreatedin
theworkingdirectory.Thisfilecontainstheentirestateofthevirtualmachine.See
“FilesThatMakeUpaVirtualMachine”onpage 323.
To resume a virtual machine that is suspended
1 SelectthesuspendedvirtualmachineintheInventorypanel.
2ClickthePlaybuttononthetoolbar.
Whenyouresumethevirtualmachine,itsstateisrestoredfromthe.vmssfile.
Using Snapshots
Snapshotsallowyoutopreservethestateofthevirtualmachinesoyoucanreturnto
thesamestaterepeatedly.Forexample,youmightusesnapshotstotestsoftware.You
cantakeasnapshotbeforeinstallingdifferentversionsofanapplicationtoensurethat
eachtestinstallationbeginsfromtheidentical
baseline.
Tosavethecurrentstateofyourvirtualmachinetemporarily,see“Suspendingand
ResumingVirtualMachinesonpage 193.
What to Use Snapshots For
Thetopicsinthissectiondescribestrategiesforusingsnapshots.
Using Snapshots as Protection from Risky Changes
Ifyouplantomakeriskychangesinavirtualmachine(forexample,testingnew
softwareorexaminingavirus),takeasnapshotbeforeyoubegin.Ifyouencountera
problem,youcanrestorethevirtualmachinetothestatepreservedinthatsnapshot.
Snapshotscanminimizelostworkifsomething
goeswrong.Ifyourriskyactionscause
noproblems,youcantakeanewsnapshotofthevirtualmachineinitsnewstate.