Frequently Asked Questions
Master-VM ® framework is our innovation to provide a self-directed, self-paced learning framework. Our Ultimate goal is to enable individuals in any part of the world to gain knowledge and become experts on Information Technologies in their own pace, in their own time and to learn in their own language of choice.
Master-VM ® framework consists two major components :
1) A Master-VM (virtual machine)
2) A Server (physical machine)
A Master-VM is what we provide you. For physical server, you have two options :
a) We love to sell you our Hands-On-Box ® Server
b) We will recommend a specific model of Intel ® NUC Server which you can buy it either online or off-the-shelf
Absolutely NOT!
We will recommend a specific model of Intel ® NUC Server which you can buy it either online or off-the-shelf and it will work just fine with our Master-VM framework.
a) A Laptop with software Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Fusion installed
b) A Physical server (can be either our Hands-On-Box or an Intel NUC server)
c) A crossover cable connecting both the machines
a) import and power-on the Master-VM that we provide you, into VirtualBox or VMware Fusion running on your laptop
b) Connect your laptop and your physical server back-to-back with a crossover cable
c) Master-VM running on laptop, installs VMware ESXi hypervisor and self-paced lab onto your physical server
d) Master-VM provides all the required videos and training materials needed to learn the technology served by the self-paced lab
e) In summary, all you need is one Master-VM to learn any desired technology of your choice
Master-VM ® is a virtual machine that provides self-directed and self-paced learning for any given IT technology. It contain the following :
a) vPI - custom VMware ESXi installer
b) vPOD - collection of virtual machines wired by virtual networking, backed by virtual storage
c) Videos - collection of videos starting from Architecture design white boarding to individual lessons guiding you through multiple modules
d) Documents - Reference materials and documents as and when needed
Master-VM runs inside Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Fusion software installed on your Laptop
All virtual machines that are part of self-paced labs run on your own physical server that is connected to your laptop back-to-back
The Master-VM virtual machine that is running on your laptop installs the self-paced labs onto your phyisical server
Master-VMs are available once you sign-up for our simple Pay-as-you-go subscription plan
NO. There is no download involved in our model.
Master-VM will be delivered to you by post in a USB thumb drive. Just import Master-VM into your laptop. Return the USB thumb drive back to us in the free return envelop that will be provided to you.
Our operating model in someways similar to Netflix DVDs rentals.
Please return the USB thumb drive back to us in the free return envelop provided to you.
Master-VM is provided on a subscription plan. Please refer this page for details
After registration, you will have a trial period for one of the Master-VMs for evaluation.
You have two options:
a) We would love to sell you our Hands-On-Box ®
b) We will recommend you a model of Intel NUC server that you can either buy it online or off-the-shelf
In theory, If your physical server is something recent with dual/quad core Intel processor supporting virtualization and with a lot of memory (32 GB minimum recommended) then the self-paced labs should run fine.
But having said that, if you run into any BIOS, driver issues and such, we may not be able to provide you support 100% other than through our blogs and forums. Hence the reason, we would recommend you a physical server which we use internally for building the self-paced labs. That way, we can assure you that you don't run into any hurdles.
Keep in mind that the end goal is to learn IT technologies and not to get bogged down wasting your precious time in dealing with mundane problems which deviates you from learning.
We love to offer a 'Leasing' option down the lane but we are not there yet right now with our current revenue model. We are hoping to get there once we reach a certain revenue target. But Yes, we definitely have that in our roadmap and we're hoping to make it real.
No. Neither of them are certified nor listed on VMware's Hardware Compatibility List. However, it is our responsibility to make sure that there will be no challenges running ESXi hypervisor and the self-paced labs on them.
Hands-On-Box is built out of a specific model of Intel NUC server board. So any Operating System that runs on NUC will run on our Box as well.
Our intention of building Hands-On-Box is specifically designed to work with our Master-VM framework.
Hands-On-Box will soon be available for sale on our website (please sign-up here)
Intel NUC servers can be purchased online (Amazon, NewEgg, TigerDirect, etc) or off-the-shelf in some retail shops (like Fry's in US)
That's one of the challenges where we are trying to walk a thin line. We want mind share. We want as many people as possible to use our Framework with the Master-VMs that we provide. But at the same time, we don't want people to share Master-VMs among themselves not paying us a penny 🙁
So to that context, we are leaning towards having a hard time limit for every Master-VM that we provide. So the lifespan for every Master-VM would be 4 weeks. After the hard time limit, Master-VMs stop functioning.
You can think of it like DRM'ish (Digital Rights Management)
Yes. It is mandatory to have Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Fusion installed on your Laptop. We recommend VirtualBox because it is free!
Refer the following links:
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion.html