For more information about the VMware Management Interface, go to www.vmware.com/support/esx2/doc/.


 

Creating a New Virtual Machine from the Management Interface
Creating a New Virtual Machine from the Management Interface

You can create new virtual machines from the VMware Management Interface. The process sets up a new configuration for each virtual machine you create in this fashion. The virtual machines you create are located on the server to which you are currently logged in.

By default, the new virtual machine includes a SCSI disk in persistent disk mode; the floppy and CD-ROM drives are enabled automatically, but you can disable them.

Note: You can only use ASCII characters in the entry fields when creating a virtual machine with the management interface. Thus, the virtual machine's display name and path cannot contain non-ASCII characters.

As with any other virtual machine, you can change any configuration settings on the Hardware and Options tabs in the virtual machine's details page in the management interface.

Creating a Virtual Machine
Creating a Virtual Machine

The Add Virtual Machine wizard guides you through the basic steps needed to create a virtual machine on your server. Any user who has an account on the server's service console may log in to the wizard and create a virtual machine. If you are logged in as root, you may wish to log out at this point, then log in again as a user authorized to manage the new virtual machine.

Note: Check for any VMkernel ALERT messages in the warning log files before creating a new virtual machine. See Configuring Advanced Settings.

To create a virtual machine from the VMware Management Interface, complete the following steps.

  1. On the Status Monitor page, click Add Virtual Machine. The Add Virtual Machine wizard starts.
  2. Choose the guest operating system for your virtual machine. Corresponding default entries appear for the name of the virtual machine and the name of its configuration file. You can change these settings.

    The name you enter in the Display Name field is the name that is listed in the VMware Management Interface. Be sure to enter a name that allows you to distinguish this virtual machine from others you have created or plan to create.

    Be sure that the entry in the Location field is unique. The default path and filename are based on the guest operating system you have chosen. If other virtual machines have been created on this server, you must change the path to create a new, unique directory for the new virtual machine.

    The Location field contains the name of the configuration file (this file has a .vmx extension; this directory also contains other virtual machine files).

    Note: Configuration files for virtual machines created with VMware ESX Server 2.0 use the .vmx extension. Earlier versions of ESX Server used the .cfg extension. Virtual machine configuration files with a .cfg extension can be accessed by ESX Server 2.0 normally.

    When you are ready to proceed, click Next.

  3. In the Processors list, choose the number of virtual processors in your virtual machine. You may choose 1 or 2 virtual processors, but the number of virtual processors must be less than or equal to the number of physical processors on your server.

    Note: Some guest operating systems, such as Windows NT, can be configured with a single processor only. If you are configuring such a virtual machine, a note indicates this and you cannot select more than one virtual processor.

    Note: You can create dual-virtual processor virtual machines only if you have purchased the VMware Virtual SMP product. For more information on this product, contact VMware, Inc. or your authorized sales representative.

    The default setting in the Memory entry field depends on the guest operating system you have selected. You may need to change it to meet the demands of applications you plan to run in the virtual machine. You may change this setting later, on the virtual machine's Memory tab in the management interface. See Configuring a Virtual Machine's Memory and Virtual Processors.

    For background on allocating memory to virtual machines, see www.vmware.com/support/esx2/doc/esx20admin_res-memory-manage.html.

    When you are ready to proceed, click Next.

  4. Choose the type of virtual disk you want to add to the virtual machine.

    The setup process allows you to create one virtual disk for your virtual machine. You can add more virtual disks later, using the virtual machine's Hardware in the management interface. See Configuring a Virtual Machine's Virtual Disks.

  5. When you are finished configuring the virtual disk, click Next. The Hardware tab for this virtual machine appears.

    You can change any of the default settings ESX Server assigned to the virtual machine (such as the disk mode, network card, color depth and any removable devices) or configuration items you specified as you create the virtual machine. To change any hardware, see Configuring a Virtual Machine's Hardware.