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Info

This page describes how to modify a VM template in private cloud.
For public cloud, see Modify a VM template in public cloud

Modify a virtual machine template

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Edit VM template variables

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nameEdit VM template variables

You can add variables to VM templates and the platform will automatically add them to new VMs that users create from the templates. Users can then edit the variables when configuring their VMs.

After the VM deploys, users can then access variables in the guest. For example, AWS stores the variables in the ~/vm-variables.rc file. Cloud-init may use variables.

Note

Cloud providers may store VMs in metadata, so check your provider documentation about metadata security.

To add variables to a VM template, enter the Key and Value, then click Add.

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To edit an existing value, click the pencil icon, enter the new Value, then click ok. To save your changes to the template, click Save.

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Share VM templates

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Share VM templates

In the Catalogue view, shared templates are marked with the outstretched hand symbol. 

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Privileges: Allow user to switch enterprises

By default, templates are local to the tenant that creates them (the "owner" enterprise). To share templates, assign scopes to them. 

Tip

Users who belong to the owner enterprise or enterprises in a template's scopes can display and use the template. 

To share a template with a scope:

  1. Go to Users → Scopes

  2. Create a scope

    1. For enterprises to use the template, select them in the scope

  3. Log in or switch to the enterprise that owns the template

  4. Go to Catalogue → Templates

  5. Edit a template

  6. Go to Scopes

  7. Select the scope

    1. To share the template with all enterprises, select Global scope

For more information, see Manage scopes  and Manage resource scopes

Screenshot: To share a template with the enterprises in one or more scopes, select template scopes.

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To remove enterprise access to a template, remove the scope containing the enterprise. 

  • You cannot remove a scope from the template if an enterprise in the scope is using the template, for example, if it has deployed VMs or instances of VMs. 

To make a template private to the owner enterprise, unselect all scopes.

In private cloud, the instances of shared templates belong to the enterprise that created them. When a template has instances, it is in use by the enterprises with instances. This may mean that you cannot delete a template without deleting or promoting the instances first.

When you make a shared template unavailable, other enterprises cannot deploy it, but it may not be marked as unavailable in the catalogue of other enterprises until you refresh your catalogue.

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Activate hardware profiles for a VM template

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Add a bootstrap script to a VM template

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Add a bootstrap script to a VM template

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and the platform will add it to all VMs created from the template to use with the Cloud-init (or similar

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) option, for Guest setup, which you can configure on the Advanced tab. You can also use scripts that are saved as Script templates.  

Before you begin:

  1. Prepare a template that is compatible with cloud-init (version 0.7.9 or above), or cloudbase-init, or a similar system

  2. In private cloud, the platform will create an ISO disk for Configuration drive

To add a VM bootstrap configuration or script:

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  1. In the Catalogue, edit a VM template

  2. Go to Bootstrap

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  1. If you have the Add a script template to a VM template privilege, select Use own script or Use script template

    • For Use own script, paste your configuration or script in the Bootstrap script text box

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    • Use your own script for the bootstrap script in a VM templateImage Added

    • For Use script template, click Search, and double-click a script template, or select a script template and click Accept. If you have the privilege to Manage script templates, you can also create a new script template in this step.

      Use a script template for the bootstrap script in a VM templateImage Added

  2. Continue to configure the VM template or click Save to finish

Note: when you save VM disks to an instance template, Abiquo copies the VM bootstrap script to the instance template.

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Related links

Edit template advanced tab

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Edit template

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advanced tab

You can also specify some Advanced template values using the OVF and the API. See Extended OVF support and template definition .

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Field

Value

Guest setup

Select Guest setup option of Cloud-init or Hypervisor tools.

Guest initial password

If Guest setup is selected, select this option to request an initial password

Cost codes

(info) The extra charges with cost codes are now on the separate Extra charges tab.
For more details, see Manage extra charges with cost codes

Operating system

Sets the VMware guest operating system type. Select from the pull-down list.
For more details, see Guest operating system definition for VMware and Extended OVF support and template definition .
This attribute also enables users to search for templates in public cloud (e.g. Ubuntu 64-bit template).
To use the latest version of an operating system, select a generic type, e.g. WINDOWS, and do not enter the version. 
If the template does not have an icon, the platform will load the default icon defined for the OS or the generic OS type.

Os Version

OS version is used to:

  • add operating systems not included in the list of codes

  • provide details of operating systems

  • set the VMware guest operating system type

See Guest operating system definition for VMware and Extended OVF support and template definition for further details. 

User

Default user for a VM created from this template for SSH access.

  • To use the Guest initial password option, set an appropriate administrator user.
    For Windows it should be Administrator. For Linux, it should be a sudoer always with password.
    See Edit a VM template for guest setup at Guest setup

Password

Default password for the default User of a VM created from this template.

NIC driver

  • Abiquo always supports E1000 drivers

  • On ESXi, Abiquo also supports PCNet32 and VMXNET3

  • On KVM, Abiquo supports VIRTIO drivers.

Enable UEFI boot

When selected, disable BIOS boot and enable UEFI boot.

  • Requires templates with UEFI firmware and operating system support for UEFI boot.

  • Abiquo recommends that users:

    • Do not change the template's disk controllers

    • Meet the minimum hardware requirements for the OS

    • Correctly indicate the 32/64 bit architecture

For VMs, the uefiEnabled attribute is read-only and it is available via the API.

Enable hot add / reconfigure in VM

See separate section

Creation user

SYSTEM means that the platform created the template, for example, from an OVF file in the NFS repository.

Creation date

Date and time when the template was created.

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Enable hot add and hot reconfigure for VM templates

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  1. Go to Catalogue and select Private or Public

  2. Select datacenter or public cloud region

  3. Select and edit the VM template

  4. Go to Advanced tab

  5. Select the options under Enable hot-add/reconfigure

  6. Save the template

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Hot add and hot reconfigure options table

Hot add and hot reconfigure options table

Option

Description

Enable hot-add or
hot reconfigure in VM

Supported providers only with supported guest operating systems. 
Set the Operating system and OS version correctly set for your system
ESXi: See VMware documentation. After you hot-add or hot-reconfigure, remember to update your guest system as required

CPU hot-add

Let users add CPUs in the platform while the VM is powered on

RAM hot-add

Let users add RAM in the platform while the VM is powered on

Disks hot-reconfigure

Let users remove SCSI disks from the boot sequence and add SCSI disks to the end of the boot sequence while the VM is powered on

  • IDE disks are not supported

  • The platform will save other changes to the boot sequence but it will not implement them in the hypervisor. 

  • To implement these changes, power off the VM and make another configuration change that will trigger a reconfigure

NICs hot-reconfigure

Let users add and remove NICs in the platform while the VM is powered on

Remote access hot-reconfigure

Let users reset remote access in the platform while the VM is powered on.
On ESXi, do not modify these options when using WebMKS

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Add extra charges

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for a VM template

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nameAdd cost codes for extra charges for a VM template

When you edit a VM template, for cloud billing you can add extra charges

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, which are cost codes.

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Privileges: View virtual machine template extra charges, Manage virtual machine template extra charges

  1. Create extra charges. See Manage extra charges with cost codes

    1. For the Type select VM template or All

  2. Set values for extra charges. See Create a new pricing model

  3. Go to the Catalogue

  4. Edit a VM template

  5. Go to Extra charges

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  2. Add extra charges

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  1. as required

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Add tags to a VM template

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Add tags to a VM template

When you edit a VM template, you can add tags to group resources and manage them in Control view.

To manage tags for a template:

  1. Go to Catalogue → select a datacenter or public cloud region

  2. Go to Templates

  3. Edit a template

  4. Go to Tags

  5. Add tags 

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  1. Add tags to a VM templateImage Added

    For more details see Manage tags

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Manage VM templates with the API

Tip

API Documentation

For the Abiquo API documentation of this feature, see Abiquo API Resources and the page for this resource VirtualMachineTemplatesResource.

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Pages related to VM templates