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Running EPIC as a Virtual Machine on District Servers

Quick Reference QR-AE-016 · Audio Enhancement EPIC · Rev 1.1 · Oct 2026

Requirements and decisions for districts that want EPIC on their own VMware host instead of an AE server appliance.

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Written by: Brad Roy, VSC Director of Operations · Verified against: AE Virtualization Requirements DC-40727.0624; EPIC Cybersecurity Framework Mapping DC-41262.0726 · Applies to: EPIC 3.x deployed from AE's OVA image on a district-owned VMware host

EPIC normally ships on an AE server appliance. A district can run it as a virtual machine instead, but AE sets firm rules: VMware only, AE deploys it, enterprise hardware, and a signed acknowledgment if the host isn't on the campus it serves.

1️⃣ Decide where the host lives

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EPIC is life-safety equipment. If the host is in a central data center and the fiber to the school is cut, that school loses paging, bells, intercom and alerts until the link is back. AE recommends the host be physically on the campus it serves.

Option	What it means
On campus (recommended)	No extra paperwork. A WAN outage doesn't take down the school's paging and alerts.
Central location (NOC / district data center)	The district must sign AE's acknowledgment that EPIC depends entirely on the link to the campus and hold AE, VSC and their partners harmless if that link fails. VSC collects this form before the install.

2️⃣ Size the VM

Resource	Minimum (per EPIC server)
Hypervisor	VMware only. Other hypervisors aren't supported.
CPU	8 cores, 2 GHz
Memory	8 GB reserved, up to 12 GB provisioned
Storage	500 GB, thin provisioned. SSD/flash recommended.
Network	1 Gbps port on the EPIC VLAN, with student and guest networks blocked from it (full network checklist: QR-AE-015)
Host hardware	Enterprise-grade server, 3 years old or newer. No desktops.

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Reserve it. Make sure the resources are actually reserved for EPIC, not just available. Bells and pages are time-critical, and an overcommitted host shows up as late bells and choppy audio.

3️⃣ How the deployment works

AE provides an encrypted, one-time-use OVA image. Only an AE employee can decrypt and deploy it.
AE needs remote and physical access to the virtual environment for the install. A supervised remote session is fine.
After deployment, the OVA files are permanently removed from the district's environment. Copying or redistributing them isn't allowed.
No OS-level access to the EPIC VM is granted to anyone outside AE. The district manages it through the EPIC web interface.

4️⃣ After it's running

Backups: set EPIC's encrypted backup schedule to a district-owned network share. Your normal VM snapshots are a bonus, not a replacement.
Updates: keep the VMware host patched. Apply EPIC updates when AE sends a service bulletin (VSC tracks these in QR-AE-002).
UPS: put the host and the EPIC switches on UPS power so paging still works in an outage.

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VSC note: Tell your VSC Project Coordinator early if you want a VM. AE has to schedule the deployment, and VSC can't start device setup until the server is up.

📚 Sources & credits

Compiled by Brad Roy, VSC Director of Operations
Audio Enhancement: Virtualization Requirements DC-40727.0624 (server location and acknowledgment, VM resources, OVA deployment rules, hardware age); EPIC Cybersecurity Framework Mapping DC-41262.0726 (backups, updates)