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Share Access to your Virtual Machine

note

It is necessary to share your VM with your user research group for the following reasons:

  • VM gets shut down and you lose access if new software needs to be installed.
  • VM is allocated to multiple team members for a particular project.
  • You travel on a holiday or change workplaces and someone else needs to take over.
caution

Your VM configuration must be attached to a drive and .

From this point, there are two ways you can share a VM.

1. Share for User Access​

When you give users access to use your VM, you will share a part of the VM with the users; however, they will not be able to approach the drives hence minimizing the security risks.

To share a VM configuration for user access navigate to tab, in the Virtual Machines section.

  • Select the VM configuration you would like to share.
  • Select the User Management card on the right panel.
  • Click the Add User(s) button at the top panel.
  • Follow the instructions from add user(s) to VM configuration section.
note
  • When sharing VM configuration for user access the system also shares the drive attached to it, however, it prevents direct access to the drives.
  • Once shared with a user, the VM configuration may be launched by that user directly.
  • Same-team users can share the VM further only with other same-team users.
info

You may have a large number of managers in a VM without them having access to its drives.

2. Share for VM Co-ownership​

When you share VM for co-ownership purposes, you are giving direct access to the VM drives. This must be carefully conducted since the co-owners of the drives may take the drives for themselves and make their own VM with them leaving you with no storage space. As a result, you should share the VM with only one individual.

To share a VM configuration for co-ownership navigate to tab, in the Virtual Machines section.

  • Select the VM configuration you would like to share.
  • Click the Three dots icon in the top right.
  • Select the Share button from the options.
  • Follow the instructions from share VM configuration section.
danger

Important​

  • Do not casually share a VM for co-ownership unless you have already selected a co-owner in the first place.
  • Users must be part of the same team to share virtual machine configurations.
  • Users who are shared with the virtual machine require re-login to view the virtual machine in their VM list.
tip
  • View which VM was shared with you in its User Management card, where all users belonging to the VM are displayed.
  • View the owners of the VM by selecting the Managers section.
  • For best practice, we recommend two owners per VM.
info
  • Inactive VMs will turn off automatically due to server resource management practice (this action may be edited).
  • Project tagging can prevent access to a VM, no matter your user role.
  • Projects are access-controlled by admins as well as cryptographically encrypted by the AES keys. As a result, admins and users require mutual collaboration to make the VM operations functional.