Virtual Machines

What Is It?

A Virtual Machine is a guest server hosted on a VM host. The Technology Solutions VM service includes maintenance of the physical environment such as power, cooling, physical security and networking, system monitoring, patches and upgrades, backups, business continuity and disaster recovery, and performance tuning of the VM Hosts.

Other Service Names

Virtual Servers, VMs

Features

  • Available for Linux and Windows

Requirements

The person requesting the virtual machine:

  • Must have a valid NetID.
  • Must have technical ability to manage and maintain the requested Windows or Linux VM.
  • Must connect using the UIC VPN connection.
  • Acknowledges that the VM can only be used to support the academic, research, or business needs of the University.
  • Must provide a CFOPAL account for billing.
  • Must make sure to upgrade/update the VM to a vendor-supported operating system, such as Windows Server or a Linux distribution, as soon as the current version is no longer supported.
  • Acknowledges that if that the virtual machine is taken offline due to a security event, service costs will still apply. Costs for incident response, data recovery, and system restoration may be included.

Highly recommended:

  • Have a robust anti-malware and anti-virus system in place to prevent, detect, and remove malware from the virtual machine guest. This system should be regularly updated and configured to scan for malware on a regular basis.

Overall, these requirements should ensure that the person requesting the virtual machine is able to meet the requirements for security and reliability, while also providing ongoing maintenance to keep the virtual machine guest up-to-date with the latest operating system and security patches.

Who Is Eligible To Use It?

  • Students
  • Faculty 
  • Staff

Where Can I Get It?

Select the Request Virtual Machine button located on this page.

How Do I Use It?

How Much Does It Cost?

This service is funded by the self-supported model. The costs and rates for this service is listed under 'Virtual Servers" on the Technology Solution's self-supporting services' costs and rates page.

How Can I Get Support?

If you are experiencing a problem with this service, please report it. If you just have a question, feel free to ask us.

Service Levels

Service Request Fulfillment Time 2 business days
Incident Resolution Time 1 business day
Service Availability 24x7
Maintenance Window(s) ​Approved Technology Solutions maintenance window(s)
Service Notification Channel(s) IT Service Notices
 
Request Virtual Machine

Related Articles (3)

Instructions for configuring a linux server's firewall rules to allow connections via Cisco AnyConnect.
To connect to MySQL and MariaDB databases on Linux virtual servers, use a tool like MySQL Workbench (cross-platform), or Sequel Pro (Mac OS X). Both are free applications. Note: This does not include databases hosted by the Technology Solutions database service, which are accessed using a different process.
There are two ways to connect to your Windows virtual server: