Unformatted text preview: vSphere Virtual Machine
Administration
Update 1
Modified on 04 MAY 2018
VMware vSphere 6.0
VMware ESXi 6.0
vCenter Server 6.0 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at:
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VMware, Inc. 2 Contents
About vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
Updated Information 7 8 1 Introduction to VMware vSphere Virtual Machines 10
Virtual Machine Files 10 Virtual Machines and the Virtual Infrastructure
Virtual Machine Lifecycle 11 12 Virtual Machine Components 12 Virtual Machine Hardware Available to vSphere Virtual Machines
Virtual Machine Options and Resources
vSphere Web Client 13 15 16 Introduction to VMware Tools
Where to Go From Here 17 18 2 Deploying Virtual Machines 19
About Provisioning Virtual Machines 19 Create a Virtual Machine Without a Template or Clone
Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template
Clone a Virtual Machine 20 27 35 Clone a Virtual Machine to a Template in the vSphere Web Client
Clone a Template to a Template in the vSphere Web Client
Convert a Template to a Virtual Machine
Customizing Guest Operating Systems 42 47 51
53 3 Deploying OVF Templates 70
OVF File Format and OVF Templates 70 Deploy an OVF Template in the vSphere Web Client
Browse VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace
Export an OVF Template 71 75 75 4 Using Content Libraries 77
Create a Library 79 Synchronize a Subscribed Library 81 Edit the Settings of a Local Library 81 Edit the Settings of a Subscribed Library
Delete a Content Library 82 83 Hierarchical Inheritance of Permissions for Content Libraries VMware, Inc. 83 3 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Sample User Role for Working with Content Libraries
Populating Libraries with Content
Working with Items in a Library 85 85 89 Creating Virtual Machines and vApps from Templates in a Content Library 92 5 Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tool 94
Install the Microsoft Sysprep Tool from a Microsoft Web Site 94 Install the Microsoft Sysprep Tool from the Windows Operating System CD 95 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware 97
Virtual Machine Compatibility
Virtual CPU Configuration 97 103 Virtual Memory Configuration 111 Network Virtual Machine Configuration 114 Parallel and Serial Port Configuration
Virtual Disk Configuration 119 128 SCSI and SATA Storage Controller Conditions, Limitations, and Compatibility
Other Virtual Machine Device Configuration 141 146 Reduce Memory Overhead for Virtual machines with 3D graphics Option
USB Configuration from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine 157 USB Configuration from a Client Computer to a Virtual Machine
Add a Shared Smart Card Reader to Virtual Machines 157 166 172 7 Configuring Virtual Machine Options 174
Virtual Machine Option Overview 174 Change the Virtual Machine Name 175 View the Virtual Machine Configuration and Working File Location
Change the Configured Guest Operating System 176 Configuring User Mappings on Guest Operating Systems 177 Change the Virtual Machine Console Options for Remote Users
Configure the Virtual Machine Power States 176 178 179 Configure Virtual Machines to Automatically Upgrade VMware Tools
Manage Power Management Settings for a Virtual Machine
Delay the Boot Sequence 181 182 Disable Virtual Machine Acceleration
Enable Virtual Machine Logging 182 183 Configure Virtual Machine Debugging and Statistics
Change the Swap File Location 183 184 Edit Configuration File Parameters 184 Configure Fibre Channel NPIV Settings VMware, Inc. 180 185 4 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 8 Managing Multi-Tiered Applications with vSphere vApp 187
Create a vApp 188 Create a Virtual Machine, Resource Pool, or Child vApp Inside a vApp
Add Virtual Machine or Child vApp to a vApp
Edit vApp Settings
Clone a vApp 189 189 190 196 Perform vApp Power Operations
Edit vApp Notes 196 198 Add a Network Protocol Profile
Virtual Machine vApp Options 198
203 9 Monitoring Solutions with the vCenter Solutions Manager 208
View Solutions in the vSphere Web Client
Monitoring Agents 208 209 10 Managing Virtual Machines 211
Edit Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Settings
Install the Client Integration Plug-In 213 Using a Virtual Machine Remote Console
Open the HTML 5 Remote Console 214 214 Install the VMware Remote Console Application 215 Using the VMware Remote Console Application 215 Adding and Removing Virtual Machines
Change the Template Name
Deleting Templates 211 216 218 218 Using Snapshots To Manage Virtual Machines 219 11 VMware Tools Components, Configuration Options, and Security
Requirements 233 Components of VMware Tools 234 Repairing, Changing, and Uninstalling VMware Tools Components
Security Considerations for Configuring VMware Tools 237 240 Using vmwtool to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine
Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility 244 245 12 Upgrading Virtual Machines 259
Upgrading VMware Tools
Installing VMware Tools 260
262 Planning Downtime for Virtual Machines
Downtime for Upgrading Virtual Machines 264
264 Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine
Automate VMware Tools Installation for Multiple Windows Virtual Machines VMware, Inc. 265
268 5 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine 272 Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating Systems
Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine
Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine 275
276 277 Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine 279 Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine 281 Upgrade VMware Tools 283 Perform an Automatic Upgrade of VMware Tools
Upgrade the Compatibility for Virtual Machines 283
284 Schedule a Compatibility Upgrade for Virtual Machines 285 13 Required Privileges for Common Tasks 287 VMware, Inc. 6 About vSphere Virtual Machine
Administration
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration describes how to create, configure, and manage virtual machines
®
in the VMware vSphere environment.
In addition, this information provides introductions to the tasks that you can do within the system as well
as cross-references to the information that describes the tasks.
This information focuses on managing virtual machines in the VMware vSphere Web Client and includes
the following information.
n Creating and deploying virtual machines, templates, and clones n Deploying OVF templates n Configuring virtual machine hardware and options n Managing multitiered applications with VMware vSphere vApp n Monitoring solutions with the vCenter Solution Manager n Managing virtual machines, including using snapshots n Configuring and installing VMware tools n Upgrading virtual machines vSphere Virtual Machine Administration covers VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server™. Intended Audience
This information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with
virtualization. VMware, Inc. 7 Updated Information
This vSphere Virtual Machine Administration guide is updated with each release of the product or when
necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration guide.
Revision Description 04 MAY 2018 n Removing information about vServices in Chapter 9 Monitoring Solutions with the vCenter Solutions
Manager. n Added information about the consequences of increasing the size of Eager Zeroed Thick virtual disks in
About Virtual Disk Provisioning Policies and in Change the Virtual Disk Configuration, Step 3. n Added a note in Deleting Snapshots explaining how deleting a single snapshot affects the virtual machine
and other snapshots. n Added note about the time synchronization default value in Configure Time Synchronization Between Guest
and Host Operating Systems. 14 FEB 2018
04 OCT 2017 EN-001887-05 Changed the description of .vmsd and .vmsn files in Virtual Machine Files.
n Fixed broken URL in Install the VMware Remote Console Application. n Added information about the consequences of a virtual hardware version upgrade in Chapter 12 Upgrading
Virtual Machines and Upgrade the Compatibility for Virtual Machines. n Added information about .hlog and .vmtx files in Virtual Machine Files. n Updated information about USB 3.0 host-connected configuration in USB Configuration from a Client
Computer to a Virtual Machine and USB Configuration from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine. n Added the Power on a virtual machine task in Table 13‑1. n Removed HA as an action that is not supported for virtual machine that have 3D graphics enabled. See
Configure 3D Graphics and Video Cards. EN-001887-04 n Removed VMware Studio information from the multi-tiered application topic. See Chapter 8 Managing MultiTiered Applications with vSphere vApp. EN-001887-03 Added information about the guest Introspection drivers. See VMware Tools Device Drivers and Names of
VMware Tools Components Used in Silent Installations. EN-001887-02 n Added a new topic about the HTML 5 Remote console to a virtual machine. See Open the HTML 5 Remote
Console. n Updated information about the virtual machine remote consoles. See Using a Virtual Machine Remote
Console. n Updated requirements for upgrading the virtual machine compatibility. See Upgrade the Compatibility for
Virtual Machines. VMware, Inc. 8 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Revision Description EN-001887-01 n Removed Datastore.Allocate space privilege from privileges required to take a virtual machine snapshot.
See Chapter 13 Required Privileges for Common Tasks. n Updated procedure for using the VMware Remote Console. See Using the VMware Remote Console
Application. n Enhanced the topic about using content libraries to reflect that a published and a subscribed library do not
necessarily need to belong to vCenter Server instances that are in the same vCenter Single-Sign On
domain. See Chapter 4 Using Content Libraries. EN-001887-00 VMware, Inc. Initial release. 9 Introduction to VMware vSphere
Virtual Machines 1 Before you start creating and managing virtual machines, you benefit from some background information,
for example, the virtual machine lifecycle, components, and VMware Tools.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n Virtual Machine Files n Virtual Machines and the Virtual Infrastructure n Virtual Machine Lifecycle n Virtual Machine Components n Virtual Machine Hardware Available to vSphere Virtual Machines n Virtual Machine Options and Resources n vSphere Web Client n Introduction to VMware Tools n Where to Go From Here Virtual Machine Files
A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer, runs an operating system and
applications. The virtual machine consists of a set of specification and configuration files and is backed by
the physical resources of a host. Every virtual machine has virtual devices that provide the same
functionality as physical hardware are more portable, more secure, and easier to manage.
A virtual machine consists of several files that are stored on a storage device. The key files are the
configuration file, virtual disk file, NVRAM setting file, and log file. You configure virtual machine settings
through the vSphere Web Client, one of the vSphere command-line interfaces (PowerCLI, vCLI) or the
vSphere Web Services SDK.
Caution Do not change, move, or delete virtual machine files without instructions from a VMware
Technical Support representative. VMware, Inc. 10 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Table 1‑1. Virtual Machine Files
File Usage Description .vmx vmname.vmx Virtual machine configuration file .vmxf vmname.vmxf Additional virtual machine configuration files .vmdk vmname.vmdk Virtual disk characteristics -flat.vmdk vmname-flat.vmdk Virtual machine data disk .nvram vmname.nvram or nvram Virtual machine BIOS or EFI configuration .vmsd vmname.vmsd Virtual machine snapshot descriptions .vmsn vmname.vmsn Virtual machine snapshot data file .vswp vmname.vswp Virtual machine swap file .vmss vmname.vmss Virtual machine suspend file .log vmware.log Current virtual machine log file -#.log vmware-#.log (where # is a number starting Old virtual machine log files with 1) Additional files are created when you perform certain tasks with the virtual machine.
n A .hlog file is a log file that is used by vCenter Server to keep track of virtual machine files that must
be removed after a certain operation completes. n A .vmtx file is created when you convert a virtual machine to a template. The .vmtx file replaces the
virtual machine configuration file (.vmx file). Virtual Machines and the Virtual Infrastructure
The infrastructure that supports virtual machines consists of at least two software layers, virtualization and
management. In vSphere, ESXi provides the virtualization capabilities that aggregate and present the
host hardware to virtual machines as a normalized set of resources. Virtual machines can run on ESXi
hosts that vCenter Server manages.
vCenter Server lets you pool and manage the resources of multiple hosts and lets you effectively monitor
and manage your physical and virtual infrastructure. You can manage resources for virtual machines,
provision virtual machines, schedule tasks, collect statistics logs, create templates, and more.
vCenter Server also provides vSphere vMotion ™, vSphere Storage vMotion, vSphere Distributed
Resource Scheduler (DRS), vSphere High Availability (HA), and vSphere Fault Tolerance. These services
enable efficient and automated resource management and high availability for virtual machines.
The VMware vSphere Web Client is the interface to vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines.
With the vSphere Web Client, you can connect remotely to vCenter Server. The vSphere Web Client is
the primary interface for managing all aspects of the vSphere environment. It also provides console
access to virtual machines.
Note For information about running virtual machines on an isolated ESXi host, see the vSphere Single
Host Management documentation. VMware, Inc. 11 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration The vSphere Web Client presents the organizational hierarchy of managed objects in inventory views.
Inventories are the hierarchal structure used by vCenter Server or the host to organize managed objects.
This hierarchy includes the monitored objects in vCenter Server.
In the vCenter Server hierarchy, a data center is the primary container of ESXi hosts, folders, clusters,
resource pools, vSphere vApps, virtual machines, and so on.
Datastores are virtual representations of underlying physical storage resources in the data center. A
datastore is the storage location (for example, a physical disk or LUN on a RAID, or a SAN) for virtual
machine files. Datastores hide the idiosyncrasies of the underlying physical storage and present a
uniform model for the storage resources required by virtual machines.
For some resources, options, or hardware to be available to virtual machines, the host must have the
appropriate vSphere license. Licensing in vSphere is applicable to ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and
solutions. Licensing can be based on different criteria, depending on the specifics of each product. For
details about vSphere licensing, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation. Virtual Machine Lifecycle
You create and deploy virtual machines into your datacenter in a several ways. You can create a single
virtual machine and install a guest operating system and VMware Tools on it. You can clone or create a
template from an existing virtual machine, or deploy OVF templates.
The vSphere Web Client New Virtual Machine wizard and Virtual Machine Properties editor let you add,
configure, or remove most of the virtual machine's hardware, options, and resources. You monitor CPU,
memory, disk, network, and storage metrics using the performance charts in the vSphere Web Client.
Snapshots let you capture the state of the virtual machine, including the virtual machine memory, settings,
and virtual disks. You can roll back to the previous virtual machine state when needed.
With vSphere vApps, you can manage multitiered applications. You use vSphere Update Manager to
perform orchestrated upgrades to upgrade the virtual hardware and VMware Tools of virtual machines in
the inventory at the same time.
When a virtual machine is no longer needed, you can remove it from the inventory without deleting it from
the datastore, or you can delete the virtual machine and all its files. Virtual Machine Components
Virtual machines typically have an operating system, VMware Tools, and virtual resources and hardware
that you manage in much the same way as you would manage a physical computer.
You install a guest operating system on a virtual machine the same way as you install an operating
system on a physical computer. You must have a CD/DVD-ROM or ISO image containing the installation
files from an operating system vendor.
VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating
system and improves management of the virtual machine. With VMware Tools, you have more control
over the virtual machine interface. VMware, Inc. 12 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration In the vSphere Web Client, you assign each virtual machine to a compatible ESXi host version, cluster, or
datacenter by applying a compatibility setting. The compatibility setting determines which ESXi host
versions the virtual machine can run on and the hardware features available to the virtual machine.
The hardware devices listed in the Virtual Machine Properties editor complete the virtual machine. Not all
devices are configurable. Some hardware devices are part of the virtual motherboard and appear in the
expanded device list of the Virtual Machine Properties editor, but you cannot modify or remove them. For
a list of hardware devices and their functions, see Virtual Machine Hardware Available to vSphere Virtual
Machines.
Access to a virtual machine is controlled by the vSphere administrator. Virtual Machine Hardware Available to vSphere Virtual
Machines
VMware provides devices, resources, profiles, and vServices that you can configure or add to your virtual
machine. Virtual Machine Hardware
Not all hardware devices are available to every virtual machine. The host that the virtual machine runs on
and the guest operating system must support devices that you add or configurations that you make. To
verify support for a device in your environment, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at
or the Guest Operating System Installation Guide at
.
In some cases, the host might not have the required vSphere license for a resource or device. Licensing
in vSphere is applicable to ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and solutions and can be based on different
criteria, depending on the specifics of each product. For information about vSphere licensing, see the
vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
The PCI and SIO virtual hardware devices are part of the virtual motherboard, but cannot be configured
or removed.
Table 1‑2. Virtual Machine Hardware and Descriptions
Hardware Device Description CPU You can configure a virtual machine that runs on an ESXi host to have one or more
virtual processors. A virtual machine cannot have more virtual CPUs than the actual
number of logical CPUs on the host. You can change the number of CPUs allocated
to a virtual machine and configure advanced CPU features, such as the CPU
Identification Mask and hyperthreaded core sharing. Chipset The motherboard uses VMware proprietary devices based on the following chips: VMware, Inc. n Intel 440BX AGPset 82443BX Host Bridge/Controller n Intel 82371AB (PIIX4) PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator n National Semiconductor PC87338 ACPI 1.0 and...
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