Personal Virtual Machine

Overview

All students and faculty members have two personal Linux virtual machines configured with the same software as the classroom machines or educational servers.

• vm-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr Usage: clone of a teaching machine (same distribution, same software) with shared mounted and graphical access
• srv-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr Usage: clean Debian with only the shared mounted, no graphical access (SSH only)

In concrete terms, these are not exactly VMs but LXC containers

Specifications

Virtual machine vm-

• fqdn: vm-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr
• OS: debian
• Desktop: Cinnamon
• RAM: 8 GB
• cores: 4
• Disk: 50 GB

Virtual machine srv-

• fqdn: srv-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr
• OS: debian
• Desktop: None
• RAM: 8 GB
• cores: 4
• Disk: 50 GB

Warnings!

Attention: you must regularly back up your work!

The virtual machine may be deleted without notice.

The ONLY DATA BACKED UP are those stored in your ~/shared directory.

The ~/shared folder is not a working directory.

• You must work locally
• Then save your data to ~/shared

Warning

If many users create a VM at the same time (e.g., within a 5-second interval), VM creation may be impacted for some of them.

We are working to fix this issue by integrating a queue into our creation processes.

If you encounter a problem (your VM appears created but is inaccessible), destroy your VM and recreate it.

Building Your VM

For students, this operation should be unnecessary at the start. VMs should already be built and ready to start

After logging in to My, go to the VMs section .

If you have no VMs, you should see the following screen; click the (+) button to create your VM.

Wait a few moments for the hypervisor to confirm that your machine has been created.

Click the arrow next to your container’s name to see possible operations and connection methods.

Your VM is created but powered off; you must start it.

A running VM consumes resources; if you are not using it, please shut it down

VM Operations

Starting the VM

Click the cyan button to start the VM. Wait a few moments before accessing it.

VM Snapshot

Click the blue button to take a snapshot of the VM.

A form will open asking for the name you want to give to your snapshot. You can create up to 5 different snapshots.

The VM must be running for the snapshot to be taken

Your screen will then display the snapshots you have created.

On this same screen:

• Click the yellow button to restore your VM from the snapshot (CAUTION: existing data will be overwritten)
• Click the red button to delete the snapshot

Shutting Down the VM

Click the yellow button to shut down the VM.

Wait a few moments for the action to take effect.

Destroying the VM

Click the red button to completely delete your VM.

Accessing the VM

When your VM is created, certain access methods are set up, including via the web interface of a remote connection bastion: Guacamole

SSH Access

If you are on the ISIMA network

Use [Kerberos]((/en/services/acces-distant/ssh/kerberos) authentication with your UCA credentials

ssh <uca-account>@vm-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr

or ssh <uca-account>@srv-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr

If you are not on the ISIMA network

Enable the VPN and run your SSH command; connect using your UCA credentials

ssh <uca-account>@vm-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr

or ssh <uca-account>@srv-<uca-account>.local.isima.fr

RDP Access

If you are on the ISIMA network

Use an RDP client compatible with your OS and connect using your UCA credentials

If you are not on the ISIMA network

Enable the VPN and launch your RDP client; then connect using your UCA credentials

The 'srv' type VM has no desktop and cannot be accessed via this method

Via the Guacamole Web Interface

By logging in to Guacamole (using your UCA credentials), you can access your machine under the Virtual Machines tab.

The 'srv' type VM has no desktop and cannot be accessed via this method

Keyboard mapping may cause issues with Guacamole, particularly with certain shortcuts. For better graphical access, prefer RDP