VMware GSX 3 - Manual (Page 231)

C H A P T E R 8 Glossary
231
drives or CD-ROM drives.
See also Shrink.
Virtual disk — A virtual disk is a file or set of files that appears as a physical disk drive
to a guest operating system. These files can be on the host machine or on a remote
file system. When you configure a virtual machine with a virtual disk, you can install a
new operating system into the disk file without needing to repartition a physical disk
or reboot the host. Virtual disks can be preallocated or growable. A preallocated virtual
disk has all the disk space allocated at the time the virtual disk is created. A growable
disk is not preallocated; its files start out small in size and grow as data is written to it.
See also Physical disk.
Virtual hardware — The devices that comprise a virtual machine. The virtual
hardware includes the virtual disk, the removable devices such as the DVD-ROM/CD-
ROM and floppy drives, and the virtual Ethernet adapter. You configure these devices
with the virtual machine settings editor.
Virtual machine — A virtualized x86 PC environment in which a guest operating
system and associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can
operate on the same host machine concurrently.
Virtual machine configuration — The specification of what virtual devices (disks,
memory size, and so forth) are present in a virtual machine and how they are mapped
to host files and devices.
Virtual machine configuration file — A file containing a virtual machine
configuration. It is created when you create the virtual machine. It is used by GSX
Server to identify and run a specific virtual machine.
Virtual machine settings editor — A point-and-click control panel used to view
and modify a virtual machine’s settings. You launch it by choosing VM > Settings.
See also New Virtual Machine Wizard.
Virtual Network Editor — A point-and-click editor used to view and modify the
networking settings for the virtual networks created by GSX Server. You launch by
choosing Host > Virtual Network Settings.
VMware Authorization Service — The service VMware GSX Server employs to
authenticate users. The process is called vmware-authd on Linux hosts.
VMware Management Interface — A browser-based tool that allows you to
control (start, suspend, resume, reset and stop), configure and monitor virtual
machines and the server on which they run.