6.5.1

Table 1‑2. Virtual Machine Hardware and Descriptions (Continued)
Hardware Device Description
DVD/CD-ROM Drive Installed by default when you create a new vSphere virtual machine. You can configure
DVD/CD-ROM devices to connect to client devices, host devices, or datastore ISO
files. You can add, remove, or configure DVD/CD-ROM devices.
Floppy Drive Installed by default when you create a new vSphere virtual machine. You can connect
to a floppy drive located on the ESXi host, a floppy (.flp) image, or the floppy drive on
your local system. You can add, remove, or configure floppy devices.
Hard Disk Stores the virtual machine's operating system, program files, and other data
associated with its activities. A virtual disk is a large physical file, or a set of files, that
can be copied, moved, archived, and backed up as easily as any other file.
IDE 0, IDE 1 By default, two Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interfaces are presented to the
virtual machine. The IDE interface (controller) is a standard way for storage devices
(Floppy drives, hard drives and CD-ROM drives) to connect to the virtual machine.
Keyboard Mirrors the keyboard that is connected to the virtual machine console when you first
connect to the console.
Memory The virtual hardware memory size determines how much memory applications that are
running inside the virtual machine have available to them. A virtual machine cannot
benefit from more memory resources than its configured virtual hardware memory size.
Network Adapter ESXi networking features provide communication between virtual machines on the
same host, between virtual machines on different hosts, and between other virtual and
physical machines. When you configure a virtual machine, you can add network
adapters (NICs) and specify the adapter type.
Parallel port Interface for connecting peripherals to the virtual machine. The virtual parallel port can
connect to a file. You can add, remove, or configure virtual parallel ports.
PCI controller Bus on the virtual machine motherboard that communicates with components such as
hard disks and other devices. One PCI controller is presented to the virtual machine.
You cannot configure or remove this device.
PCI Device You can add up to 16 PCI vSphere DirectPath devices to a virtual machine. The
devices must be reserved for PCI passthrough on the host on which the virtual
machine runs. Snapshots are not supported with DirectPath I/O passthrough devices.
Pointing device Mirrors the pointing device that is connected to the virtual machine console when you
first connect to the console.
Serial Port Interface for connecting peripherals to the virtual machine. The virtual serial port can
connect to a physical serial port, to a file on the host computer, or over the network.
You can also use it to establish a direct connection between two virtual machines or a
connection between a virtual machine and an application on the host computer. You
can configure a virtual machine with up to 32 serial ports. You can add, remove, or
configure virtual serial ports.
SATA controller Provides access to virtual disks and DVD/CD-ROM devices. The SATA virtual
controller appears to a virtual machine as an AHCI SATA Controller.
SCSI controller Provides access to virtual disks. The SCSI virtual controller appears to a virtual
machine as different types of controllers, including LSI Logic Parallel, LSI Logic SAS,
and VMware Paravirtual. You can change the SCSI controller type, allocate bus
sharing for a virtual machine, or add a paravirtualized SCSI controller.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
VMware, Inc. 12