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Info

This page describes how to manage VM templates that are already in the Catalogue

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Display VM templates

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Info

This section describes how to display VM templates in the catalogue.

To display VM templates:

  1. Select Private or Public

  2. Select a Datacenter or Public cloud region from the list

    • If you do not see the expected templates, click the round-arrow Refresh button beside the Datacenter name or contact your system administrator

  3. Optionally, select a template Category

  4. Optionally, select icon or list view

On the right, the platform will display all the templates available for the selected datacenter or public cloud region.

You can also search and filter VM templates in the same way as for VMs and other entitites.

Panel

Privileges: Manage VM templates from Catalogue

Icon view

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In Icon view, to activate the VM template operations menu, select a VM template. This menu will vary, depending on the context.

Screenshot: Options menu of VM template

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Screenshot: Options menu of a VM instance template, created from VM disks

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In list view, to display the VM Template operations buttons, select a VM template

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Organize VM templates into categories

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  • Local categories belong to a single enterprise and cannot be seen or used by other enterprise

  • Global categories are visible to all users and are marked with the text "(global)", and you will require the "Manage VM template global categories" privilege to manage them.

The predefined categories are "Applications servers", "Database servers", "Others", and "Web servers".  If you download a VM template from a remote repository and its category does not exist yet, the platform will create the new global category with this name.

The default global category is "Others" and you cannot delete this category. 

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  • Replace template disk(s) with new disk(s), so future VMs use the new disk(s). To replace a disk, you can use the UI or API. See Manage VM templates and Appliance manager template API upload and download

  • Delete a template, which requires that no deployed VMs are using the template and it has no instances. Note that you can promote instances to master main templates and then delete the instances

  • Make a template unavailable to users, when it is in use

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Expand
titleClick here to show/hide the example

Screenshot: Deploy an instance of the Core in a new VM. There are now two VMs - one with the core template and one with an instance of the core template VM

Screenshot: The core template has two instances: Core_Instance_1 and Core_Instance_1_Instance_1

Instances of the Core

Now the administrator would like to delete the template, but there are VMs and instances. So the administrator will make the template unavailable. The platform will delete the disk files and users cannot create new VMs from the template.

Screenshot: The administrator clicks the template edit menu and selects Delete

Delete templateImage RemovedDelete templateImage Added

Screenshot: The platform displays the details of deployed VMs and instances on the "Virtual machine template in use" popup. The administrator clicks Yes to continue.

The template disk files and the disk conversions will be deleted from the Catalogue. You cannot recover them within the platform

Virtual machine template in use

Screenshot: To view the unavailable template, click the template filter and select the Deleted checkbox. Click on the unavailable template to view the instances and they will display in the Instances panel below the master main templates.

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Manage instance templates in datacenters

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In a datacenter, the platform stores an instance with the original master main template. This means that you cannot delete a master main template if it has instances. However, you can promote an instance to a master main template.

The platform identifies master main templates with the "M" symbol on the template icon and instances with the "S" symbol on the template icon.

To display the instances under a master main template:

  1. Click on the master main template and the Instances panel will open with the instance templates.

    Virtual machine templates in Apps library view

You can modify the instance template, to change the CPU, RAM, icon, and so on, and these changes will not affect the master main template. 

Promote an instance to a

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main template

When you promote an instance, Abiquo first makes a copy of the instance and then promotes it to create a new master main template. This is useful when you want to delete a master main template but keep its instance template(s). 

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To promote an instance:

  1. Select the original master main template to display its instances

  2. Select the instance, and from its options menu, select Promote to master

  3. Enter a Name for the new master main template. Select the disks to promote 

    • Remember that there must always be at least one disk and that the disk at position 0 must be a boot disk. 

    • The name should help users to identify this template among the other templates 

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titleClick here to show/hide screenshots

From the instance template's options menu, select Promote to mastermain

Virtual machine templates in Apps library view

Enter a Name to identify the template

Promote to master template

The platform displays the promoted instance in the main section of the Catalogue

Promote to master template

Manage instances of deleted templates

You cannot delete a master main template if it has VMs deployed or instances with VMs deployed, but you can make it unavailable, which deletes the template disk file. If a master main template is unavailable, to display it and access the instances panel, select the checkbox to display Deleted VM templates. If you wish to create a VM from an instance of a deleted master main template, first promote the instance to a master main template. 

Make an instance template unavailable

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titleClick here to show/hide the screenshots

Confirm that you would like to delete the instance template

Virtual machine template in use

To display the unavailable instance:

  1. Select the filter to display Deleted VM templates

  2. Select the master main template

Instances for virtual machine template - core
  • You cannot force the delete of an instance if it is in use in a VM. 

  • If you try to delete an unavailable instance, an error popup will appear because the template is already unavailable. 

  • To make the instance available again, replace the unavailable template files on the file system. When it detects the template files, the platform will mark the instance as available.

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In a public cloud region, the instance template is independent of the original master main template. The platform saves the VM configuration as part of the custom template. To ensure that you can identify relationships between templates, name your instances carefully. 

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