Glossary

A point-and-click interface for adding virtual hardware to a virtual machine. To launch the wizard, power off the virtual machine, open the virtual machine settings editor, then click Add. It prompts you for information for configuring the hardware, suggesting default values in most cases.
See also Virtual machine settings editor.

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.

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.

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

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, Custom networking and Network address translation.

An independent disk is a type of virtual disk that is not affected by snapshots. Independent disks can be configured in persistent and nonpersistent modes.
See also Nonpersistent mode, Persistent mode.

A list in the left panel of the console window that shows the names of virtual machines that a user has added to the list. The inventory makes it easy to launch a virtual machine or to connect to the virtual machine's configuration file in order to make changes in the virtual machine settings.

A type of network connection that allows you to connect your virtual machines to an external network when you have only one IP network address, and that address is used by the host computer. If you use NAT, your virtual machine does not have its own IP address on the external network. Instead, a separate private network is set up on the host computer. Your virtual machine gets an address on that network from the VMware virtual DHCP server. The VMware NAT device passes network data between one or more virtual machines and the external network. It identifies incoming data packets intended for each virtual machine and sends them to the correct destination.
See also Bridged networking, Custom networking and Host-only networking.

A point-and-click interface for convenient, easy creation of a virtual machine configuration. To launch the wizard, choose File > New Virtual Machine. 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 physical disk file.
See also Virtual machine settings editor.

A mode in which 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. If you configure a virtual disk or physical disk as an independent disk in nonpersistent mode, the disk is not modified by GSX Server.
See also Independent disk, Persistent mode

A mode in which all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine are immediately and permanently written to the virtual disk. If you configure a virtual disk or physical disk as an independent disk in persistent mode, the disk behaves like a conventional disk drive on a physical computer.
See also Independent disk, Nonpersistent mode

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 or on a local hard disk. When a virtual machine is configured to use a physical disk, GSX Server directly accesses the local disk or partition as a raw device (not as a file on a file system).
See also Virtual disk.

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 GSX Server.

A display mode in which the virtual machine's display fills most of the screen. In this mode, tabs at the top of the screen allow you to switch quickly from one running virtual machine to another.
See also Full screen mode.

The file that stores the changes made to a disk in independent-nonpersistent mode. 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.
See also Suspend.

The process of reducing the amount of file system space a virtual disk occupies in order to reclaim unused space in a virtual disk. If there is empty space in the disk, shrinking reduces the amount of space the virtual disk occupies on the host drive. Shrinking virtual disks is a convenient way to convert an older virtual disk (created by GSX Server 1, for example) to the .vmdk format supported by GSX Server 3. You cannot shrink preallocated virtual disks or physical disks.

A way to preserve the state of a virtual machine — the state of the data on all the virtual machine's disks and the virtual machine's power state (whether the virtual machine was powered on, powered off or suspended). You can take a snapshot of a virtual machine at any time and revert to that snapshot at any time. The virtual machine can be powered on, powered off or suspended.

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.
See also Shrink.

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.
See also Shrink.

A virtual disk is a file or set of files that appears 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 without needing to repartition a physical disk or reboot the host.
See also Physical disk.

The devices that comprise a virtual machine. The virtual hardware includes the virtual disk, the removable devices such as the DVD-ROM/CD-ROM and floppy drives, the virtual Ethernet adapter. You configure these devices with the virtual machine settings editor.

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.

The specification of what virtual devices (disks, memory size, and so forth) 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 when you create the virtual machine. It is used by GSX Server to identify and run a specific virtual machine.

A point-and-click control panel used to view and modify a virtual machine's settings. You launch it by choosing VM > Settings.
See also New Virtual Machine Wizard.

A point-and-click editor used to view and modify the networking settings for the virtual networks created by GSX Server. You launch by choosing Host > Virtual Network Settings.

A browser-based tool that allows you to control (start, suspend, resume, reset and stop), configure and monitor virtual machines and the server on which they run.

The service VMware GSX Server employs for managing connections to virtual machines and the management interface. This process is known as vmware-serverd on Linux hosts.

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 Tools service, the VMware Tools control panel and support for such features as the ability to shrink virtual disks, time synchronization with the host, VMware Tools scripts and the ability to connect and disconnect devices while the virtual machine is running.

One of the components installed with VMware Tools that performs various duties in the guest operating system, like executing commands in the virtual machine, gracefully shutting down and resetting a virtual machine, sending a heartbeat to VMware GSX Server, synchronizing the time of the guest operating system with the host operating system and passing strings from the host operating system to the guest operating system.

An interface to a virtual machine that provides access to one or more virtual machines on the local host or a remote host running GSX Server. 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.