VMware GSX Server 2.5.2

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Adding New Virtual Disks to a Virtual Machine

Virtual disks are stored as files on the host computer or on a network file server, so it does not matter whether the disk that holds the files is IDE or SCSI. A virtual IDE drive can be stored on an IDE drive or on a SCSI drive. So can a virtual SCSI drive.

Windows Host

Use the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor) to add a new virtual disk to your virtual machine. The virtual machine should be powered off before you begin. If it is not, shut down the guest operating system normally, then click Power Off on the console toolbar.

Note: If you have a Windows NT 4.0 guest with a SCSI virtual disk, you cannot add both an additional SCSI disk and an IDE disk to the configuration.

Open the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor) and click Add. The Add Hardware Wizard guides you through the steps to create your virtual disk.
Click Hard Disk, then click Next.
Select Create a New Virtual Disk, then click Next.
Set the size for the new virtual disk.
Note: The virtual disk's files start small and grow as needed, but they can never grow larger than the size you set here. You can set a size between 2GB and 256GB for a SCSI virtual disk or 128GB for an IDE virtual disk. The default is 4GB.
Accept the default filename and location for the virtual disk file or change it. To use a different name or location, click Browse.
In most cases, the wizard creates a SCSI virtual disk by default. If your guest operating system does not have appropriate support for the virtual SCSI adapter in the virtual machine, the wizard creates an IDE virtual disk. If you want your virtual disk to be an IDE device, click Advanced and be sure the virtual device node is set to an available IDE node.
When you have set the filename and location you want to use and made any selections you want to make on the Select a Device Node screen, click Finish.
Note: To use SCSI disks in a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP virtual machine, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP.
The wizard creates the new virtual disk. It appears to your guest operating system as a new, blank hard disk. Use the guest operating system's tools to partition and format the new drive for use.
The new virtual disk is set up in persistent mode. To change to nonpersistent or undoable mode, use the Configuration Editor. Click the entry for the new virtual disk, then select the mode you want.
If the virtual disk files are stored on a network file server, you can improve performance of the virtual disk in undoable mode by setting its redo log to a location on the host computer. You can make this setting on the Options tab of the Configuration Editor.

Linux Host

Open the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor). If you want to add a SCSI virtual disk, click the + sign beside SCSI Devices. If you want to add an IDE virtual disk, click the + sign beside IDE Drives.
Note: All virtual machines can use IDE virtual disks. SCSI virtual disks can be used with guest operating systems that have drivers for the virtual BusLogic SCSI adapter used in the virtual machine. To use SCSI disks in a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 virtual machine, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at
www.vmware.com/download.Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
Click a device that is shown as Not Installed.
Use the default device type of Virtual Disk.
Keep the default mode of Persistent or use the drop-down list to change the setting to Undoable or Nonpersistent.
Type the name for the virtual disk's first file. By default, it is created in the same directory as the virtual machine's configuration file. To create it in a different directory, type the full path name or click Choose to navigate to the directory you want to use.
Set the capacity for the new virtual disk.
Note: The virtual disk's files start small and grow as needed, but they can never grow larger than the size you set here. You can set a size between 2000 (2GB) and 256000MB (256GB) for a SCSI virtual disk or 128000 (128GB) for an IDE virtual disk. The default is 4000 (4GB).
If you are connecting to a virtual machine on a Linux host and you want to disable write caching on this disk, select Disable write caching.
When write caching is enabled, there is a delay between the time a program saves data and the time that data is actually written to disk. This improves performance. But the delay in writing data to disk adds some risk of data loss. Thus if data integrity is more important than performance, you may want to disable write caching.
Click Create to create the files for your new virtual disk.
Click Install to install the new virtual disk in your virtual machine.
Click OK to save the configuration and close the Configuration Editor.
The new virtual disk appears to your guest operating system as a new, blank hard disk. Use the guest operating system's tools to partition and format the new drive for use.
If the virtual disk files are stored on a network file server, you can improve performance of the virtual disk by setting the redo log directory to a location on the host computer. You can make this setting in the Misc panel of the Configuration Editor.

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