vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide PDF

vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Update 3 VMware vSphere 8.0 VMware ESXi 8.0 vCenter Server 8.0 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware by Broadcom website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ VMware by Broadcom 3401 Hillview Av...

vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Update 3 VMware vSphere 8.0 VMware ESXi 8.0 vCenter Server 8.0 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware by Broadcom website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ VMware by Broadcom 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com © Copyright 2009-2024 Broadcom. All Rights Reserved. The term “Broadcom” refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. For more information, go to https://www.broadcom.com. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. VMware by Broadcom 2  Contents About vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 10 Updated Information 11 1 Introduction to VMware vSphere Virtual Machines 12 Virtual Machine Files 12 Virtual Machines and the Virtual Infrastructure 13 Virtual Machine Lifecycle 14 Virtual Machine Components 15 Virtual Machine Hardware Available to vSphere Virtual Machines 16 Virtual Machine Options 19 The vSphere Client 20 Where to Go From Here 21 2 Deploying Virtual Machines 22 Create a Virtual Machine with the New Virtual Machine Wizard 23 Clone a Virtual Machine to a Template 26 Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template 29 Clone an Existing Virtual Machine 33 Cloning a Virtual Machine with Instant Clone 38 Clone a Template to a Template 38 Convert a Template to a Virtual Machine 41 3 Deploy and Export OVF and OVA Templates 43 Browse VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace 49 4 Using Content Libraries 50 Content Library Administrator Role, Permissions Hierarchy, and Inheritance 51 Create and Edit a Content Library 54 Create a Content Library 54 Edit a Content Library 56 Configure Advanced Content Library Settings 59 Create and Delete a Subscription for a Local Library 60 Create a Subscription for a Local Library 62 Delete a Subscription from a Local Library 63 Publish the Library Contents and a Single Template to a Subscriber 64 Synchronize the Contents of a Subscribed Library 65 Synchronize a Subscribed Content Library 67 VMware by Broadcom 3 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Synchronize a Library Item in a Subscribed Library 67 How to Populate Libraries with Content 68 Import Items to a Content Library 69 Clone a vApp to a Template in a Content Library 70 Clone a Virtual Machine or a Virtual Machine Template to a Template in a Content Library 71 Clone Library Items from One Library to Another Library 72 Manage Content Library Items 73 Update a Content Library Item 73 Export an Item from a Content Library to Your Local Computer 74 Clone Library Items from One Library to Another Library 75 Edit a Content Library Item 76 Delete a Content Library Item 76 Creating Virtual Machines and vApps from Templates in a Content Library 77 Deploy a Virtual Machine from an OVF Template in a Content Library 77 Deploy a Virtual Machine from a VM Template in a Content Library 80 Create New vApp From a Template in a Content Library 84 Manage VM Templates in a Content Library 84 Templates in Content Libraries 85 Check Out a Virtual Machine from a Template 87 Check In a Virtual Machine to a Template 88 Discard a Checked Out Virtual Machine 89 Revert to a Previous Version of a Template 90 Delete a Previous Version of a VM Template 91 5 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware 92 Virtual Machine Compatibility 93 Set the Default Compatibility for Virtual Machine Creation 95 Schedule a Compatibility Upgrade for a Single Virtual Machine 96 Change the Default Virtual Machine Compatibility Setting 97 Hardware Features Available with Virtual Machine Compatibility Settings 98 Virtual CPU Configuration and Limitations 108 Configure CPU Resources of a Virtual Machine 110 Enable CPU Hot Add 110 Change the Number of Virtual CPUs 111 Expose VMware Hardware Assisted Virtualization 112 Activate Virtual CPU Performance Counters 112 Configure Processor Scheduling Affinity 113 Activate IO/MMU Virtualization Settings 114 Virtual Memory Configuration 115 Change the Memory Configuration 115 Allocate Memory Resources 116 VMware by Broadcom 4 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Manage Persistent Memory 117 Change Memory Hot Add Settings 122 Virtual Disk Configuration 123 About Virtual Disk Provisioning Policies 123 Large Capacity Virtual Disk Conditions and Limitations 124 Change the Virtual Disk Configuration 125 Use Disk Shares to Prioritize Virtual Machines 127 Determine the Virtual Disk Format and Convert a Virtual Disk from Thin Provision to a Thick Provision Format 127 How do I Add a Hard Disk to a Virtual Machine 128 SCSI, SATA, and NVMe Storage Controller Conditions, Limitations, and Compatibility 135 Add a SATA Controller 137 Add a SCSI Controller to a Virtual Machine 138 How to Activate and Deactivate the Automatic Replacement of the LSI SAS Controller 139 Add a Paravirtualized SCSI Adapter 140 Add an NVMe Controller 141 Change the SCSI Controller Configuration 142 Virtual Machine Network Configuration 143 Network Adapter Basics 143 Network Adapters and Legacy Virtual Machines 145 Change the Virtual Machine Network Adapter Configuration 145 How to Add a Network Interface Controller to a Virtual Machine 147 Virtual Machine Parallel and Serial Port Configuration 149 Other Virtual Machine Device Configuration 156 Change the CD/DVD Drive Configuration 156 How do I Add or Modify a Virtual Machine CD or DVD Drive 160 How do I Add a PCI Device to a Virtual Machine 162 How do I Configure 3D Graphics 167 How do I Add a Virtual Watchdog Timer Device to a Virtual Machine 170 How do I Add a Precision Clock Device to a Virtual Machine 171 Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration 172 Securing Virtual Machines with Intel Software Guard Extensions 179 Enable vSGX on a Virtual Machine 179 Remove vSGX from a Virtual Machine 182 USB Configuration from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine 182 How the USB Autoconnect Feature Works 184 vSphere Features Available with USB Passthrough 185 Conditions and Limitations When Configuring USB Devices for vMotion 185 Avoiding Data Loss with USB Devices 186 Connecting USB Devices to an ESXi Host 187 Add USB Devices to an ESXi Host 188 Add a USB Controller to a Virtual Machine 188 VMware by Broadcom 5 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Add USB Devices from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine 190 Remove USB Devices That Are Connected Through an ESXi Host 191 Remove USB Devices from an ESXi Host 191 USB Configuration from a Client Computer to a Virtual Machine 192 How to Connect USB Devices to a Client Computer 194 Add USB Devices from a Client Computer to a Virtual Machine 195 Remove USB Devices That Are Connected Through a Client Computer 196 Remove a USB Controller from a Virtual Machine 196 Add a Shared Smart Card Reader to Virtual Machines 197 Securing Virtual Machines with Virtual Trusted Platform Module 198 What Is a Virtual Trusted Platform Module 198 Create a Virtual Machine with a Virtual Trusted Platform Module 200 Add Virtual Trusted Platform Module to an Existing Virtual Machine 201 Remove Virtual Trusted Platform Module from a Virtual Machine 202 Identify Virtual Trusted Platform Module Enabled Virtual Machines 203 Securing Virtual Machines with AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State 203 vSphere and AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State 204 Add AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State to a Virtual Machine Using the vSphere Client 205 Activate AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State on an Existing Virtual Machine Using the vSphere Client 206 Add AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State to a Virtual Machine Using the Command Line 207 Activate AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State on an Existing Virtual Machine Using the Command Line 208 Deactivate AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State on a Virtual Machine Using the vSphere Client 210 Deactivate AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State on a Virtual Machine Using the Command Line 210 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Options 212 General Virtual Machine Options 213 Change the Virtual Machine Name 213 View the Virtual Machine Configuration and Working File Location 214 Change the Configured Guest Operating System 214 VMware Remote Console Options 215 Change the Virtual Machine Console Options for Remote Users 215 Configure Virtual Machine Encryption Options 216 Encrypt an Existing Virtual Machine or Virtual Disk 216 Decrypt an Encrypted Virtual Machine or Virtual Disk 217 Clone an Encrypted Virtual Machine 218 Virtual Machine Power Management Options 220 Manage Power Management Settings for a Virtual Machine 220 VMware by Broadcom 6 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Configuring VMware Tools Options 221 Configure the Virtual Machine Power States 221 Synchronize the Time of a Virtual Machine Guest Operating System with the Host 223 Virtualization Based Security 224 Activate Virtualization-based Security on an Existing Virtual Machine 224 Activate Virtualization-based Security on the Guest Operating System 226 Deactivate Virtualization-based Security 226 Identify VBS-Enabled Virtual Machines 227 Configure Virtual Machine Boot Options 227 Activate or Deactivate UEFI Secure Boot for a Virtual Machine 227 Delay the Boot Sequence 229 Configuring Virtual Machine Advanced Options 229 Enable Virtual Machine Logging 229 Configure Virtual Machine Debugging and Statistics 230 Change the Swap File Location 230 Configure the Virtual Machine Latency Sensitivity 231 Set a Stun Time Limit for vGPU Virtual Machines 232 Configure Fibre Channel NPIV Settings 234 Configure the CPU Topology of a Virtual Machine 235 7 Configure Virtual Machine Advanced File Parameters 238 8 Managing Multi-Tiered Applications with vSphere vApp 239 Create a vApp 240 Perform vApp Power Operations 241 Create or Add an Object to a vApp 242 Clone a vApp 243 Edit vApp Notes 243 Configure vApp Properties 244 Edit vApp Settings 245 Configure vApp CPU and Memory Resources 245 Configure vApp IP Allocation Policy 246 Configure vApp Startup and Shutdown Options 248 Configure vApp Product Properties 248 View vApp License Agreements 249 Add a Network Protocol Profile 249 Assign a Port Group or Network to a Network Protocol Profile 252 Use a Network Protocol Profile to Allocate IP Addresses to a Virtual Machine or vApp 253 Virtual Machine vApp Options 254 Activate vApp Options for a Virtual Machine 254 Edit Application Properties and OVF Deployment Options for a Virtual Machine 255 VMware by Broadcom 7 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration OVF Authoring Options for a Virtual Machine 255 9 Monitoring Solutions with the vCenter Solutions Manager 260 View Solutions 260 10 Managing Virtual Machines 262 Install a Guest Operating System 263 Using PXE with Virtual Machines 263 Install a Guest Operating System from Media 263 Upload ISO Image Installation Media for a Guest Operating System 264 Customizing Guest Operating Systems 265 Guest Operating System Customization Requirements 265 Create a vCenter Server Application to Generate Computer Names and IP Addresses 266 Customize Windows During Cloning or Deployment 267 Customize Linux During Cloning or Deployment 268 Apply a Customization Specification to an Existing Virtual Machine 270 Create and Manage Customization Specifications for Windows and Linux 270 Configure User Mappings on Guest Operating Systems 282 View Existing SSO User Mappings 282 Add SSO users to Guest Operating Systems 282 Remove SSO Users from Guest Operating Systems 283 Managing Power States of a Virtual Machine 283 Edit Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Settings 284 Using a Virtual Machine Console 286 Install the VMware Remote Console Application 287 Start the VMware Remote Console Application 288 Open the Web Console 289 Manage the VMware Remote Console Proxy Configuration 290 Manage the VMware Remote Console Proxy Settings 291 Answer Virtual Machine Questions 292 Remove and Reregister VMs and VM Templates 293 Adding Existing Virtual Machines to vCenter Server 293 Remove VMs or VM Templates from vCenter Server or from the Datastore 293 Register a VM or VM Template with vCenter Server 294 Manage Virtual Machine Templates 295 Manage Virtual Machines With Snapshots 296 Snapshot Files and Limitations 298 Manage Snapshots 301 Enhanced vMotion Compatibility as a Virtual Machine Attribute 312 Configure the EVC Mode of a Virtual Machine 313 How to Determine the EVC Mode of Your Virtual Machine 315 VMware by Broadcom 8 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Virtual Machine Storage DRS Rules 317 Add a VMDK Affinity Rule 318 Add a VMDK Anti-Affinity Rule 318 Add a VM Anti-Affinity Rule 319 Distributing Content with GuestStore 320 Set the GuestStore Repository with ESXCLI 322 Clear the GuestStore Repository Setting with ESXCLI 322 Sharing Data Between the vSphere Client and a Virtual Machine Guest Operating System with DataSets 323 vSphere Virtual Machines Migration 325 11 How do I Upgrade Virtual Machines 328 Downtime for Upgrading Virtual Machines 329 Upgrade the Compatibility of a Virtual Machine Manually 330 Schedule a Compatibility Upgrade for a Virtual Machine 331 12 Required vCenter Server Privileges for Common Tasks 333 13 Troubleshooting Overview 337 Guidelines for Troubleshooting Your Implementation of vSphere 337 How Do You Identify the Symptoms 338 How Do You Define the Problem Space 338 How Do You Test Possible Solutions 338 Troubleshooting with vCenter Server Logs 339 14 Troubleshooting Virtual Machines 341 Troubleshooting USB Passthrough Devices 341 Error Message When You Try to Migrate Virtual Machine with USB Devices Attached 341 Cannot Copy Data From an ESXi Host to a USB Device That Is Connected to the Host 342 Recover Orphaned Virtual Machines 342 VMware by Broadcom 9 About vSphere Virtual Machine Administration vSphere Virtual Machine Administration describes how to create, configure, and manage virtual ® machines in the VMware vSphere environment. At VMware, we value inclusion. To foster this principle within our customer, partner, and internal community, we have updated this guide to remove instances of non-inclusive language. This guide provides introductions to the tasks that you can perform within the system and also cross-references to the documentation that describes the tasks in detail. This information focuses on managing virtual machines and includes the following information. n Creating and deploying virtual machines, templates, and clones n Deploying OVF templates n Using content libraries to manage templates and other library items n Configuring virtual machine hardware and virtual machine options n Managing multi-tiered applications with VMware vSphere vApp n Monitoring solutions with the vCenter Solutions Manager n Managing virtual machines, including using snapshots n Upgrading virtual machines n Troubleshooting 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 by Broadcom 10 Updated Information This vSphere Virtual Machine Administration is updated with each release of the product or when necessary. This table provides the update history of the. Revision Description 10 SEP 2024 Added information about the Virtual Shared Grapics Acceleration (vSGA): n Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration n Setup Your Environment for vSGA 19 AUG 2024 Updated the table in Chapter 12 Required vCenter Server Privileges for Common Tasks. 18 JUL 2024 Updated the Install the VMware Remote Console Application procedure. 25 JUN 2024 Initial release. VMware by Broadcom 11 Introduction to VMware vSphere Virtual Machines 1 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 but are more portable, more secure, and easier to manage. Before you start creating and managing virtual machines, you benefit from some background information, for example, the virtual machine files, life cycle, components, and so on. Read the following topics next: 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 n The vSphere Client n Where to Go From Here Virtual Machine Files 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 Client, ESXCLI, 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 by Broadcom 12 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.vmem vmname.vmem Virtual machine paging backup file.vmsd vmname.vmsd Virtual machine snapshots information (metadata) file.vmsn vmname.vmsn Virtual machine memory snapshot 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 Old virtual machine log files starting 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 run on ESXi hosts that vCenter Server manages. vCenter Server can pool the resources of multiple hosts and lets you effectively monitor and manage your data center 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. VMware by Broadcom 13 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration The vSphere Client is the primary interface for managing vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines. The vSphere Client 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. The vSphere 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 that you see in the vSphere Client, a data center is the top-level container of ESXi hosts, folders, clusters, resource pools, vSphere vApps, virtual machines, and so on. Datastores are virtual representations of underlying physical storage resources. Datastores hide the idiosyncrasies of the underlying physical storage and present a uniform model for the storage resources required by virtual machines. A datastore is the storage location (for example, a physical disk or LUN on a RAID, or a SAN) for virtual machine files. 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 have many options for creating and deploying virtual machines. You can create a single virtual machine and install a guest operating system and VMware Tools on it. You can clone an existing virtual machine or convert it to a template. You can also deploy OVF or OVA templates. The vSphere Client New Virtual Machine wizard and the Edit Settings dialog box 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 through the performance charts in the vSphere 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 multi-tiered applications. You use vSphere Lifecycle 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. VMware by Broadcom 14 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Virtual Machine Components Virtual machines typically have an operating system, VMware Tools, and virtual resources and hardware. You manage these components like you manage the components of a physical computer. Operating System You install a guest operating system on a virtual machine the same way 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. After installation, you are responsible for securing and patching the operating system. VMware Tools VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine. It includes device drivers and other software that is essential for your VM. With VMware Tools, you have more control over the virtual machine interface. Compatibility Setting In the vSphere Client, you assign each virtual machine to a compatible ESXi host version, cluster, or data center 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. Hardware Devices Each virtual hardware device performs the same function for the virtual machine as hardware on a physical computer does. Every virtual machine has CPU, memory, and disk resources. CPU virtualization emphasizes performance and runs directly on the processor whenever possible. The underlying physical resources are used whenever possible. The virtualization layer runs instructions only as needed to make virtual machines operate as if they were running directly on a physical machine. All recent operating systems provide support for virtual memory, allowing software to use more memory than the machine physically has. Similarly, the ESXi hypervisor provides support for overcommitting virtual machine memory, where the amount of guest memory configured for all virtual machines might be larger than the amount of the host's physical memory. You access the hardware devices in the Edit Settings dialog box. Not all devices are configurable. Some hardware devices are part of the virtual motherboard and appear in the expanded device list of the Edit Settings dialog box, 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. VMware by Broadcom 15 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration In the Edit Settings dialog box you can also add virtual hardware devices to the virtual machine. You can use the memory or CPU hotplug options to add memory or CPU resources to a virtual machine while the virtual machine is running. You can deactivate Memory or CPU hotplug to avoid adding memory or CPUs while the virtual machine is running. Memory hotplug is supported on all 64 bit operating systems, but to use the added memory, the guest operating system must also support this feature. See the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility A vSphere administrator or other privileged user can determine who can access or modify a virtual machine by setting permissions on the virtual machine. See the vSphere Security documentation. 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. 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 http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility or the Guest Operating System Installation Guide at http://partnerweb.vmware.com/GOSIG/home.html. Sometimes, 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. Starting with vSphere 7.0, you cannot add, remove, or configure floppy drives, parallel ports, or SCSI devices. For information, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78978. VMware by Broadcom 16 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 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: n Intel 440BX AGPset 82443BX Host Bridge/Controller n Intel 82371AB (PIIX4) PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator n National Semiconductor PC87338 ACPI 1.0 and PC98/99 Compliant SuperI/O n Intel 82093AA I/O Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller DVD/CD-ROM Drive Installed by default when you create a virtual machine. You can configure DVD/CD-ROM devices to connect to client devices, host devices, or datastore ISO files. You can add, remove, or configure DVD/CD-ROM devices. Hard Disk Stores the operating system of a virtual machine, program files, and other data associated with its activities. A virtual disk is a large physical file, or a set of files, that can be copied, moved, archived, and backed up as easily as any other file. IDE 0, IDE 1 By default, two Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interfaces are presented to the virtual machine. The IDE interface (controller) is a standard way for storage devices (floppy drives, hard drives, and CD-ROM drives) to connect to the virtual machine. Keyboard Provides keyboard input from any virtual machine consoles. Memory The virtual hardware memory size determines how much memory applications that are running inside the virtual machine have available to them. A virtual machine cannot benefit from more memory resources than its configured virtual hardware memory size. Network Adapter ESXi networking features provide communication between virtual machines on the same host, between virtual machines on different hosts, and between other virtual and physical machines. When you configure a virtual machine, you can add network adapters (NICs) and specify the adapter type. Parallel port Interface for connecting peripherals to the virtual machine. The virtual parallel port can connect to a file. You can add, remove, or configure virtual parallel ports. PCI controller Bus on the virtual machine motherboard that communicates with components such as hard disks and other devices. One PCI controller is presented to the virtual machine. You cannot configure or remove this device. PCI Device You can add up to 16 PCI vSphere DirectPath devices to a virtual machine. The devices must be reserved for PCI passthrough on the host on which the virtual machine runs. Snapshots are not supported with DirectPath I/O passthrough devices. Pointing device Mirrors the pointing device that is connected to the virtual machine console when you first connect to the console. VMware by Broadcom 17 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Table 1-2. Virtual Machine Hardware and Descriptions (continued) Hardware Device Description Serial Port Interface for connecting peripherals to the virtual machine. The virtual serial port can connect to a physical serial port, to a file on the host computer, or over the network. You can also use it to establish a direct connection between two virtual machines or a connection between a virtual machine and an application on the host computer. You can configure a virtual machine with up to 32 serial ports. You can add, remove, or configure virtual serial ports. SATA controller Provides access to virtual disks and DVD/CD-ROM devices. The SATA virtual controller appears to a virtual machine as an AHCI SATA Controller. SCSI controller Provides access to virtual disks. The SCSI virtual controller appears to a virtual machine as different types of controllers, including LSI Logic Parallel, LSI Logic SAS, and VMware Paravirtual. You can change the SCSI controller type, allocate bus sharing for a virtual machine, or add a paravirtualized SCSI controller. SIO controller Provides serial and parallel ports, floppy devices, and performs system management activities. One SIO controller is available to the virtual machine. You cannot configure or remove this device. USB controller The USB hardware chip that provides USB 1.x and USB 2.0 function to the USB ports that it manages. The virtual USB Controller is the software virtualization of the USB 1.x and USB 2.0 host controller function in the virtual machine. USB xHCI controller The USB hardware chip that provides USB 3 function to the USB ports that it manages. The virtual USB xHCI controller is the software virtualization of the USB 3 host controller function in the virtual machine. USB device You can add multiple USB devices, such as security dongles and mass storage devices, to a virtual machine. The USB devices can be connected to an ESXi host or a client computer. VMCI Virtual Machine Communication Interface device. Provides a high-speed communication channel between a virtual machine and the hypervisor. You cannot add or remove VMCI devices. NVMe controller NVM Express controller. NVMe is a logical device interface specification for accessing nonvolatile storage media attached through a PCI Express (PCIe) bus in real and virtual hardware. NVDIMM controller Provides access to the non-volatile memory resources of the host. NVDIMM device Non-Volatile Dual In-Line Memory Module. NVDIMM modules are memory devices that sit on an ordinary memory channel, but contain non-volatile memory. You can add up to 64 virtual NVDIMM devices to a virtual machine. TPM device Trusted Platform Module. When you add a virtual TPM 2.0 device to a virtual machine, the guest OS uses the device to store sensitive information, perform cryptographic tasks, or attest the integrity of the guest platform. Virtual Precision Clock device A virtual clock device that provides a virtual machine with access to the system time of the primary ESXi host. Virtual Watchdog Timer device To ensure self-reliance related to the system performance within a virtual machine. If the guest operating system stops responding and cannot recover on its own due to software glitches or errors, the watchdog timer waits for a predefined period of time and then restarts the system. VMware by Broadcom 18 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Table 1-2. Virtual Machine Hardware and Descriptions (continued) Hardware Device Description vSGX device Virtual Intel® Software Guard Extensions (vSGX) provides a virtual machine additional security to your workloads. Intel SGX is a processor-specific technology that defines private regions of memory, called enclaves. Intel SGX protects the enclave contents from disclosure and modification in such a way that code running outside the enclave cannot access them. RDM disk You can use a raw device mapping (RDM) to store virtual machine data directly on a SAN LUN, instead of storing it in a virtual disk file. PS2 controller PS2 controller provides access to the virtual keyboard and point to the PS2 interface. Video card A virtual graphics card that provides graphics acceleration and display capabilities for virtual machine consoles. Virtual Machine Options Use the available virtual machine options to fine-tune the settings and behavior of your virtual machine and to ensure maximum performance. A virtual machine might be running in any of several locations, such as ESXi hosts, data centers, clusters, or resource pools. Many of the options and resources that you configure have dependencies on and relationships with these objects. VMware virtual machines have the following options. General Options View or modify the virtual machine name, and check the location of the configuration file and the working location of the virtual machine. Encryption Options Enable or deactivate encryption for the virtual machine if the vCenter Server instance is in a trusted relationship with a KMS server. For more information, see the vSphere Security documentation. You can also enable or deactivate encrypted vMotion for virtual machines that are not encrypted. You can set encrypted vMotion to the deactivated, opportunistic, or required state. You can enable encrypted vMotion during virtual machine creation. Alternatively, you can change the encrypted vMotion state later. For more information, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation. Power Management Manage guest power options. Suspend the virtual machine or leave the virtual machine powered on when you put the guest operating system into standby. VMware Tools VMware by Broadcom 19 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Manage the power controls for the virtual machine, run VMware Tools scripts, and upgrade VMware Tools during power cycling. Automatically synchronize the time between guest and host operating systems, and periodically synchronize the guest time with the host if the virtual machine guest operating system does not have a native time synchronization software. Virtualization Based Security (VBS) Enable VBS to provide an additional level of protection to the virtual machine. VBS is available on the latest Windows OS versions. For more information, see the vSphere Security documentation. Boot Options Set the boot delay when powering on virtual machines or to force BIOS setup and configure failed boot recovery. Advanced Options Deactivate acceleration and enable logging, configure debugging and statistics, and change the swap file location. You can also change the latency sensitivity and add configuration parameters. Fibre Channel NPIV Control virtual machine access to LUNs on a per-virtual machine basis. N-port ID virtualization (NPIV) provides the ability to share a single physical Fibre Channel HBA port among multiple virtual ports, each with unique identifiers. vApp Options Enable or deactivate the vApp functionality in a virtual machine. When you enable vApp options, you can view and edit vApp properties, vApp Deployment options, and vApp Authoring options. For example, you can configure an IP allocation policy or a network protocol profile for the vApp. A vApp option that is specified at the level of a virtual machine overrides the settings specified at the level of the vApp. The vSphere Client All administrative functions are available through the vSphere Client. The vSphere Client is a cross-platform application that can connect only to vCenter Server. It has a full range of administrative functionality and an extensible plug-in-based architecture. Typical users are virtual infrastructure administrators, help desk, network operations center operators, and virtual machine owners. Users can use the vSphere Client to access vCenter Server through a Web browser. vSphere Client uses the VMware API to mediate the communication between the browser and the vCenter Server. VMware by Broadcom 20 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration The vSphere Client introduces some productivity enhancements and usability improvements. Watch the following video to learn about the usability improvements to working with virtual machine hard disks. (Usability Improvements to Working with Virtual Machine Hard Disks ) Where to Go From Here You must create, provision, and deploy your virtual machines before you can manage them. To begin provisioning virtual machines, determine whether to create a single virtual machine and install an operating system and VMware tools, work with templates and clones, or deploy virtual machines, virtual appliances, or vApps stored in Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF). After you provision and deploy virtual machines into the vSphere infrastructure, you can configure and manage them. You can configure existing virtual machines by modifying or adding hardware or install or upgrade VMware Tools. You might need to manage multitiered applications with VMware vApps or change virtual machine startup and shutdown settings, use virtual machine snapshots, work with virtual disks, or add, remove, or delete virtual machines from the inventory. VMware by Broadcom 21 Deploying Virtual Machines 2 VMware supports several methods to provision vSphere virtual machines. What works best in your environment depends on factors such as the size and type of your infrastructure and the goals that you want to achieve. Create a single virtual machine if no other virtual machines in your environment have the requirements you are looking for, such as a particular operating system or hardware configuration. You can also create a single virtual machine and install an operating system on it, and then use that virtual machine as a template from which to clone other virtual machines. See Create a Virtual Machine with the New Virtual Machine Wizard. To use a preconfigured virtual machine, deploy and export virtual machines, virtual appliances, and vApps stored in Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF). A virtual appliance is a virtual machine that typically has an operating system and other software installed. You can deploy virtual machines from local file systems and from shared network drives. See Chapter 3 Deploy and Export OVF and OVA Templates. Create a template and deploy multiple virtual machines from it. A template is a primary copy of a virtual machine that you can use to create and provision virtual machines. Use templates to save time. If you have a virtual machine that you clone frequently, make that virtual machine a template. See Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template. If you are deploying many similar virtual machines, cloning a virtual machine can save time. You can create, configure, and install software on a single virtual machine. You can clone it multiple times, rather than creating and configuring each virtual machine individually. See Clone an Existing Virtual Machine. Cloning a virtual machine to a template preserves a primary copy of the virtual machine so that you can create additional templates. For example, you can create one template, modify the original virtual machine by installing additional software in the guest operating system, and create another template. SeeClone a Virtual Machine to a Template. Read the following topics next: n Create a Virtual Machine with the New Virtual Machine Wizard n Clone a Virtual Machine to a Template n Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template n Clone an Existing Virtual Machine VMware by Broadcom 22 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration n Cloning a Virtual Machine with Instant Clone n Clone a Template to a Template n Convert a Template to a Virtual Machine Create a Virtual Machine with the New Virtual Machine Wizard If no virtual machines in your environment meet your needs, you can create a single virtual machine, for example of a particular operating system or hardware configuration. When you create a virtual machine without a template or clone, you can configure the virtual hardware, including processors, hard disks, and memory. You open the New Virtual Machine wizard from any object in the inventory that is a valid parent object of a virtual machine. During the creation process, a default disk is configured for the virtual machine. You can remove this disk and add a new hard disk, select an existing disk, or add an RDM disk on the Virtual Hardware page of the wizard. Prerequisites Verify that you have the following privileges: n Virtual machine.Edit inventory.Create new on the destination folder or data center. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Add new disk on the destination folder or data center, if you are adding a new disk. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Add existing disk on the destination folder or data center, if you are adding an existing disk. n Virtual machine.Configuration.Configure Raw device on the destination folder or data center, if you are using an RDM or SCSI pass-through device. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Configure Host USB device on the destination folder or data center, if you are attaching a virtual USB device backed by a host USB device. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Advanced configuration on the destination folder or data center, if you are configuring advanced virtual machine settings. n Virtual machine.Configuration.Change Swapfile placement on the destination folder or data center, if you are configuring swap file placement. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Toggle disk change tracking on the destination folder or data center, if you are enabling change tracking on the virtual machine's disks. n Resource.Assign virtual machine to resource pool on the destination host, cluster, or resource pool. n Datastore.Allocate space on the destination datastore or datastore folder. n Network.Assign network on the network that the virtual machine will be assigned to. VMware by Broadcom 23 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration To verify the privileges assigned to your role, click Menu > Administration > Roles and select the role. If you want to create a virtual machine that uses persistent memory, choose a host or a cluster with an available PMem resource. Procedure Procedure 1 Right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual machine, such as a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine. 2 On the Select a creation type page, select Create a new virtual machine and click Next. 3 On the Select a name and folder page, enter a unique name for the virtual machine and select a deployment location. 4 Click Next. 5 On the Select a compute resource page, select the host, cluster, resource pool, or vApp where the virtual machine will run and click Next. If creating the virtual machine at the selected location causes compatibility problems, an alarm appears in the Compatibility pane. 6 On the Select storage page, choose the storage type, the storage policy, and a datastore or datastore cluster where to store the virtual machine files. Option Description Create a virtual machine on a host a Choose the type of storage by selecting the Standard or the PMem that has PMem resource radio button. With the PMem storage option, every virtual machine disk file is stored on the host-local PMem datastore by default. You can change the datastore at a later time. The virtual machine home location must be on a non-PMem datastore. For more information about persistent memory and PMem storage, see the vSphere Resource Management guide. b (Optional) From the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu, select a virtual machine storage policy or leave the default one. c (Optional) To encrypt the virtual machine, select the Encrypt this virtual machine check box. d Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. e If you do not want to use storage DRS with the virtual machine, select the Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine check box. Create a virtual machine on a host a Select a VM storage policy or leave the default one. that does not have PMem resource b (Optional) To encrypt the virtual machine, select the Encrypt this virtual machine check box. c Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. For information about creating an encrypted virtual machine, see vSphere Security. VMware by Broadcom 24 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 7 On the Select compatibility page, select the virtual machine compatibility with ESXi host versions and click Next. To have access to the latest hardware features, select the latest ESXi host version. 8 On the Select a guest OS page, select the guest OS family and version and click Next. When you select a guest operating system, BIOS or Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is selected by default, depending on the firmware supported by the operating system. Mac OS X Server guest operating systems support only EFI. If the operating system supports BIOS and EFI, you can change the default by editing the virtual machine after you create it and before you install the guest operating system. If you select EFI, you cannot boot an operating system that supports only BIOS, and the reverse. Important Do not change the firmware after the guest operating system is installed. The guest operating system installer partitions the disk in a particular format, depending on which firmware the installer was booted from. If you change the firmware, you will not be able to boot the guest. 9 (Optional) Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security. When you enable this option, hardware virtualization, IOMMU, EFI, and secure boot become available to the guest operating system. You must also enable Virtualization Based Security within the guest operating system of this virtual machine. The Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security option is available only for the latest Windows OS versions, for example Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. For more information about VBS, see the vSphere Security documentation. 10 Click Next. 11 On the Customize hardware page, configure the virtual machine hardware and options and click Next. You can leave the defaults and configure the virtual machine hardware and options later. For more information, see Chapter 5 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware and Chapter 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Options. Important If you chose to use PMem storage for the virtual machine, its default hard disk, the new hard disks that you configure, and the NVDIMM devices that you add to the virtual machine all share the same PMem resources. So, you must adjust the size of the newly added devices in accordance with the amount of the PMem available to the host. If any part of the configuration requires attention, the wizard alerts you. 12 On the Ready to complete page, review the details and click Finish. Results The virtual machine appears in the vSphere Client inventory. VMware by Broadcom 25 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Clone a Virtual Machine to a Template After you create a virtual machine, you can clone it to a template. Templates are primary copies of virtual machines that let you create ready-for-use virtual machines. You can make changes to the template, such as installing additional software in the guest operating system, while preserving the original virtual machine. You cannot modify templates after you create them. To alter an existing template, you must convert it to a virtual machine, make the required changes, and convert the virtual machine back to a template. To preserve the original state of a template, clone the template to a template. Prerequisites If a load generator is running in the virtual machine, stop it before you perform the clone operation. Verify that you have the following privileges: n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Create template from virtual machine on the source virtual machine. n Virtual machine.Edit inventory.Create from existing on virtual machine folder where the template is created. n Resource.Assign virtual machine to resource pool on the destination host, cluster, or resource pool. n Datastore.Allocate space on all datastores where the template is created. Procedure 1 Start the Clone Virtual Machine To Template wizard. Option Description From a valid parent object of a a Right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual virtual machine machine, such as a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine. b On the Select a creation type page, select Clone virtual machine to template and click Next. c On the Select a virtual machine page, select the virtual machine that you want to clone. From a virtual machine Right-click the virtual machine and select Clone > Clone to Template. 2 On the Select a name and folder page, enter a name for the template and select a data center or a folder in which to deploy it. The template name determines the name of the files and folder on the disk. For example, if you name the template win8tmp, the template files are named win8tmp.vmdk, win8tmp.nvram, and so on. If you change the template name, the names of the files on the datastore do not change. VMware by Broadcom 26 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Folders provide a way to store virtual machines and templates for different groups in an organization and you can set permissions on them. If you prefer a flatter hierarchy, you can put all virtual machines and templates in a datacenter and organize them a different way. 3 On the Select a compute resource, select a host or a cluster resource for the template. The Compatibility pane shows the result from the compatibility checks. Important If the virtual machine that you clone has an NVDIMM device and virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resource. Otherwise, you cannot proceed with the task. If the virtual machine that you clone does not have an NVDIMM device, but it has virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resource. Otherwise, all the hard disks of the template will use the storage policy and datastore selected for the configuration files of the source virtual machine. VMware by Broadcom 27 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 4 On the Select storage page, select the datastore or datastore cluster in which to store the template configuration files and all of the virtual disks. Click Next. Option Description Clone a virtual machine that has a Choose the type of storage for the template by selecting the Standard, vPMem hard disks the PMem, or the Hybrid radio button. If you select the Standard mode, all virtual disks are stored on a standard datastore. If you select the PMem mode, all virtual disks are stored on the host- local PMem datastore. Configuration files cannot be stored on a PMem datastore and you must additionally select a regular datastore for the configuration files of the virtual machine. If you select the Hybrid mode, all PMem virtual disks remain stored on a PMem datastore. Non-PMem disks are affected by your choice of a VM storage policy and datastore or datastore cluster. For more information about persistent memory and PMem storage, see the vSphere Resource Management guide. b From the Select virtual disk format drop-down menu, select a new virtual disk format for the template or keep the same format as the source virtual machine. c (Optional) From the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu, select a virtual machine storage policy or leave the default one. d Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. e Select the Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine check box if you do not want to use storage DRS with the virtual machine. f (Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastor cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk. Clone a virtual machine that does a Select the disk format for the virtual machine virtual disks. not have vPMem hard disks Same format as source uses the same disk format as the source virtual machine. The Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed format creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated when the virtual disk is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out later, on demand, on first write from the virtual machine. Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is a type of thick virtual disk that supports clustering features such as Fault tolerance. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the flat file format (- flat.vmdk), the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out when the virtual disk is created. It might take much longer to create disks in this format than to create other types of disks. VMware by Broadcom 28 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Option Description The Thin Provision format saves storage space. At first, a thin provisioned disk uses only as much datastore space as the disk initially needs. If the thin disk needs more space later, it can expand to the maximum capacity allocated to it. b (Optional) Select a VM storage policy or leave the default one. c Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. d (Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk. Important You cannot change the storage policy if you clone an encrypted virtual machine. For information about cloning an encrypted virtual machine, see vSphere Security. 5 On the Ready to complete page, review the template settings and click Finish. The progress of the clone task appears in the Recent Tasks pane. When the task completes, the template appears in the inventory. Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template Deploying a virtual machine from a template creates a virtual machine that is a copy of the template. The new virtual machine has the virtual hardware, installed software, and other properties that are configured for the template. Prerequisites You must have the following privileges to deploy a virtual machine from a template: n Virtual machine.Edit inventory.Create from existing on the data center or virtual machine folder. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Add new disk on the data center or virtual machine folder. Required only if you customize the original hardware by adding a new virtual disk. n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Deploy template on the source template. n Resource.Assign virtual machine to resource pool on the destination host, cluster, or resource pool. n Datastore.Allocate space on the destination datastore. n Network.Assign network on the network to which the virtual machine is assigned. Required only if you customize the original hardware by adding a new network card. n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Customize guest on the template or template folder if you are customizing the guest operating system. VMware by Broadcom 29 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Read customization specifications on the root vCenter Server if you are customizing the guest operating system. n Virtual machine.Edit inventory.Create new on the destination folder or data center. n vApp.Import Procedure 1 Start the Deploy From Template wizard. Option Description From a valid parent object of a a Right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual virtual machine machine, such as a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine. b On the Select a creation type page, select Deploy from template and click Next. c On the Select a template page, select the template that you want to use. From a template Right-click a template and select New VM from This Template. 2 On the Select a name and folder page, enter a unique name for the virtual machine and select a deployment location. 3 On the Select a compute resource page, select the host, cluster, resource pool, or vApp where the virtual machine will run and click Next. The virtual machine will have access to the resources of the selected object. Important If the template that you deploy has an has an NVDIMM device and virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resource. Otherwise, you cannot proceed with the task. If the template that you deploy does not have an NVDIMM device, but it has virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resource. Otherwise, all the hard disks of the virtual machine will use the storage policy and datastore selected for the configuration files of the source template. If creating the virtual machine at the selected location causes compatibility problems, an alarm appears in the Compatibility pane. VMware by Broadcom 30 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 4 On the Select storage page, select the datastore or datastore cluster in which to store the virtual machine configuration files and all of the virtual disks. Click Next. Option Description Deploy a virtual machine from a a Choose the type of storage for the template by selecting the Standard, template that has vPMem hard disks the PMem, or the Hybrid radio button. If you select the Standard mode, all virtual disks will be stored on a standard datastore. If you select the PMem mode, all virtual disks will be stored on the host- local PMem datastore. Configuration files cannot be stored on a PMem datastore and you must additionally select a regular datastore for the configuration files of the virtual machine. If you select the Hybrid mode, all PMem virtual disks will remain stored on a PMem datastore. Non-PMem disks are affected by your choice of a VM storage policy and datastore or datastore cluster. For more information about persistent memory and PMem storage, see the vSphere Resource Management guide. b (Optional) From the Select virtual disk format drop-down menu, select a new virtual disk format for the template or keep the same format as the source virtual machine. c (Optional) From the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu, select a virtual machine storage policy or leave the default one. d Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. e Select the Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine check box if you do not want to use storage DRS with the virtual machine. f (Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk. Deploy a virtual machine from a a Select the disk format for the virtual machine virtual disks. template that does not have vPMem Same format as source uses the same disk format as the source virtual hard disks machine. The Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed format creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated when the virtual disk is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out later, on demand, on first write from the virtual machine. Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is a type of thick virtual disk that supports clustering features such as Fault tolerance. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the flat format, the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out when the virtual disk is created. It might take much longer to create disks in this format than to create other types o disks. VMware by Broadcom 31 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Option Description The Thin Provision format saves storage space. At first, a thin provisioned disk uses only as much datastore space as the disk initially needs. If the thin disk needs more space later, it can grow to the maximum capacity allocated to it. b (Optional) Select a VM storage policy or leave the default one. c Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. d (Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk. 5 On the Select clone options page, select additional customization options for the new virtual machine. You can choose to customize the guest operating system or the virtual machine hardware. You can also choose to power on the virtual machine after its creation. 6 (Optional) On the Customize guest OS page, apply a customization specification to the virtual machine. Customizing the guest OS prevents from conflicts that might occur if you deploy virtual machines with identical settings, such as duplicate computer names. Note To access customization options for Windows guest operating systems, Microsoft Sysprep tools must be installed on the vCenter Server system. The Sysprep Tool is built into the Windows Vista and Windows 2008 and later operating systems. For details about this and other customization requirements, see Guest Operating System Customization Requirements. Option Description Select an existing specification Select a customization specification from the list. Create a specification Click the Create a new specification icon, and complete the steps in the wizard. Create a specification from an a Select a customization specification from the list. existing specification b Click the Create a spec from an existing spec icon, and complete the steps in the wizard. VMware by Broadcom 32 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 7 (Optional) On the Customize hardware page, configure the virtual machine hardware and options and click Next. You can leave the defaults and configure the virtual machine hardware and options later. For more information, see Chapter 5 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware and Chapter 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Options. Important If you chose to use PMem storage for the virtual machine, its default hard disk, the new hard disks that you configure, and the NVDIMM devices that you add to the virtual machine all share the same PMem resources. So, you must adjust the size of the newly added devices in accordance with the amount of the PMem available to the host. If any part of the configuration requires attention, the wizard alerts you. 8 On the Ready to complete page, review the information and click Finish. Clone an Existing Virtual Machine Cloning a virtual machine creates a virtual machine that is a copy of the original. The new virtual machine is configured with the same virtual hardware, installed software, and other properties that were configured for the original virtual machine. For information about persistent memory and PMem storage, see the vSphere Resource Management guide. For information how to configure the virtual machine hardware options, see Chapter 5 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware and Chapter 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Options Note When heavily loaded applications, such as load generators, are running in the guest operating system during a clone operation, the virtual machine quiesce operation might fail. VMware Tools might be denied CPU resources and time out. You can quiesce the virtual machines running lower I/O disk operation. Important If you clone an encrypted virtual machine, you cannot change the storage policy. For information about cloning an encrypted virtual machine, see vSphere Security. Prerequisites If a load generator is running in the virtual machine, before you perform the clone operation, you must stop the load generator. You must have the following privileges to clone a virtual machine: n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Clone virtual machine on the virtual machine you are cloning. n Virtual machine.Edit inventory.Create from existing on the data center or virtual machine folder. n Virtual machine.Change Configuration.Add new disk on the data center or virtual machine folder. VMware by Broadcom 33 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration n Resource.Assign virtual machine to resource pool on the destination host, cluster, or resource pool. n Datastore.Allocate space on the destination datastore or datastore folder. n Network.Assign network on the network to which you assign the virtual machine. n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Customize guest on the virtual machine or virtual machine folder if you are customizing the guest operating system. n Virtual machine.Provisioning.Read customization specifications on the root vCenter Server if you are customizing the guest operating system. n If the virtual machine that you clone has an NVDIMM device and virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have an available PMem resource. Otherwise, you cannot proceed with the task n If the virtual machine that you clone does not have an NVDIMM device, but has virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have an available PMem resource. Otherwise, all hard disks of the destination virtual machine will use the storage policy and datastore selected for the configuration files of the source virtual machine. n To access customization options for Windows guest operating systems, Microsoft Sysprep tools must be installed on the vCenter Server system. Sysprep Tool is built into the Windows Vista and Windows 2008 and later operating systems. For details about this and other customization requirements, see Guest Operating System Customization Requirements. Procedure 1 Start the Clone Existing Virtual Machine wizard. Option Action From a valid parent object of a a Right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual virtual machine machine, such as a data center, cluster, vApp, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine. b On the Select a creation type page, select Clone an existing virtual machine, and click Next. c On the Select a virtual machine page, select the virtual machine that you want to clone. From a virtual machine Right-click a virtual machine and select Clone > Clone to Virtual Machine. 2 On the Select a name and folder page, enter a unique name for the new virtual machine, select a deployment location, and click Next. The template name determines the name of the files and folder on the disk. For example, if you name the template win8tmp, the template files are named win8tmp.vmdk, win8tmp.nvram, and so on. If you change the template name later, the names of the files on the datastore do not change. VMware by Broadcom 34 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Folders provide a way to store virtual machines and templates for different groups in an organization and you can set permissions on them. If you prefer a flatter hierarchy, you can put all virtual machines and templates in a data center and organize them in a different way. 3 On the Select a compute resource page, select the host, cluster, resource pool, or vApp where the virtual machine will run and click Next. The Compatibility pane shows the result from the compatibility checks. VMware by Broadcom 35 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration 4 On the Select storage page, select the datastore or datastore cluster in which to store the template configuration files and all virtual disks. Option Action Clone a virtual machine that has a Select the type of storage for the template by clicking the Standard, the vPMem hard disks PMem, or the Hybrid radio button. n If you select the Standard mode, all virtual disks are stored on a standard datastore. n If you select the PMem mode, all virtual disks are stored on the host-local PMem datastore. Configuration files cannot be stored on a PMem datastore and you must additionally select a regular datastore for the configuration files of the virtual machine. n If you select the Hybrid mode, all PMem virtual disks remain stored on a PMem datastore. Your choice of a VM storage policy and datastore or datastore cluster affects the non-PMem disks. b (Optional) From the Select virtual disk format drop-down menu, select a new virtual disk format for the template or keep the same format as the source virtual machine. c (Optional) From the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu, select a virtual machine storage policy or leave the default one. d Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. e Select the Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine check box if you do not want to use storage DRS with the virtual machine. f (Optional) Enable the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk. Clone a virtual machine that does a Select the disk format for the virtual machine virtual disks. not have vPMem hard disks n The Same format as source option uses the same disk format as the source virtual machine. n The Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed format creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. The space required for the virtual disk is allocated when the virtual disk is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out later, on demand, on first write from the virtual machine. n Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is a type of thick virtual disk that supports clustering features such as Fault tolerance. The space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the flat format, the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out when the virtual disk is created. It might take much longer to create disks in this format than to create other types of disks. n The Thin Provision format saves storage space. At first, a thin provisioned disk uses only as much datastore space as the disk initially needs. If the thin disk needs more space later, it can grow to the maximum capacity allocated to it. b (Optional) Select a VM storage policy or leave the default one. c Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. VMware by Broadcom 36 vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Option Action d (Optional) Enable the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk. 5 Click Next. 6 On the Select clone options page, select additional customization options for the new virtual machine and click Next. You can choose to customize the guest operating system or the virtual machine hardware. You can also choose to power on the virtual machine after its creation. 7 (Optional) On the Customize guest OS page, apply a customization specification to the virtual machine and click Next. Customizing the guest operating system prevents from conflicts that might occur if you or other users clone virtual machines with identical settings, such as duplicate computer names. Option Action Select an existing specification Select a customization specification from the list. Override To change the guest customization specification for this deployment only, click Override, complete the steps in the Override VM Customization Specification wizard, and click OK. 8 (Optional) On the User settings page, specify the required settings for the virtual machine. This page of the wizard appears only if the selected specification requires additional customization. 9 (Optional) On the Customize hardware page, configure the virtual machine hardware and options and click Next. You can leave the defaults and configure the virtual machine hardware and options later. Important If you chose to use PMem storage for the virtual machine, its default hard disk, the new hard disks that you configure, and the NVDIMM devices that you add to the virtual machine all share the same PMem resources. You must adjust the size of the newly added devices in accordance with the amount of the P