Bridged networking
A type of network connection between a virtual machine and the rest of the
world. Under bridged networking, a virtual machine appears as an additional
computer on the same physical Ethernet network as the host.
See also Host-only Networking.
Configuration
See Virtual machine configuration file.
Configuration Editor
A point-and-click editor to view and modify the configuration of a virtual
machine. It may be launched from the Settings menu.
See also Configuration Wizard.
Configuration Wizard
A point-and-click interface for convenient, easy creation of a virtual
machine configuration. It is launched automatically when VMware is started
without specifying a configuration file. It can also be launched from the
VMware File menu. It prompts the user for information, suggesting default
values in most cases. At the end it creates files that define the virtual
machine, including a virtual machine configuration file and (optionally) a
virtual disk or raw disk file.
See also Configuration Editor.
Custom networking
Any type of network connection between virtual machines and the host that is
not bridged or host-only networking. For instance, different virtual
machines can be connected to the host by separate networks or connected to
each other and not to the host. Any network topology is possible.
Disk mode
A property of a virtual disk that defines its external behavior but is
completely invisible to the guest operating system. There are three modes:
persistent (changes to the disk are always preserved across sessions),
nonpersistent (changes are never preserved), and undoable (changes are
preserved at the user's discretion). Disk modes may be changed from the
Configuration Editor's IDE Drives or SCSI Drives panels. For a detailed
explanation of disk modes refer to this tech note if
your host operating system is Linux or this tech note if you
have a Windows NT or Windows 2000 host.
Existing partition
A partition on a real disk in the host machine.
See also Raw disk.
Guest operating system
An operating system that runs inside a virtual machine.
See also Host operating system.
Host-only networking
A type of network connection between a virtual machine and the host. Under
host-only networking, a virtual machine is connected to the host on a
private network, which normally is not visible outside the host. Multiple
virtual machines configured with host-only networking on the same host are
on the same network.
See also Bridged networking and Custom networking.
Host machine
A real, physical computer (as opposed to a virtual machine).
Host operating system
An operating system that runs on the host machine.
See also Guest operating system.
Nonpersistent disk mode
All disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine with a
nonpersistent disk appear to be written to disk, but are in fact discarded
after the session is powered down. As a result, a virtual disk or raw disk
in nonpersistent mode is not modified by VMware.
Persistent disk mode
All disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine are
immediately and permanently written to a persistent virtual disk. As a
result, a virtual disk or raw disk in persistent mode behaves like a
conventional disk drive on a real computer.
Raw disk
A hard disk in a virtual machine that is mapped to a physical disk drive in
the host machine. A virtual machine's disk can be stored as a file on the
host file system (see Virtual disk) or on a local IDE raw disk device. When
a virtual machine is configured to use a raw disk, VMware directly accesses
the local disk/partition as a raw device (not as a file on a file system).
It is possible to boot a previously installed operating system on an
existing partition within a virtual machine environment. The only limitation
is that the existing partition must reside on a local IDE or SCSI drive.
See also Safe raw disk file, Virtual
disk.
Safe raw disk file
A file containing access privilege information that controls a virtual
machine's read/write access to partitions on a raw disk. Proper use of this
file prevents dual-boot users from accidentally trying to run the host
operating system again as a guest or from another guest operating system that
the virtual machine was not configured for. Safe raw disk files can also
prevent accidental writes to raw disk partitions from badly behaved
operating systems or applications. Safe raw disk files can be created by
the Configuration Wizard or the Configuration Editor.
Undoable disk mode
All writes to an undoable disk issued by software running inside the virtual
machines appear to be written to the disk, but are in fact stored in a
temporary file (.REDO) on the host file system for the duration of
the session. When the virtual machine is powered down, the user is given
three choices: (1) permanently apply all changes to the disk; (2) discard the
changes, thus restoring the disk to its previous state; or (3) keep the
changes, so that further changes from future sessions can be added to the
log.
Virtual disk
A virtual disk is a file on the host file system that appears as a physical
disk drive to a guest operating system. This file can be on the host machine
as well as on a remote file system. When you configure a virtual machine
with a virtual disk, you can install a new operating system onto the disk
file without the need to repartition a physical disk or reboot the host.
VMware virtual disk devices can also be mapped to partitions on the host
machine.
See also Raw disk.
Virtual machine
A virtualized x86 PC environment on which a guest operating system and
associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can
operate on the same host machine concurrently.
Virtual machine configuration
The specification of what virtual devices (disks, memory size, etc.) are
present in a virtual machine, and how they are mapped to host files and
devices.
Virtual machine configuration file
A file containing a virtual machine configuration. It is created by the
Configuration Wizard or the Configuration Editor. It is used by VMware to
identify and run a specific virtual machine.