The Configure General Settings page allows you to adjust the main settings for your virtual
machines. If the virtual machine was created singularly, you might have provided it with a name and a description. If the virtual machine was one of virtual machines created as a group, providing names and descriptions were not available.
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Note: If you change the configuration of a running virtual machine, you can choose when to apply the changes - immediately after saving the changes or later when you stop/restart the virtual machine. Use the Restart group settings.
In the Preferences group, you can change the name or description of a virtual machine created singularly, or assign a name and a description to a mass-produced virtual machine. You can also view where the virtual machine configuration file is stored. Additionally, the group includes the following settings:
Hostname. Assign and change the virtual machine hostname. A hostname is a unique name under which the virtual machine is visible on the global network, meanwhile the virtual machine name is used within the PVA system only. The virtual machine hostname cannot be longer than 32 valid symbols.
Guest Tools Autoupdate. Ticking off the check-box ensures, that Parallels tools are kept updated, and a new update is offered to install every time it is available.
The Host System Integration section allows you to configure the parameters responsible for integration between the virtual machine being created and the physical server. This group of settings includes the following subgroups:
• Run VM Under Host User Account. This subgroup enables you to define the user account under which the created virtual machine will be started. You can choose one of the following options:
• Administrative Account. Select this option if you wish to run the virtual machine with the PVA Administrator's rights.
• Other User. Select this option if wish to run the virtual machine as a non-administrator PVA user. In this case, you will need to specify the corresponding user credentials in the fields below this option.
• Service Default Account. Select this option if you wish to run the virtual machine under the same PVA user account under which you are launching Parallels Management Console.
• Host Startup and Shutdown. This subgroup allows you to define a number of parameters related to the procedures of starting and shutting down the physical server. The parameters that can be specified in this subgroup are described in the table below:
On Host Startup
Do nothing Select this option if you do not want your virtual machine to
start automatically when you turn on the physical server hosting this virtual machine.
Start Virtual Machine Select this option if you want the virtual machine to start automatically when you turn on the physical server hosting this virtual machine.
Restore Previous State Select this option if you want the virtual machine to start in the same mode that was applied to it at the time the physical server was turned off.
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On Host Shutdown
Stop Virtual Machine Select this option if you want the virtual machine to be stopped when you turn off the physical server hosting it.
Shut down Virtual Machine Select this option if you want the virtual machine to shut down when you turn off the physical computer hosting it.
Suspend Virtual Machine Select this option if you want the virtual machine to be suspended when you turn off the physical server hosting it.
• Optimization Settings. This subgroup allows you to define the priority of distributing the bare metal physical server resources
Optimize for. Define whether the virtual machine or the hosting server processes should have priority for host resource consumption.
• Virtual machine. Select this option to allocate more resources to the virtual machine and its applications. Selecting this option may significantly increase the virtual machine
performance; however, it may slow down the work of the bare metal computer.
• Host Computer. Select this option to allocate more resources to the Parallels Server bare metal physical server and its applications. In this case, the resources usage will be optimized to provide better performance of bare metal physical server.
Disk I/O Priority. Priority level of the virtual machine disk I/O operations in comparison to those of other virtual environments allocated on this physical server. The allowed range is 0-7. The greater the priority, the more time the virtual environment has for writing to and reading from the disk. The default priority is 4.
Disk I/O Limit, Bps. Disk I/O bandwidth limit in bytes per second. The default value is 0 which stands for unlimited bandwidth.
Disk I/O Limit, Nps. Disk IOPS limit in operations per second. The default value is 0 which stands for unlimited IOPS.
The Remote Display group allows you to configure the settings to be used to remotely control your virtual machine via the VNC protocol.
• Enabled with default settings. Use the network settings of the host physical server to connect to the virtual machine via the VNC protocol. To learn the physical server settings, go to Network pane of the physical server itself.
• Enabled with custom settings. This option, if selected, allows you to specify your own connection parameters when connecting to the virtual machine via the VNC protocol. In this case you should specify the following parameters:
IP address The IP address of the server where the virtual machine is
hosted.
Beginning of the Ports Range The port to be used by the virtual machine. The VNC protocol uses ports 5900 through 5906.
Type password
Retype password Indicate and confirm the password to be used for viewing the virtual machine desktop in the VNC client application.
• Disabled. Forbid using the VNC protocol for connecting to the virtual machine.
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The Offline Services Management group of settings lets you enable the virtual machine management through Parallels Power Panel and/or Parallels Plesk Control Panel irrespective of the virtual machine state, running or stopped. Offline services of the corresponding virtual machine ensure the virtual machine manageability by means of one or more offline services from any
browser at its own IP address. After offline service is enabled for the virtual machine, one port of its IP addresses becomes permanently active irrespective of the virtual machine state.
Note: The virtual machine should have either the Bridged or the Host-Only network adapter to support the offline service management.
• Disabled. The offline management is turned off. The virtual machine can be accessed through the Parallels Power Panel and Parallels Plesk Control Panel only if it is in the running state.
• Enabled With Default Settings. The offline management is turned on with the physical server settings being used as default ones. Both control panels have ports and enabled.
• Enabled With Custom Settings. The offline management is turned on. Choose those control panels that you will use to manage the virtual machine.
The Restart group is available if you configure a running virtual machine. It allows you to decide when to apply the changes.
• The Restart the Virtual Machine to apply the changes immediately check box is selected.
The changes will be applied immediately after you click the Submit button. The virtual machine will be stopped and then started again.
The Restart the Virtual Machine to apply the changes immediately check box is cleared. The changes will be saved when you click the Submit button but will not be applied to the virtual machine. The changes will be applied on the first time the virtual machine is stopped or restarted.