VMware Workstation Player glossary
Here is the glossary of the most important terms used throughout this course:
Autologin – a feature in Player that enables to you log in automatically to a Windows virtual machine.
bridged networking – a networking configuration in which a virtual machine is connected to a network by using the network adapter on the host system. A virtual machine is an unique identity on the network, unrelated to the host system. It has its own IP address and can communicate with other computers on the network, as if it is a physical computer on the network.
Compact – an option in Player that enable you to compact a virtual hard disk in order to reclaim unused space.
Copy and Paste – a feature in Player that enables you to easily cut, copy, and paste text and files between applications running on the host system and applications running in a virtual machine.
Damn Small Linux – a Linux distribution used in this book, notable for its small size (only 50MB).
Defragment – an option in Player that enables you to defragment a virtual hard disk in order to improve performance.
Drag-and-Drop – a feature in Player that enables you to easily move files between the host system and virtual machines.
Easy Install feature – a feature in Player for automating the guest operating system installation.
Enhanced virtual keyboard – a feature in Player that offers better handling of international (non-US) keyboards and keyboards with extra keys.
Expand – an option in Player that enable you to expand a virtual hard disk to get more storage space.
guest operating system – the OS installed in a virtual machine.
host-only networking – a networking configuration in which a network completely contained within the host computer is created. This networking configuration provides a network connection between the virtual machine and the host system by using a virtual network adapter that is visible on the host operating system.
host operating system – the physical machine on which you install Player.
hypervisor – a software component that enables virtual machines to interact with installed hardware.
Intel VT-x – Intel’s technology for virtualization that needs to be enabled in BIOS in order to run VMware Workstation Player.
ISO image – a single file that replicates the contents of an optical disc. ISO files are used to distribute large programs over the Internet, including operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Linux.
Isochronous USB devices – USB devices such as modems, speakers and webcams, that require timing coordination in order to work correctly.
Legacy Emulation Mode – the setting in Player that enables you to work around direct communication problems between a guest operating system and a DVD/CDROM drive.
Message Log – the log that each VM includes. It contains various warning information, such as driver and display errors.
NAT device – a virtual device that passes network data between virtual machines and the external network, identifies incoming data packets intended for each virtual machine, and sends them to the appropriate destination.
NAT networking – a networking configuration in which a VM does not have its own IP address on the external network. Instead, a separate private network is set up on the host system and a virtual machine gets its IP address on this private network from the virtual DHCP server. The virtual machine and the host system share a single network identity that is not visible on the external network.
Perl – a cross-platform programming language. Required in order to install VMware Tools in Linux.
Shared folders – a feature in Player that enables you to share files between the virtual machines and the host system.
Suspend – a feature in Player that enables you to save the current state of a virtual machine and recover it at the later stage.
type 1 hypervisor – a hypervisor that runs directly on the host’s hardware to control the hardware and manage guest operating systems.
type 2 hypervisor – a hypervisor that runs on a conventional operating system, just like any other computer program. VMware Workstation Player is an example of a type 2 hypervisor.
USB HIDs (human interface devices) – a device class for human interface devices such as keyboards, mice, and game controllers. By default, these devices do not appear in the Removable Devices menu in a virtual machine.
Unity Mode – a feature in Player that enables you to display applications from virtual machines directly on the host system desktop.
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) – a unique identifier for a VM that ensures that the virtual machine is properly identified.
virtual appliances – prebuilt and preconfigured virtual machine images that can be deployed on VMware Workstation Player. They are usually packaged in the OVA (Open Virtualization Format) format or come as a zip file containing a virtual disk file (.vmdk) and a .vmx configuration file.
virtual DHCP server – a virtual device that assigns IP addresses to virtual machines in the host-only and NAT networking configurations.
virtual disk – a file (or a set of files) on the host system that appears as a physical disk drive to the guest operating system. Virtual hard disk files store information such as the operating system, program files, and data files. They have a .vmdk extension.
virtual machine – a software computer that, just like a physical computer, runs an operating system and executes programs.
virtual network adapter – a network adapter for the guest OS, created during the VM creation.
Virtual SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) – an option in Player that enables a single virtual machine to use two or more processors simultaneously.
virtual switch – a virtual device used to connect networking components together, just like its physical counterpart.
vmware.log – the log file for a VM, stored in the VM’s directory on the host system.
VMware Tools – a free set of drivers and utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves management of virtual machines in VMware Workstation Player.
working directory of a VM – the directory in which the suspended state (<VM name>.vmss), snapshot (<VM name>.vmsn), virtual machine paging (<VM name>.vmem), and redo log files for a virtual machine are stored.
