See the VMFAQ if you have any questions, or are running into problems.
About Virtual Machines
As an SECS student, enrollment in certain CSE/EGR courses entitles you to create and use your own Virtual Machine in the SECS VMware cluster. A Virtual Machine is a computer that runs as an isolated computing environment within a host machine. SECS has several servers that host multiple VM's each. Like a real machine, a Virtual Machine runs its own operating system, as well as its own installed applications. Also like a real machine, you have full administrative rights to install and run software on the VM. Currently, students can have a virtual machine with either Ubuntu server or Windows Server 2003 as its operating system.
Like all Information Technology resources in Oakland University, use of Virtual Machines must adhere to Oakland University's Policies and Guidelines. (Pay particular attention to policy #890: Use of University Information Technology Resources.)
Getting Started
Creation of a virtual machine is as easy a click. To create your VM, visit the VM Provision Web site.
This site will present you with the choice of the available operating systems, and if you already have a VM, it will tell you its status, and give you the ability to power it off, power it on, or redeploy it.
Creation of a new virtual machine takes about 5 minutes. After the site tells you your virtual machine has been created, it usually takes another 5 minutes before it is available (both the Linux and Windows operating systems have to perform several reboots before they are initialized and available for use.)
Once the Virtual Machine has been created and has initialized, an account will be created on the VM that has the same username and password as your SECS account. In Windows, this account will be a member of the Administrators group, and in Linux, this account will have "sudo" access.
Important: All remote access to your virtual machines, including access via the VI client and any simple network access to your VM from offcampus requires logging into the SECS VPN. The rest of the instructions in this tutorial assume you have successfully connected to the VPN.
Connecting to your machine with VMware infrastructure client.
To setup, view, and control your machine we recommend downloading VMware infrastructure client. To download, visit our VMware Infrastructure server, and click the "Download VMware Infrastructure Client" link. After you have installed the software, run it from the start menu, and you will need to login with the hostname iapetus.secs.oakland.edu, your SECS account name, and password.
NOTE: You may also be able to use VMware's Web interface, although it is not supported by SECS, and is only likely to work with XP and Firefox 2. Although it will work in Linux and other versions of Windows, as well as other browsers, it is a known issue with VMware that the browser plugin (which the web interface needs in order to interact with your VM) doesn't install correctly on Linux or any recent browsers. If you're willing to support yourself, the web interface is available at https://iapetus.secs.oakland.edu/ui/
Once you have logged into the VMware Infrastructure Client, you have to switch to "Virtual Machines and Templates" view in order to see your Virtual Machine.
After switching to this view, you will see your virtual machine in the list. Click on your machine, and a tool bar will become active.
The stop and play buttons, shutdown and turn on your machine respectively, the monitor button on the right opens a console that will allow you to view the display of your machine.
Alternative Methods for gaining access to your machine.
While the VMware infrastructure client is required for some tasks such as mounting CD/DVD drives and troubleshooting your machine, the best way to use VM's is to treat them like real servers, and log in through your operating system's supported login methods.
For Ubuntu VM's, ssh is preinstalled so you can access your server with putty. Use the IP Address of your virtual machine and your login information. For windows VM's, use Remote_Desktop. (A quick method is from the run dialog, type "mstsc -v " followed by the IP Address of your VM.)