6.7
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
- Contents
- About vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
- Introduction to VMware vSphere Virtual Machines
- Deploying Virtual Machines
- Create a Virtual Machine with the New Virtual Machine Wizard
- Clone a Virtual Machine to a Template
- Clone a Virtual Machine to a Template in the vSphere Web Client
- Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template
- Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template in the vSphere Web Client
- Clone an Existing Virtual Machine
- Clone an Existing Virtual Machine in the vSphere Web Client
- Cloning a Virtual Machine with Instant Clone
- Clone a Template to a Template
- Clone a Template to a Template in the vSphere Web Client
- Convert a Template to a Virtual Machine
- Deploying OVF and OVA Templates
- Using Content Libraries
- Create a Library
- Synchronize a Subscribed Content Library
- Edit a Content Library
- Hierarchical Inheritance of Permissions for Content Libraries
- Content Library Administrator Role
- Populating Libraries with Content
- Creating Virtual Machines and vApps from Templates in a Content Library
- Working with Items in a Library
- Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware
- Virtual Machine Compatibility
- Virtual CPU Configuration
- Virtual CPU Limitations
- Configuring Multicore Virtual CPUs
- Change CPU Hot Plug Settings
- Change the Number of Virtual CPUs
- Allocate CPU Resources
- Change CPU Identification Mask Settings
- Expose VMware Hardware Assisted Virtualization
- Enable Virtual CPU Performance Counters
- Configure Processor Scheduling Affinity
- Change CPU/MMU Virtualization Settings
- Virtual Memory Configuration
- Virtual Disk Configuration
- About Virtual Disk Provisioning Policies
- Large Capacity Virtual Disk Conditions and Limitations
- Change the Virtual Disk Configuration
- Use Disk Shares to Prioritize Virtual Machines
- Configure Flash Read Cache for a Virtual Machine
- Determine the Virtual Disk Format and Convert a Virtual Disk from the Thin Provision Format to a Thick Provision Format
- Add a Hard Disk to a Virtual Machine
- SCSI and SATA Storage Controller Conditions, Limitations, and Compatibility
- Virtual Machine Network Configuration
- Network Adapter Basics
- Network Adapters and Legacy Virtual Machines
- Change the Virtual Machine Network Adapter Configuration
- Add a Network Adapter to a Virtual Machine
- Parallel and Serial Port Configuration
- Using Serial Ports with vSphere Virtual Machines
- Adding a Firewall Rule Set for Serial Port Network Connections
- Configure Virtual Machine Communication Interface Firewall
- Change the Serial Port Configuration in the vSphere Web Client
- Authentication Parameters for Virtual Serial Port Network Connections
- Add a Serial Port to a Virtual Machine in the vSphere Web Client
- Change the Parallel Port Configuration
- Add a Parallel Port to a Virtual Machine vSphere Web Client
- Other Virtual Machine Device Configuration
- Change the CD/DVD Drive Configuration in the vSphere Web Client
- Add or Modify a Virtual Machine CD or DVD Drive
- Change the Floppy Drive Configuration in the vSphere Web Client
- Add a Floppy Drive to a Virtual Machine in the vSphere Web Client
- Add and Configure a SCSI Device
- Add a PCI Device
- Configuring 3D Graphics
- Add an NVIDIA GRID vGPU to a Virtual Machine
- USB Configuration from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine
- USB Autoconnect Feature
- vSphere Features Available with USB Passthrough
- Configuring USB Devices for vMotion
- Avoiding Data Loss with USB Devices
- Connecting USB Devices to an ESXi Host
- Add USB Devices to an ESXi Host
- Add a USB Controller to a Virtual Machine
- Add USB Devices from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine
- Remove USB Devices That Are Connected Through an ESXi Host
- Remove USB Devices from an ESXi Host
- USB Configuration from a Client Computer to a Virtual Machine
- Add a Shared Smart Card Reader to Virtual Machines
- Securing Virtual Machines with Virtual Trusted Platform Module
- Configuring Virtual Machine Options
- Virtual Machine Options Overview
- General Virtual Machine Options
- Configuring User Mappings on Guest Operating Systems
- VMware Remote Console Options
- Virtual Machine Encryption
- Virtual Machine Power Management Options
- Configuring VMware Tools Options
- Virtualization Based Security
- Configuring Virtual Machine Boot Options
- Configuring Virtual Machine Advanced Options
- Configure Fibre Channel NPIV Settings
- Managing Multi-Tiered Applications with vSphere vApp
- Create a vApp
- Create or Add an Object to a vApp
- Edit vApp Settings
- Clone a vApp
- Perform vApp Power Operations
- Edit vApp Notes
- Add a Network Protocol Profile in the vSphere Web Client
- Virtual Machine vApp Options
- Monitoring Solutions with the vCenter Solutions Manager
- Managing Virtual Machines
- Installing a Guest Operating System
- Customizing Guest Operating Systems
- Guest Operating System Customization Requirements
- Create a vCenter Server Application to Generate Computer Names and IP Addresses
- Customize Windows During Cloning or Deployment in the vSphere Web Client
- Customize Linux During Cloning or Deployment in the vSphere Web Client
- Apply a Customization Specification to a Virtual Machine
- Creating and Managing Customization Specifications
- Edit Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Settings in the vSphere Web Client
- Edit Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Settings
- Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in
- Using a Virtual Machine Console
- Answer Virtual Machine Questions
- Removing and Reregistering VMs and VM Templates
- Managing Virtual Machine Templates
- Using Snapshots To Manage Virtual Machines
- Enhanced vMotion Compatibility as a Virtual Machine Attribute
- Migrating Virtual Machines
- Migrate a Powered Off or Suspended Virtual Machine
- Migrate a Powered-Off or Suspended Virtual Machine in the vSphere Web Client
- Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource
- Migrate a Virtual Machine to New Storage
- Migrate a Virtual Machine to New Storage in the vSphere Web Client
- Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource and Storage
- Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource and Storage in the vSphere Web Client
- Upgrading Virtual Machines
- Required Privileges for Common Tasks
- Troubleshooting Overview
- Troubleshooting Virtual Machines
The customization specification that you created is listed in the Customization Specification Manager. You
can use the specification to customize virtual machine guest operating systems.
Create a Customization Speciļ¬cation for Windows Using a Custom Sysprep
Answer File
A custom sysprep answer file is a file that stores various customization settings such as computer name,
licensing information, and workgroup or domain settings. You can supply a custom sysprep answer file as
an alternative to specifying many of the settings in the Guest Customization wizard.
Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP use a text file called sysprep.inf. Windows Server 2008,
Windows Vista, and Windows 7 use an XML file called sysprep.xml. You can create these files using a
text editor, or use the Microsoft Setup Manager utility to generate them. For more information about how
to create a custom sysprep answer file, see the documentation for the relevant operating system.
You can prevent Windows from assigning new virtual machines or templates with the same Security IDs
(SIDs) as the original virtual machine. Duplicate SIDs do not cause problems when the computers are
part of a domain and only domain user accounts are used. However, if the computers are part of a
Workgroup or local user accounts are used, duplicate SIDs can compromise file access controls. For
more information, see the documentation for your Microsoft Windows operating system.
Prerequisites
Ensure that all requirements for customization are met. See Guest Operating System Customization
Requirements.
Procedure
1 Select Menu > Policies and Profiles, and under Policies and Profiles, click VM Customization
Specifications.
2 Click the Create a new specification icon.
The New VM Guest Customization Spec wizard opens.
3 On the Name and target OS page, enter a name and description for the customization specification
and select Windows as a target guest OS.
4 (Optional) Select the Generate a new security identity (SID) option.
A Windows Security ID (SID) is used in some Windows operating systems to uniquely identify
systems and users. If you do not select this option, the new virtual machine has the same SID as the
virtual machine or template from which it was cloned or deployed.
Duplicate SIDs do not cause problems when the computers are part of a domain and only domain
user accounts are used. However, if the computers are part of a Workgroup or local user accounts
are used, duplicate SIDs can compromise file access controls. For more information, see the
documentation for your Microsoft Windows operating system.
5 Select Use Custom Sysprep Answer File and click Next.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
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