VMware GSX 3 - Manual (Page 120)

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VMware GSX Server Administration Guide
Note: Virtual machines and their resources (such as virtual disks, physical disks,
devices and snapshot files) should be located in areas accessible to their users.
If a vmware process is not running for this configuration file, vmware-authd
checks to see if this virtual machine is in the inventory. If the virtual machine is in the
inventory, vmware-authd becomes the owner of the configuration file (not
necessarily the user that is currently authenticated) and starts the console with this
configuration file as an argument (for example,
vmware /<path_to_config>/<configfile>.vmx ).
The vmware-authd process exits as soon as a connection is established to a
vmware process and at least one user has connected. Each vmware process shuts
down automatically after the last user disconnects.
Default Permissions
When you create a virtual machine with GSX Server on a Linux host, its configuration
file is assigned the following default permissions, based on the user accessing it:
• Read, execute and write (7) — for the user who created the configuration file
(the owner)
• Read and execute (5) — for the primary group to which the owner belongs
• Read (4) — for users other than the owner or a member of the owner's group
When you first install the GSX Server software and run the configuration program
vmware-config.pl , you can set these permissions for any existing virtual
machine configuration files. If you plan to use a virtual machine and its configuration
file you created in other VMware products with GSX Server, you must open the
configuration file (choose File > Open Virtual Machine) in order to connect to the
virtual machine from the VMware Virtual Machine Console or the VMware
Management Interface, then set the default permissions as above.
Creating Virtual Machines on NFS Shares
If the virtual machine is located on an NFS share, make sure the root user has access to
the location of the virtual machine files. Otherwise, you may encounter problems
configuring the virtual machine.
If you create a virtual machine on an NFS share to which the root user has no access,
certain operations do not work when the virtual machine is not running. For example,
you cannot revert to a snapshot, add or remove devices to or from the virtual
machine, or otherwise change the virtual machine’s configuration.