Connecting to the CS VDI Platform

Welcome

The CS VDI Platform is based on a VMware solution. This quickstart provides instructions on how to connect to remote virtual machines tailored by your professor for labwork. You will have a choice of working with your virtual machine(s) either through a web browser or via VMWare VMRC.

Machines are permanently deleted at the end of each semester; as such it is recommended to use cloud storage solutions such as Git or OneDrive.

Machines provided by a course should only be used for their intended course assignments. All actions are logged and is available to your professor. If you want a general-purpose machine that is unrelated to a course; send a message to cscihelp@colorado.edu for review.

Objectives

Download and connect to the UCB VPN
Login to the vSphere web environment
Connect to your machines
Navigating Power Options
Reverting a Virtual Machine State

Video

Video Tutorial

There is no video available for this section. Please refer to the written instructions below.

Written Reference

CU Boulder VPN

The CU Boulder VPN is required to access hosted machines; please visit https://oit.colorado.edu/vpn for download links and instructions.
Connect to the VPN

General UCB VPN: vpn.colorado.edu
For CSCI 4113: vpn.colorado.edu/cs-students

Login Information: IdentiKey Credentials
Connect to the VPN; and verify connectivity

VMWare VMRC

Visit the Download VMWare VMRC download page.
Download and install the package based on your platform.
Users with Macs will need to instead download directly from the Mac App Store.

Connect to vSphere

Visit https://cs-vsphere.int.colorado.edu and click the Launch vSphere Client button.

LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML 5)
Login with your IdentiKey Credentials
Permissions for parent objects will present "access denied". This is normal.
First, select the template view icon and then expand down to your set of machines.
Select your desired machine, and then connect to it via the "Launch Remote Console" option illustrated below.

* If you are in a pinch, you can use the web console instead. Note that it will be choppier than the remote console option and also not have certain features supported, such as USB passthrough and clipboard.
Wait around 10 seconds for the session to be opened. Multiple sessions can be opened if you have multiple machines.
Resize the window as needed to dynamically adjust virtual machine resolution.
If the resolution fails to change, resize the window again or reboot the machine and try again.

Local login information to these virtual machines is provided by your professor. It is unique per course and semester.

Power Management

There may come times when your virtual machine crashes or becomes completely unresponsive. In these cases you can use power controls to force poweroff a machine. This should be used as a last resort as it is akin to pulling the plug on a running machine.

Normal reboot operations should be done either within the virtual machine, or via a soft reboot via ACPI command from VMWare.

In the web portal with your virtual machine selected; click the "Actions" button, and navigate to power options
Select "Hard Stop" or "Reset" as forceful power options if the VM is unresponsive to ACPI Guest Power options.
Once the machine is in the off state; repeat the above options but instead select "Power On"

Reverting a Virtual Machine State

Some courses such as CSCI 4113 have assignments that can be potentially destructive to the virtual machine if not done properly.
Courses such as these provide the ability to restore the machine to its "Day 1" former state.

Not all courses provide this option; it is determined by your professor.

If you perform this action, you will lose all data stored in that machine.
It should be used as a last resort or if you want a fresh start again.

In the web portal with your virtual machine selected; click the "Actions" button, and navigate to snapshots
Select "Revert to Lastest Snapshot" or if you have created more, select "Manage Snapshots"
Revert the desired snapshot by selecting the snapshot, then selecting "REVERT", and then confirming.
Power on the virtual machine

Additional Resources

Reference links for this page are below

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