For more information about the VMware Management Interface, go to www.vmware.com/support/gsx3/doc/.
There are four ways you can use serial ports with your virtual machines. They include:
For more information about using serial ports in virtual machines, see www.vmware.com/support/gsx3/doc/devices_serial_gsx.html.
You can set up the virtual serial port in a virtual machine to use a physical serial port on the host computer. This is useful, for example, if you want to use an external modem or a hand-held device in your virtual machine.
To install a virtual serial port that connects to a physical serial port on the host computer, take the following steps with the virtual machine powered off.
Note: If you are connecting with a Windows console to add a physical serial port to a virtual machine on a remote Linux host, be sure to specify a Linux device name here, such as /dev/ttyS0. If you are connecting with a Linux console to add a physical serial port to a virtual machine on a remote Windows host, be sure to specify a Windows device name here, such as COM1.
This option is useful when the serial port is being used by the guest operating system in polled mode as opposed to interrupt mode. Polled mode causes the virtual machine to consume a disproportionate share of CPU time. This makes the host and other guests run sluggishly. To restore performance for applications on the host, check the Yield CPU on poll check box. This configuration option forces the affected virtual machine to yield processor time if the only task it is trying to do is poll the virtual serial port.
You can set up the virtual serial port in a virtual machine to send its output to a file on the host computer. This is useful, for example, if you want to capture the data a program running in the virtual machine sends to the virtual serial port or if you need a quick way to transfer a file from the guest to the host.
To install a virtual serial port that connects to a file on the host computer, take the following steps with the virtual machine powered off.
This option is useful when the serial port is being used by the guest operating system in polled mode as opposed to interrupt mode. Polled mode causes the virtual machine to consume a disproportionate share of CPU time. This makes the host and other guests run sluggishly. To restore performance for applications on the host, check the Yield CPU on poll check box. This configuration option forces the affected virtual machine to yield processor time if the only task it is trying to do is poll the virtual serial port.
You can set up the virtual serial port in a virtual machine to connect to an application on the host computer. This is useful, for example, if you want to use an application on the host to capture debugging information sent from the virtual machine's serial port.
To install a direct serial connection between an application on the host and a virtual machine, take the following steps with the virtual machine powered off.
For a serial pipe on a Windows host, the pipe name must follow the form \\.\pipe\<namedpipe> that is, it must begin with \\.\pipe\. For a serial pipe on a Linux host, enter /tmp/<socket> or another Unix socket name of your choice.
If you are using a Windows console to connect to a virtual machine on a remote Linux host, be sure to specify a Linux pipe name here, such as /tmp/<pipe>. If you are using a Linux console to connect to a virtual machine on a remote Windows host, be sure to specify a Windows pipe name here, such as \\.\pipe\<namedpipe>.
This option is useful when the serial port is being used by the guest operating system in polled mode as opposed to interrupt mode. Polled mode causes the virtual machine to consume a disproportionate share of CPU time. This makes the host and other guests run sluggishly. To restore performance for applications on the host, check the Yield CPU on poll check box. This configuration option forces the affected virtual machine to yield processor time if the only task it is trying to do is poll the virtual serial port.
You can set up the virtual serial ports in two virtual machines to connect to each other. This is useful, for example, if you want to use an application in one virtual machine to capture debugging information sent from the other virtual machine's serial port.
To install a direct serial connection between two virtual machines (a server and a client), take the following steps with the virtual machine powered off.
Note: Make sure you performs these steps twice, once for the server virtual machine and once for the client virtual machine.
For a serial pipe on a Windows host, the pipe name must follow the form \\.\pipe\<namedpipe> that is, it must begin with \\.\pipe\.
For a serial pipe on a Linux host, enter /tmp/<socket> or another Unix socket name of your choice.
Note: If you are using a Windows console to connect to a virtual machine on a remote Linux host, be sure to specify a Linux pipe name here, such as /tmp/<pipe>. If you are using a Linux console to connect to a virtual machine on a remote Windows host, be sure to specify a Windows pipe name here, such as \\.\pipe\<namedpipe>.
For the client virtual machine, select This end is the client.
This option is useful when the serial port is being used by the guest operating system in polled mode as opposed to interrupt mode. Polled mode causes the virtual machine to consume a disproportionate share of CPU time. This makes the host and other guests run sluggishly. To restore performance for applications on the host, check the Yield CPU on poll check box. This configuration option forces the affected virtual machine to yield processor time if the only task it is trying to do is poll the virtual serial port.