VMX hardening parameters

[sureshadmin2011]

Just a query around VM hardening, as per VMware guidelines given below, when a VMX is hardened with few additional parameters it does NOT come into effect unless the VM is powered OFF and ON, but in my environment it just comes into effect immediately and also when i run get-vmadvancedconfiguration it reports all hardened parameters right after hardening. one of the parameter is limit remote console to 1, and immediately after VM is hardened this comes into effect without any poweroff / on or vMotion. My question is how does it come into effect when VM is still powered on and VMX should be read only when powered on. (ESXi 5.5 U2 release 9/9/14, tested on vmx versions 4, 7,8)

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[continuum]

> and VMX should be read only when powered on.

That assumption is incorrect. Parameters that are changed via the UI can be applied on the fly - depends on the parameter.
Easy example: changing the iso for a CDrom - this can be altered while the VM is running.
Other parameters like the amount of RAM can be altered on the fly for some guestOS.
Other parameters like guestOS need a poweroff.

As far as I know there are 3 types of parameters:
- can be changed on the fly for all guestOS
- can be changed on the fly for some guestOS and some virtual hardware versions only
- always need a poweroff