Virtual Machine Storage

Virtual machine configuration and virtual disk data reside in datastores.

Virtual machine configuration is stored in a file with the .vmx file extension. VM home files also include other files for virtual machine operation, such as a log file (.log), virtual firmware (.nvram), paging file (.vmem), and snapshot data files (.vmsd).

Virtual machine data is stored in virtual disks, in files with the .vmdk file extension.

Storage policies allow you to distinguish between virtual machine configuration and data files and to specify storage locations based on the needs of each.