The idea of running more than one virtual machine on a single host system is as old as the mainframe technology. Mainframe systems offer the ability to share resources among differentusers, whereas every user gets his own virtual machine. Upgrading a VM is basically a matter of reconfiguring it. Moreover, this kind of partitioning of common resources offers security advantages since every virtual system has its own isolated memory, and can not damage or access foreign data without permission. This aspect is an important reason why the User Mode Linux (UML) project was started.

UM- Linux brought to life to run multiple separate virtual machines on the same physical host system. A virtual machine takes full advantage of an ordinary Linux operating system. Furthermore it is possible to install every kind of Linux compatible software, running inter-networking services (e.g. web-servers, routers etc.), or testing any kind of software without risks for the host system or other virtual machines. Up to now, the available management tools were limited command line utilities which have not been comfortable to use. The UMLinuxControlCenter offers an alternative solution, because it offers a graphical interface, which is easy and intuitive to use, without loosing the variety of features an UM- Linux system offers. The GUI offers basically three elements: a switch system which simulates a physical switch or hub, a virtual machine which can be configured by the user and the host system to connect the virtual machines to the rest of the world. All these elements can be connected together and administrated with UMLinuxControlCenter. This means, virtual machines can be stopped and restarted, new configurations reloaded, systems may be monitored and observed.

The UMLinuxControlCenter is an open source, free ware program released under a free software license. This permits every user to modify and use it for his own purpose.