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Multiple Virtual Machines and Shared File Access

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Saturday, April 11, 2020 9:58 AM

Hi,

I have few VMs (VM1,VM2...VMn). What will be best practice for file /data storage so all all VMs can access data /files simultaneously without impacting the performance? A network share ? Storage Space Direct or to ensure quality without any performance issues shall make available data across all VMs (same data but copied to each VM).

Having files /data available across all VMs because in this case it will be required to copy new files on several locations?

N.A.Malik

All replies (5)

Saturday, April 11, 2020 11:23 AM

 
You can enable shared folders for a specific virtual machine. Here are the steps:

  1. Choose the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings:

  2. Go to the Options tab and select the Shared Folders option:

  3. Under Folder sharing, choose a sharing option. Two options are available:

Always enabled – keeps folder sharing enabled, even when the virtual machine is shut down, suspended, or powered off.
Enabled until next power off or suspend – enable folder sharing temporarily, until the virtual machine is shut down, suspended, or powered off. Note that if the virtual machine is restarted, shared folders will remain enabled.
4. (Optional) You can also map the drive to the Shared Folders directory that contains all shared folders. To do that, select the Map as a network drive in Windows guests option.

  1. Click Add to add a share folder:

add shared folder

  1. The Add Shared Folder Wizard opens. Click Next to Continue:

add shared folder wizard

  1. Type the path on the host system to the directory you want to share and specify its name:

add shared folder path

  1. Select shared folder options:

Enable this share – enables the shared folder. Deselect this option when you want to disable the shared folder without deleting it from the virtual machine configuration.
Read-only – makes the shared folder read-only. The windows virtual desktop can view and copy files from the shared folder, but it cannot add, change, or remove files.

Saturday, April 11, 2020 4:55 PM

Thank for reply, will check that out in Lab.

So I have multiple VMS, I have to do the same of all VMs? If yes, next question is can we copy once and paste on all VM shares?

N.A.Malik

Friday, April 17, 2020 8:50 AM

Hi N A Malik,

>What will be best practice for file /data storage so all all VMs can access data /files simultaneously without impacting the performance?

It's recommended to set a file share server to store the files, then share the folder to users.

However, if users read/write the shared at the same time, no matter network speed and disk I/O will be impacted.

As for Storage Space direct, it's mainly used for failover cluster storage. We may use Storage Space to store shared files on the file server.

Thanks for your time!

Best Regards,

Anne

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Saturday, April 18, 2020 2:21 AM

 
You can enable shared folders for a specific virtual machine. Here are the steps:

  1. Choose the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings:

  2. Go to the Options tab and select the Shared Folders option:

  3. Under Folder sharing, choose a sharing option. Two options are available:

Always enabled – keeps folder sharing enabled, even when the virtual machine is shut down, suspended, or powered off.
Enabled until next power off or suspend – enable folder sharing temporarily, until the virtual machine is shut down, suspended, or powered off. Note that if the virtual machine is restarted, shared folders will remain enabled.
4. (Optional) You can also map the drive to the Shared Folders directory that contains all shared folders. To do that, select the Map as a network drive in Windows guests option.

  1. Click Add to add a share folder:

add shared folder

  1. The Add Shared Folder Wizard opens. Click Next to Continue:

add shared folder wizard

  1. Type the path on the host system to the directory you want to share and specify its name:

add shared folder path

  1. Select shared folder options:

Enable this share – enables the shared folder. Deselect this option when you want to disable the shared folder without deleting it from the virtual machine configuration.
Read-only – makes the shared folder read-only. The windows virtual desktop can view and copy files from the shared folder, but it cannot add, change, or remove files.

Don't see such options, what may be done wrong?

Saturday, April 18, 2020 2:25 AM

Hi N A Malik,

>What will be best practice for file /data storage so all all VMs can access data /files simultaneously without impacting the performance?

It's recommended to set a file share server to store the files, then share the folder to users.

However, if users read/write the shared at the same time, no matter network speed and disk I/O will be impacted.

As for Storage Space direct, it's mainly used for failover cluster storage. We may use Storage Space to store shared files on the file server.

Thanks for your time!

Best Regards,

Anne

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Thanks Anne for your contribution.

Actually I am asking for the advise /best practice for the above mentioned scenario where the file(s) are being shared among several users at the same time (permissions is not the constraint at the time being).

The next part of the question was how to make such shared files across multiple VMs? Copy files across all VMs or there is any automated way that copy on one location and replicates to several locations?