About the Virtual Machine Manager Library
The Virtual Machine Manager library is a catalog of resources used to create and configure virtual machines in Virtual Machine Manager. The library contains files stored on library shares, and it contains operating system, hardware, and template configurations stored in the Virtual Machine Manager database. Library resources are added, created, used, and managed in library view.
Types of Library Resources
The library can store the following types of resources:
- File-based resources such as virtual hard disks, virtual floppy disks, ISO images, and scripts. To be used in Virtual Machine Manager, a file must be added to the library. This requires storing the file on a library server on a designated library share. For more information, see Adding File-Based Resources to the Library.
- Virtual machine templates, hardware profiles, and guest operating system profiles, which are configured in Library view for use in creating standard virtual machines. These configurations are stored in the Virtual Machine Manager database but are not represented by physical configuration files. For more information, see Configuring Profiles and Templates.
- Virtual machines that are not in use. The virtual machines are displayed in Library view. However, the files for a stored virtual machine are not indexed in the library because the files cannot be used to create or configure new virtual machines.
Distributing Resources Among Multiple Library Servers
The Virtual Machine Manager library initially contains a single library share, which is created on the Virtual Machine Manager server during Setup. To distribute your file-based resources among multiple servers, you can add library servers and library shares. For more information, see How to Add a Library Server and How to Add Library Shares.
Refreshing the Library
The files on library shares are indexed in Virtual Machine Manager during library refreshes. After copying files to a share in the library, you can either refresh that library share manually, to immediately make the new resources available, or wait until the next periodic library refresh. By default, library refreshes are performed once every hour; you can change the refresh rate or disable automatic library refreshes by updating Library Settings in Administration view. For more information, see How to Refresh a Library Share and How to Configure Library Refreshes.
Viewing Resources in Library View
For ease of managing library resources, you can organize your library servers into custom library groups. The library group is a property of the library server. For each value that you enter, a folder is created in the navigation pane. You can use library groups to organize library servers in whatever way meets your needs. If you do not specify a library group for a library server, the server is added to Library Server, the root node in Library view.
In Library view, some adjustments were made to the standard navigation pane to display all types of resources that the library makes available, including files indexed on library shares and database objects. For ease of managing large sets of resources, filters also are provided.
Navigating the Tree
The navigation pane in Library view includes two types of node. The tree displays library servers and library shares hierarchically. To view file-based resources, you can navigate to the folder on the library share that contains the resource.
The tree also contains special nodes for resources that are not associated with physical files indexed in the library. These resources include guest operating system profiles, hardware profiles, and templates, which are database objects, and virtual machines, whose virtual disks and virtual machine configuration file are not indexed in the library.
The following table describes where to find each type of resource in the tree.
| Resource Type | Navigation Pane Location |
|---|---|
Virtual hard disks, virtual floppy disks, ISO images, and scripts |
Library share that stores the file. |
Virtual machine templates |
Virtual Machines and Templates folder for the library server on which the base .vhd for the template is stored. |
Stored virtual machines |
Virtual Machines and Templates folder for the library server on which the virtual machine is stored. The physical files for the virtual machine are not indexed in the library because you cannot use them in virtual machine configuration and creation. |
Guest operating system profiles and hardware profiles |
Profiles node at the bottom of the navigation pane. |
Filtering Results
After selecting a node in the navigation pane, you can use the following procedure to apply filters to limit the results based on resource type, resource owner, and the date when the resources were added to Virtual Machine Manager.
To filter the items in the results pane
In the navigation pane, take one of the following actions:
- Navigate to the node that contains the resources you want to work with.
- To view all resources in the library except profiles, click the Library Server node.
Under Filters, click the arrow at the right end of each filter category—Type, Owner, and Added Date—that you want to use. Clicking a category displays the filters in the category.
To select a filter, click its check box.
You can apply filters from different categories at the same time. For example, you can filter to see all virtual machines and templates that a certain administrator created yesterday.