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
n
Snapshots provide a point-in-time image of the disk that backup solutions can use, but Snapshots are
not meant to be a robust method of backup and recovery. If the files containing a virtual machine are
lost, its snapshot files are also lost. Also, large numbers of snapshots are difficult to manage,
consume large amounts of disk space, and are not protected in the case of hardware failure.
n
Snapshots can negatively affect the performance of a virtual machine. Performance degradation is
based on how long the snapshot or snapshot tree is in place, the depth of the tree, and how much the
virtual machine and its guest operating system have changed from the time you took the snapshot.
Also, you might see a delay in the amount of time it takes the virtual machine to power-on. Do not run
production virtual machines from snapshots on a permanent basis.
n
If a virtual machine has virtual hard disks larger than 2TBs, snapshot operations can take significantly
longer to finish.
Managing Snapshots
You can review all snapshots for the active virtual machine and act on them by using the Snapshot
Manager.
After you take a snapshot, you can use the Revert to Latest Snapshot command from the virtual
machine’s right-click menu to restore that snapshot at any time. If you have a series of snapshots, you
can use the Revert to command in the Manage Snapshots dialog box to restore any parent or child
snapshot. Subsequent child snapshots that you take from the restored snapshot create a branch in the
snapshot tree. You can delete a snapshot from the tree in the Snapshot Manager.
The Manage Snapshots dialog box contains a snapshot tree, details region, command buttons, and a
You are here icon.
Snapshot tree Displays all snapshots for the virtual machine.
You are here icon Represents the current and active state of the virtual machine. The You are
here icon is always selected and visible when you open the Manage
Snapshots dialog box.
You can select the You are here state to see how much space the node is
using. Revert to and Delete are disabled for the You are here state.
Revert to, Delete, and
Delete All
Snapshot options.
Details Shows the snapshot name and description, the date you created the
snapshot, and the disk space. The Console shows the power state of the
virtual machine when a snapshot was taken.
Taking Snapshots of a Virtual Machine
You can take one or more snapshots of a virtual machine to capture the settings state, disk state, and
memory state at different specific times. When you take a snapshot, you can also quiesce the virtual
machine files and exclude the virtual machine disks from snapshots.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
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