Self Managed Hosting: Quick Start Guide for Self-Managed VMs

Request a Virtual Machine

Customers who have completed the on-boarding process can request virtual machines (VMs) using our request form.

Accessing a Virtual Machine

After you receive an email from the OIT-VIRT team stating that your VM has been deployed, you can access it by going to https://vms.oit.umn.edu/.

Use the Virtual CD drive

Connecting to an Image in the ISO Repository

  1. Click the ">" sign next to vCenter.
  2. On the next screen, click the ">" sign next to VMs and Templates.
  3. Expand the menus until you see Virtual Machines under your folder. Click on it to select it.
  4. In the middle of the screen, double-click on your virtual machine to select it. It will then appear under your department's folder on the left.
  5. Power on your virtual machine by right-clicking it and selecting Power On. (If you receive a "failed to power on" error, use the Refresh button next to your login in the middle of the top of the page, not your browser's Refresh button.)
  6. Right-click on your virtual machine and select Edit Settings.
  7. Under the VM Hardware section, use the drop-down menu next to CD/DVD drive 1 and select Datastore ISO File.
  8. Browse the sme_iso datastore and select the .iso file of the OS and click OK.
  9. Back on the first window, put a checkmark next to Connected and then click OK.
  10. If you are using Internet Explorer, you should add https://vms.oit.umn.edu/ to your Trusted Sites list.

Install Your OS

  1. Follow the steps above to mount the installation media.
  2. Open the console of the virtual machine from the summary page.
  3. Install the OS.

Install VMware Tools

After installing your guest OS you need to install the VMware Tools package.

  1. Click the virtual machine in order to select it and go to the Summary tab.
  2. Click the Install VMware Tools link found in the yellow warning box that states VMware Tools is not installed on this VM.
  3. A CD containing the installation media will be connected to the VM.
  4. Please refer to Overview of VMware Tools article in the VMware Knowledge Base for additional information about the tools package, including installation instructions for your specific OS.