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This Abiquo Cloud Walkthrough describes Abiquo concepts and guides users through some basic steps to get started.
If you have access to the platform, you can follow along. 
The next page in the walkthrough is Hybrid cloud and the previous page is Events

Virtual datacenters

To work with the cloud platform, you will use virtual datacenters (VDCs) to access your cloud resources and provision new virtual environments.
In a virtual datacenter you can work with virtual resources, including network infrastructure, external storage systems, backups, security, and so on. A virtual datacenter also has the advantages of cloud computing:

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titleClick here to show/hide the task: Create virtual appliance
  1. From the main menu, go to myCloud and go to the Virtual datacenters section.
    It should open at the Virtual appliances tab

  2. Select the virtual datacenter you want to deploy a virtual appliance in

  3. Click the + add button at the bottom of the the Virtual Appliances tab

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  4. Enter the details of the virtual appliance

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  5. Click on Open or the virtual appliance Name to enter the virtual appliance editor. A virtual appliance will not do anything unless you add at least one VM template to it

  6. Click the Create virtual machine button. You can now select from the VM templates that are ready to be deployed.
    Double-click a template to create a VM with the default Name, or click once and enter your own friendly name for the your VM

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Deploy to launch your VMs

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titleClick here to show/hide the task: Deploy virtual appliance containing a group of VMs

To start the virtual appliance, click the Deploy virtual appliance button in the top right-hand corner of the Virtual machines panel.

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This will deploy and start the VMs in the virtual appliance. 
You can also deploy virtual appliances using the controls that appear when a virtual appliance is selected in the virtual datacenter view. 

When the Virtual appliance is deployed, the Deploy button becomes an Undeploy button or a Deploy all VMs button.
To destroy all the VMs and all your data on the hard disks, click the Undeploy button.

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titleClick here to show/hide the task: Create an instance template
  1. Open a virtual appliance

  2. Shut down the VMs you want to copy the disks from to make the instance.
    For each VM, select stop or 'power button'.
    If your VM has the appropriate configuration (VM tools), select the option to shut down the VM.
    Otherwise, you can connect directly to the VM to perform a graceful shutdown, or select the option to perform a hard power off.  

  3. From the virtual appliance options menu, select Create instance

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  4. Select one of the VMs to instance

  5. Select the disks

    • If you want to create more instances, select Keep window open

  6. Click Create Instance. The platform will lock the VM to create the instance

    • If you kept the dialog open, click Back to list and create more instances as required, then close the dialog

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titleClick here to show/hide the task: Reconfigure a VM
  1. To change VM settings, from the VM options menu, select Edit.

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     The VM edit dialog will open.

  2. On the General tab, enable remote access, obtain the password and optionally increase CPU and/or RAM.
    Also make a note of the SSH user and password if they are available.

  3. On the Network tab, go to Private and select the default_private_network

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  4. Add an IP address or add the "Auto-generated IP" tag to the VM

  5. Remove the original IP address (so as to not have two IP addresses on the same network)

  6. On the Storage tab, add a hard disk by clicking the + add button at the bottom of the top of the page

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  7. Enter appropriate values for a disk in your environment and click Save.

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Sometimes you will have a VM that is deployed, while another is not deployed. For example, when you add new VMs or deploy only one VM out of a group.
This means that the virtual appliance is deployed but not synchronized with the hypervisor or provider.
So the Deploy virtual appliance button changes to become Deploy all VMs button. To deploy the VM(s) any VMs that are not allocated, click this button.
If you need to remove VMs while the virtual appliance is in this state, you can undeploy or delete individual VMs. See Delete a server

To destroy a standard VM in the hypervisor, undeploy it. The platform will maintain keep the configuration of the undeployed VM until you delete it. 
If you deploy the VM again, the platform copies the template again from the Apps librarycatalogue. And any changes you made to the configuration and the disks are will be lost.