To see more information about a particular virtual machine and to modify its configuration, click the link to that virtual machine in the Display Name column on the Status Monitor page. The Virtual Machine Overview page appears in a new browser window.
The Virtual Machine Overview page contains these details about the virtual machine:
• The current power state of the virtual machine — whether it is powered on, powered off or suspended.
• The process ID of the virtual machine.
• The VMID of the virtual machine, which is the GSX Server version of the PID for a running virtual machine.
• The minimum, maximum and average percentage of GSX Server host processor capacity that the virtual machine used in the previous minute.
• The minimum, maximum and average amount of GSX Server host memory that the virtual machine used in the previous minute.
• How long the virtual machine has been running.
• The status of VMware Tools — whether VMware Tools is installed and running.
• The average percentage of heartbeats received by a virtual machine during the previous minute. See Monitoring the Virtual Machine’s Heartbeat on page 135.
• The IP address of the virtual machine.
• Links to edit the virtual machine’s hardware and standard configuration options.
Click Hardware to edit the virtual machine’s hardware. The Hardware page appears. Click Options to edit the virtual machine’s standard configuration options. The Options page appears. You can make changes to the virtual machine’s configuration in these places. To change most options, you must power off the virtual machine.
• The guest operating system installed in the virtual machine.
• The number of virtual processors in the virtual machine.
• The amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine.
• The path to the virtual machine’s configuration file on the GSX Server host.
Activities you can perform when viewing a virtual machine’s details include:
• Configuring a Virtual Machine’s Hardware on page 139
• Setting Standard Virtual Machine Configuration Options on page 141
• Modifying the Configuration File Directly (Advanced Users Only) on page 143
• Viewing a List of Connected Users on page 145
• Viewing a Log of a Virtual Machine’s Events on page 146
Configuring a Virtual Machine’s Hardware
To configure the virtual hardware inside a virtual machine, click the Hardware tab. The Hardware page appears.
The Hardware page lists the virtual hardware in the virtual machine — configured devices like the virtual disk; removable devices like floppy, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives; virtual network adapters and memory allocated to the virtual machine.
You can configure each virtual hardware component. Most hardware can be configured only when the virtual machine is powered off.
Activities you can perform when viewing a virtual machine’s hardware include:
• Configuring a Virtual Disk from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Configuring Virtual Machine Memory from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Configuring a Virtual Machine’s DVD-ROM or CD-ROM Drive from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Configuring a Virtual Machine’s Floppy Drive from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a New Virtual Disk from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding an Existing Virtual Disk from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding and Configuring a Virtual Network Adapter from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM Drive from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a Floppy Drive from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a Parallel Port from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a Serial Port from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Connecting to an Output File from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Connecting to an Application from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Connecting Two Virtual Machines from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a USB Controller from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Adding a Generic SCSI Device to a Virtual Machine from the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
• Removing Hardware Using the Management Interface in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
Click the tabs at the top of the page to view more information about the virtual machine.
Setting Standard Virtual Machine Configuration Options
To review and modify basic information about a virtual machine, or to access the configuration file directly, click the Options tab. The Options page appears.
The Options page displays the following virtual machine information:
• Display Name — identifies the virtual machine in a descriptive way.
• Guest Operating System — indicates the guest operating system installed on the virtual disk.
• Suspend File Location — specifies the location of the suspended state file; this file is created when you suspend a virtual machine. It contains information about the virtual machine’s state at the time at which it was suspended. GSX Server automatically adds a .vmss suffix to the name of the suspended state file to ensure that one virtual machine does not overwrite the suspended state file of another.
• Enable Logging — indicates whether logging is enabled.
• Run with Debugging Information — indicates whether the virtual machine is running with debugging information. It is useful to enable this option when you are experiencing problems with this virtual machine, as you can provide this information to VMware support to help troubleshoot those problems. However, enabling this setting affects virtual machine performance.
• At System Startup — indicates whether or not this virtual machine should start when the server starts. By default, virtual machines do not start automatically when the system starts up.
• Continue Starting Other Virtual Machines After — indicates the amount of
virtual machine. Settings for starting virtual machines include start when the server starts, do not wait to start, wait for a certain number of minutes to start and start when VMware Tools starts.
• At System Shutdown, Attempt to — sets the shutdown action for the virtual machine when the server is shut down. Settings for shutting down virtual machines include power off the virtual machine, shut down the guest operating system and suspend the virtual machine. By default, all virtual machines are powered off when the system shuts down.
• Continue Stopping Other Virtual Machines After — specifies the amount of time GSX Server waits after stopping the virtual machine before stopping another virtual machine. Settings for stopping virtual machines include the system default (specified in Configuring Startup and Shutdown Options for Virtual Machines on page 150), no wait or wait for a certain number of minutes.
• Verbose Options — allows you to enter and modify configuration file entries by hand. See Modifying the Configuration File Directly (Advanced Users Only) on page 143.
Changing Configuration Options
To change any standard virtual machine configuration options, complete the following steps.
1. Power off the virtual machine and click Edit. The Options Configuration page appears.
Note: You can change the display name when the virtual machine is running.
2. To change the display name, type the new name in the Display Name field.
3. To change the guest operating system (for example, if you are upgrading the guest operating system installed in the virtual machine), select the new guest operating system from the Guest Operating System list.
4. To change the location of the suspended state file, type the path to the directory
5. To change whether logging is enabled for the virtual machine, check (to enable) or clear (to disable) the Enable Logging check box.
6. To change whether the virtual machine is running with debugging information, check (to enable) or clear (to disable) the Run with Debugging Information check box.
7. Click OK to save your changes and close the window.
Modifying the Configuration File Directly (Advanced Users Only)
If you need to add or change a virtual machine’s configuration option that cannot be accessed from elsewhere in the management interface, you can edit the virtual machine’s configuration file (.vmx) from the Options tab.
Caution: You should not add or change any options in your configuration file unless you have been given specific instructions about an option in another part of the user documentation, or if you are working with VMware support to solve an issue with your virtual machine.
To add an option to the configuration file, make sure you are logged on to the management interface as the virtual machine user or as a user with the proper permissions to modify this virtual machine (such as the Administrator or root user), then complete the following steps. Make sure the virtual machine is powered off.
1. Under Verbose Options, click the click here link. The Options page appears.
2. Click Add.
3. A prompt appears. Enter a name for the option, then click OK.
4. Another prompt appears. Enter a value for option you specified, then click OK.
5. Click OK in the Options page to save the change to the configuration file.
To change an option in the configuration file, complete the following steps.
1. Under Verbose Options, click the click here link. The Options page appears.
2. Locate the option you want to change, then change the value in the entry field to the right of the option.
3. Click OK to save your change and close the Options page.
Viewing a List of Connected Users
To see a list of users who are connected to a virtual machine with a console or VMware Scripting API, click the Users and Events tab.
The list under Remote Console Connections identifies any users connected to the virtual machine with a console or VMware Scripting API. The list includes the time and IP address from which the user connected to the virtual machine and the status of the user’s activity.
Note: You can determine which users are connected to a running virtual machine from the console; choose VM > Connected Users.
The list under Permissions indicates what you can do with the virtual machine. You are either allowed or denied the following abilities:
• Viewing virtual machine status.
• Modifying the virtual machine’s configuration.
• Controlling the virtual machine — powering it on or off, suspending or resuming it.
Viewing a Log of a Virtual Machine’s Events
A log of the 25 most recent virtual machine events is available. Click the Users and Events tab. The Users and Events page appears.
The Events list displays a log of the most recent actions or events recorded in the virtual machine, such as the questions GSX Server asks, any errors and the powering on or off the virtual machine. Events appear in reverse chronological order; that is, the most recent events appear first in the list.
The event log draws its data from the log file for the virtual machine's configuration file. The log file is stored, by default, in the virtual machine's directory. On a Windows host, this directory is <installdrive>:\Virtual Machines\<guestOS>.
On a Linux host, this directory is
/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines/<guestOS>.
Sometimes you see a waiting for input message appears as a link in the Display Name column. This link appears when you perform an action in the management interface that prompts the virtual machine to generate a message; you must respond to the message before the virtual machine can proceed. When you click that link, a prompt appears, where you can enter a response. After you provide your answer, the prompt closes. Your response appears in the Events list.
The log shows the date and time the event occurred and an explanation of the event.
Some events have a symbol associated with them that corresponds to the type of event that occurred.
— This type of event indicates the virtual machine generated a question or warning.
— This type of event indicates an error occurred in the virtual machine.
Note: On Windows hosts, the host operating system’s Event Viewer tracks virtual machine power state changes, GSX Server messages and answers to prompts that appear in the virtual machine. For more information, see Logging GSX Server Events on Windows on page 125.