Configuring Virtual Devices

In Parallels Server Bare Metal, you can use the --device-set option of the pctl set command to configure the parameters of an existing virtual device. As a rule, the process of configuring the device properties includes two steps:

1. Finding out the name of the device you want to configure.
2. Running the pctl set command to configure the necessary device properties.

Finding Out Device Names

To configure a virtual device, you need to specify its name when running the pctl set command. If you do not know the device name, you can use the pctl list command to learn it. For example, to obtain the list of virtual devices in the MyVM virtual machine, run this command:

# pctl list --info MyVM

...

Hardware:

cpu 2 VT-x accl=high mode=32

memory 256Mb

video 46Mb

fdd0 (+) real='/dev/fd0' state=disconnected

hdd0 (+) sata:0 image='/var/parallels/MyVM.pvm/harddisk.hdd' 27000Mb

hdd1 (+) scsi:0 image='/var/parallels/MyVM.pvm/harddisk1.hdd' 32768Mb

cdrom0 (+) ide:1 real='Default CD/DVD-ROM'

parallel0 (+) real='/dev/lp0'

usb (+)

net0 (+) type=bridged iface='eth1' mac=001C4201CED0

...

All virtual devices currently available to the virtual machine are listed under Hardware . In our case the MyVM virtual machine has the following devices: 2 CPUs, main memory, video memory, a floppy disk drive, 2 hard disk drives, a CD/DVD-ROM drive, a parallel port, a USB controller, and a network card.

Configuring Virtual Devices

Once you know the virtual device name, you can configure its properties. For example, you can execute the following command to configure the current type of the virtual disk hdd1 in the MyVM virtual machine from SATA to SCSI:

# pctl set MyVM --device-set hdd1 --iface scsi

The VM has been successfully configured.

To check that the virtual disk type has been successfully changed, use the pctl list --info command:

# pctl list --info MyVM

...

hdd0 (+) scsi:1 image='/var/parallels/MyVM.pvm/harddisk.hdd' 85000Mb

...

Connecting and Disconnecting Virtual Devices

In Parallels Server Bare Metal, you can connect or disconnect certain devices when a virtual machine is running. These devices include:

• SATA hard drives
• CD/DVD-ROM drives
• floppy disk drives
• network adapters
• printer ports
• serial ports
• sound devices
• USB devices
• shared folders

Usually, all virtual devices are automatically connected to a virtual machine when you create them. To disconnect a device from the virtual machine, you can use the pctl set command. For example, the following command disconnects the CD/DVD-ROM drive cdrom0 from the MyVM virtual machine:

# pctl set MyVM --device-disconnect cdrom0

Disconnect device: cdrom0

The VM has been successfully configured.

To connect the CD/DVD-ROM drive back, you can run the following command:

# pctl set MyVM --device-connect cdrom0

Connect device: cdrom0

The VM has been successfully configured.