VMware GSX Server 3 Administration, Administration Manual

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C H A P T E R 4 Managing Virtual Machines and the VMware GSX Server Host
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Interacting with a Virtual Machine
Interacting with a virtual machine lets you change its power state (power it on or off,
suspend or resume it) and connect or disconnect removable devices. You cannot
change the virtual machine’s configuration. Among other restrictions, this means you
cannot add or remove virtual hardware.
Your user name appears in the VMware Management Interface and in the Connected
Users dialog box, which you access in the VMware Virtual Machine Console by
choosing
VM > Connected Users .
To interact with a virtual machine, you must have Read & Execute permission for the
virtual machine’s configuration file on a Windows host, or read and execute (
r
and
x
)
permissions on a Linux host.
Configuring a Virtual Machine
Configuring a virtual machine lets you add and remove virtual hardware to and from
the virtual machine.
To configure a virtual machine, you must have Read and Write permissions for the
virtual machine’s configuration file and virtual machine resources (such as a physical
disk or certain devices) on a Windows host, or read and write (
r
and
w
) permissions on
a Linux host.
Administering Virtual Machines and the GSX Server Host
An administrator or root user can configure the GSX Server host and any virtual
machines on the host. For example, you can enable SSL for console connections or
change the amount of host memory allocated for all virtual machines.
To administer a virtual machine on a Windows host, your user account must be a
member of the host’s Administrators group. On a Linux host, you should have root
access to the directories containing virtual machine files.
Alternatively, your user account can have Read & Execute and Write permissions on
a Windows host, or read, write and execute (
r
,
w
and
x
) permissions on a Linux host to
a particular virtual machine.
If You Have No Permissions
If you have no permissions for the virtual machine’s configuration file, then you
cannot connect to the virtual machine at all. On a Windows host, if a permission is
both allowed and denied, the denial takes precedence. If permissions are neither
allowed nor denied, then you are considered to have no permissions.