VMware VirtualCenter 1.0 Support Documentation

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An entity that monitors one or more properties of a virtual machine, such as CPU load. Alarms user green, red, and yellow color coding issue notifications as directed by the configurable alarm definition.

The process of making a copy of a virtual machine. This process includes the option to customize the guest operating system of the new virtual machine. When a clone is created VirtualCenter provides an option to customize the guest operating system of that virtual machine. Clones can be stored on any host within the same farm as the original virtual machine.

See Virtual machine configuration file.

See VMware Virtual Machine Console.

Any type of network connection between virtual machines and the host that does not use the default bridged, host-only or network address translation (NAT) networking configurations. 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.

The process of customizing a guest operating system in a virtual machine as it is being either deployed from a template or cloned from another existing virtual machine. Customization options include changing the new virtual machine identification and network information.

The storage locations for the virtual machine files.

A feature of VMware VirtualCenter that allows you to move virtual machines easily between groups.

A message record of VirtualCenter activities. Through the Navigation option all the events are displayed. Through an object specific panel, only events relative to that object are displayed.

A required structure under which hosts and their associated virtual machines are added to the VirtualCenter management server. VirtualCenter management server supports multiple farms. A host can be managed only under one farm.

An optional grouping structure, it is contained within the Server Farms structure. The VirtualCenter management server supports multiple farm groups. Farm groups can contain other farm groups and farms.

An operating system that runs inside a virtual machine.

— A program or application that runs in the background without any interface connected to it. A running virtual machine that has no consoles connected to it is running headless.

The physical computer on which the VirtualCenter virtual machines are installed.

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.

Provides a view of all the monitored objects in VirtualCenter. Monitored objects include: Server Farms, farms, farm groups, hosts, virtual machines, and virtual machine groups.

Moving a powered off virtual machine between hosts.

Moving a virtual machine that is powered on and has met selected requirements, including the activation of VMotion on both the source and target host. When a migration with VMotion is performed, the operations of the virtual machine can continue without interruption.

A point-and-click interface for convenient, easy creation of a virtual machine configuration. It prompts you for information, suggesting default values in most cases. It creates files that define the virtual machine, including a virtual machine configuration file and (optionally) a virtual disk or raw disk file.

If you configure a virtual disk as an independent disk in nonpersistent mode, all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine with a disk in nonpersistent mode appear to be written to disk but are in fact discarded after the virtual machine is powered off. As a result, a virtual disk or raw disk in independent-nonpersistent mode is not modified by VirtualCenter.

If you configure a virtual disk as an independent disk in persistent mode, all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine are immediately and permanently written to a virtual disk in persistent mode. As a result, a virtual disk or raw disk in independent-persistent mode behaves like a conventional disk drive on a physical computer.

A type of virtual disk where all disk space for the virtual machine is allocated at the time the disk is created. This is the default type of virtual disk created by VirtualCenter.

A hard disk in a virtual machine that is mapped to a physical disk drive or partition on 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 hard disk. When a virtual machine is configured to use a raw disk, VirtualCenter directly accesses the local disk or 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.

A role where the user is allowed to view the inventory but not allowed to perform any tasks.

The file that stores the changes made to a disk in undoable or nonpersistent mode. You can permanently apply the changes saved in the redo log to a disk in undoable mode so they become part of the main disk files. For a disk in nonpersistent mode, however, the redo-log file is deleted when you power off or reset the virtual machine without writing any changes to the disk.

Return a virtual machine to operation from its suspended state. When you resume a suspended virtual machine, all applications are in the same state they were when the virtual machine was suspended.

A VirtualCenter pre-defined set of access rights and privileges. There are four roles, each subsequent role includes the privileges of the lesser role.

A VirtualCenter activity that is configured to occur at designated times. The Tasks panel displays a list of and a means to schedule selected activities.

The top level structure for the VirtualCenter management server. There is only one Server Farms per VirtualCenter management server.

A virtual disk partition that VMware Tools can prepare for shrinking, such as one of the drives that comprise the virtual hard disk. You can choose to not prepare certain partitions for shrinking.

Save the current state of a running virtual machine. To return a suspended virtual machine to operation, use the resume feature.

A golden image of a virtual machine. This typically includes a specified operating system and configuration which provides virtual counterparts to hardware components. Optionally, a template can include an installed guest operating system and a set of applications. Templates are used by VirtualCenter to create new virtual machines.

A template upload directory is located on the VirtualCenter management server machine. A copy of the original virtual machine virtual disks are placed in the directory you specify as the template upload directory. This is typically used for creating templates from non-ESX Server virtual machines that are stored locally to the VirtualCenter management server.

Provides a list of and a means to import virtual machines and store them as templates for deploying at a later time to create new virtual machines.

A virtual disk partition that VMware Tools cannot prepare for shrinking. Unsupported partitions include read-only drive partitions, partitions on remote devices and partitions on removable devices such as floppy drives or CD-ROM drives.

A virtual disk is a file or set of files that appear as a physical disk drive to a guest operating system. These files can be on the host machine or on a remote file system. When you configure a virtual machine with a virtual disk, you can install a new operating system into the disk file.

A virtualized x86 PC environment in which a guest operating system and associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can operate on the same host machine concurrently.

A role where the user is allowed to perform all the virtual machine management functions.

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.

A file containing a virtual machine configuration. It is created by the New Virtual Machine Wizard. It is used by VirtualCenter to identify and run a specific virtual machine.

A point-and-click control panel used to view and modify the resource settings of all the virtual machines on a host.

An optional grouping structure, it is subset to a farm. VirtualCenter management server supports multiple virtual machine groups. Virtual machine groups contain virtual machines and other virtual machine groups.

A role where the user is allowed to perform power operations on virtual machines.

A role where the user is allowed to set the user+role permissions and controls the VirtualCenter licensing.

A user interface that runs locally on a Windows machine.

The VirtualCenter client runs on a networked machine. This can be on the same machine as the VirtualCenter server or another networked machine. The VirtualCenter client requires a monitor for access to the graphical user interface.

A persistent storage area, for maintaining status of each virtual machine and user managed in the VirtualCenter environment. This is located on the same machine as the VirtualCenter management server.

Installed on each virtual machine host, it coordinates the actions received from the VirtualCenter management server.

A service that acts as a central administrator for VMware servers connected on a network, to direct actions upon the virtual machines and the virtual machine hosts. VirtualCenter management server is the central working core of VirtualCenter.

Enables moving running virtual machines from one ESX Server to another without service interruption. It requires licensing on both the source and target host. Feature that is activated by the VirtualCenter agent. The VirtualCenter management server centrally coordinates all VMotion activities.

A suite of utilities and drivers that enhances the performance and functionality of your guest operating system. Key features of VMware Tools include some or all of the following, depending on your guest operating system: an SVGA driver, a mouse driver, the VMware guest operating system service, the VMware Tools control panel and support for such features as shared folders, drag and drop in Windows guests, shrinking virtual disks, time synchronization with the host, VMware Tools scripts and connecting and disconnecting devices while the virtual machine is running.

Interface to a virtual machine that provides access to one or more virtual machines on the local host or a remote host running VirtualCenter. You can view the virtual machine's display to run programs within it or modify guest operating system settings. In addition, you can change the virtual machine's configuration, install the guest operating system or run the virtual machine in full screen mode.