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VM Essentials

Virtual Machines Overview​

Virtual Machines are a unique tool to aid users in manipulating their files/data in an OS-specific environment. This tool allows the user to run uniquely operating systems and corresponding applications based on their needs.

Administrators can build virtual machine configurations based on individual user/department needs, and users can run these virtual machines using their encrypted drives.

The following information describes how to use and manage virtual machines. It is imperative to understand the components of a virtual machine to have a seamless understanding of how they operate.

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During the research, users are in their virtual machines for a consistent amount of time.

tip

The VM configuration is the information needed to start the VM.

Start a Virtual Machine​

To start a Virtual Machine navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the virtual machine configuration you want to start.
  • Click the Start VM button located in the top center.
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You will be prompted to type your password, then you will notice the Virtual Machine connecting to the drive automatically.

Connect to a Virtual Machine​

To connect to a Virtual Machine navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the virtual machine you want to connect to.
  • Click the Connect button located in the top center.

Virtual Machine Resource Usage Section​

To view the resource usage statistic navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the connected virtual machine you want to view the resource usage statistics for.
  • View how much of the resources have been used on the left side of the VM panel.
  • . Core Usage: maximum number of cores for the VM.
  • . Memory Usage: maximum available memory (GB) and percentage used (%).
  • . Home Drive Usage: maximum home drive space usage.
  • . Network In: Ingress of the network traffic.
  • . Network Out: Egress of the network traffic.
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The difference between memory usage and home drive usage is that memory works as an operation center while the persistent data is saved on the hard disk.

Example:
Imagine your hard disk is like a library with many books. It would help if you had a place to put those books and read them; therefore, the memory serves you as the library desk, where you can access your files much faster, but you still have to pick them up from the library. Most operations happen on your desk (your memory). In addition, whenever you leave the library, everything goes away from your desk back to your library's shelves (your hard disk).

Hard drive: persistent storage.
Memory usage: ephemeral storage.

info

You must power up and connect your Virtual Machine to view the resource usage statistics.

danger
  • If you use all your available VM resources, you will not be able to start the VM.
  • If you operate over your allowed memory usage, you will crash your VM.
tip

If you experience a resource limitation problem, you should ask your admin about the VM resource allocation.

To view the details of the VM owner notice the right side of the VM resource section.

  • View the following:
    • VM owner profile.
    • Team of the VM.
    • VM creation date.
    • Active VM runtime.
    • IP/MAC address.

Virtual Machine Management Section​

To access virtual machine management section navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the connected virtual machine you want to view the management for.
  • Scroll down underneath the statistics and view the following management tools in the VM panel.

  • . User Management: Describes the members and managers of the VM and their permissions in the VM.

  • . User Profiles: A user can organize other users based on permission criteria using custom VM profiles.

  • . Group Management: A user can manage the groups within their virtual machine such as Everybody in the VM, Managers of the VM and Nobody if the VM belongs solely to its owner.

  • . Access Directory Management: A user can manage file directories in the VM.

  • . Drive Management: A user can view the drives associated with the virtual machine and attach more drives.

  • . Controller Logs: The log dump of the controller of the VM.

Your VM Profile​

Your VM profile information is based on your user profile in tiCrypt.

This user profile includes basic information such as your user name, added date to VM, role, permissions, your read-write and read-only access directories, and groups.

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  • Nothing can be changed here, only viewed.
  • Admins manage profile changes and roles.

User Management​

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This tool may not be visible to some users.

That is because they do not have permission to manage users within the VM. This tool allows users to be added and removed from the virtual machine. A user's permissions within the virtual machine can also be edited here as follows:

  • . Users: View other users.
  • . Files: View/edit files.
  • . VM to Vault transfer: Transfer files ti tiCrypt Vault from VM.
  • . Vault to VM transfer: Upload files to VM and create directories.
  • . Terminals: Open terminals through tiCrypt.
  • . Remote application access: Allows VM application access from user desktop.
  • . Access Directories: View acess directories.
  • . Groups: View groups.
  • . System Statistics: View real-time system utilization.

VM User Profiles (in Virtual machines)​

VM User profiles in virtual machines are a management tool to help you manage multiple accounts with specific custom permissions. Instead of manually setting permissions for a large number of users, you can set up a user profile and apply it to a group of VM users simultaneously.

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Changes in a VM User profile will change all user's permissions identified with the specified profile within the VM.

info

As a user, your admin may give you a User profile in the main system. That is fundamentally different from a VM user profile.

caution

Do not confuse VM User Profiles in the VMs with the system User Profiles in the Open Overlay. Learn more in the VM vs User Profiles Guidelines.

Group Management​

Groups can be added or removed from the virtual machine in this section.

The group must be created first, and then users can be added. The users must be shared on the VM to be added to the group.

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Groups are used to restrict access to directories.

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If a group has access to a specific directory, then only that group can see that directory.

Access Directory​

Access directories are folders within a virtual machine.

These folders may be restricted so that only group members who were given access may view them.

Create New Access Directory​

To create a new access directory navigate to tab in the section.

  • Select the connected VM you want to create the access directory in.
  • Click the Access Directory Management card.
  • Click button in the top left.
  • In the prompt, select either the drive or an existing access directory as a location.
  • Type the name of the access directory.
  • Type the owner and the group name using the access directory.
  • Select the access mode.
  • Click .
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  • When creating an access directory, an owner must be assigned.
  • Access mode should be on Ready-only for all users and Read-write for drive owners.
info

An access directory can be only applied to an inbox. For more information on inboxes, check How to Create and Use an Inbox.

Drive management​

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This tool is only visible to the person who launches the VM.

If you created a VM, you have ownership over it; hence you can remove and add drives on the fly and manage the already mounted drives.

For each drive, the following information is displayed:

  • Name of the Drive
  • Project tagged by the drive
  • Drive type
  • Drive owner name
  • Drive format
  • Size of the drive
  • Usage Stats
  • Mounting path
  • Drive Actions

Controller​

Displays all of the logs or reports of the virtual machine's behavior.

Each log has a number, a timestamp with date & time, and a description of the event.

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Logs can also be searched for or downloaded if allowed explicitly by the admin.