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VM Installer 3.10.42: New Baseline with Admin Access Controls

· 3 min read
Thomas Samant
Thomas Samant
Senior Partner

tiCrypt VM Installer 3.10.42 establishes the new baseline for all tiCrypt deployments. Older versions won't support certain upcoming VM Controller features. This release introduces native SLURM integration and a new admin access control model.

What Changed​

Admin Access Control (adminAccess)​

The VM Controller includes a new adminAccess parameter in controller.toml:

# If unset or false, no user (including the owner) has Admin/Sudo on the VM.
# If true, the VM owner has Admin/Sudo on the VM.
adminAccess = false

Default: false. No user, including the VM owner, has root/sudo (Linux) or Administrator (Windows) privileges.

note

adminAccess grants elevated privileges to the VM owner only. To extend admin access to co-owners and managers, also set managersAsAdmin = true in controller.toml.

Enabling adminAccess lets VM owners:

  • Install software on demand -- Python libraries, R packages, system dependencies, or custom tools without waiting for an image rebuild
  • Configure development environments -- services, shell configurations, IDE extensions
  • Run privileged commands -- start background services, mount storage, run system-level scripts
  • Iterate faster -- experiment with tooling without filing requests for each package

The VM Controller enforces tiCrypt's security model regardless of this setting -- network isolation, encryption, authentication, and audit logging remain active.

When to enable it: Set adminAccess = true when VM owners need elevated privileges for their workflow. This should be a conscious per-image decision, not a default.

note

adminAccess is configured at image preparation time in controller.toml. It cannot be changed for running VMs. To modify the setting, update the image and deploy new VMs.

Downloads​

PlatformDownload
Windows (MSI)tiCryptVMControllerInstall-3.10.42.msi
Linux (RPM)ticrypt-vm-controller-3.10.42-el.x86_64.rpm
Ubuntu (DEB)ticrypt-vm-controller-3.10.42.deb

Upgrading Existing Images​

  1. Boot the image via Service VM or external hypervisor.
  2. Download and install the new VM Installer package for your platform.
  3. Review controller.toml and set adminAccess = true if owners require sudo/Administrator privileges.
  4. Shut down the VM.
caution

Images built with older VM Installer versions will continue to receive VM Controller updates, but certain new functionality may not work without the 3.10.42 installer. Upgrading is recommended to support future features.

tip

For a complete annotated controller.toml example, see the Controller Configuration Reference.