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How do I share access to my 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 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 only with one co-owner.

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.
Important
  • Only share a VM for co-ownership if 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 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.

You can share a VM for co-ownership whether or not it is turned on. However, if the VM is turned on, you also have the option to Sync User Access For Running VM, which will automatically add the new co-owners as VM managers with full permissions.

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 and cryptographically encrypted by the AES keys. As a result, admins and users require mutual collaboration to make the VM operations functional.

2. 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.