This section lists and describes a functional view of the different components that will appear in the cloud platform documentation
Concept | Description |
|---|---|
Apps Library | The Apps library is the centralized virtual machine template library. Users can deploy their own VMs on a self-service basis using the templates available to them in the Apps Library. Administrators can load virtual machine templates from local disks or remote repositories. They can also download templates from the repository to local disk. The Apps library is also called the Appliance library or Application library. See Basic Appliance Library Concepts |
Base Format | The platform's default format for a hypervisor. Templates in formats that cannot be deployed on the hypervisor will be converted to this format. See Template Compatibility Table |
Captured VM | A VM that was created outside of Abiquo and retrieved by Abiquo, then captured. Abiquo can manage captured VMs in the same way as VMs created in Abiquo. See Import and Capture Virtual Machines. |
Cloud node | Hypervisor or Docker server where virtual workloads are deployed. See Hypervisor Features and Cloud Node |
Datacenter | An Abiquo datacenter is a set of virtual resources managed by remote services. You can create more than one Abiquo datacenter in a physical datacenter using different remote services. |
| Datacenter networks | Networks that are created at datacenter level: external, public and unmanaged networks. |
| Default network | Network that can be set for an enterprise (external, private) or virtual datacenter (public, external, private). . |
| Deploy | The process of allocating, provisioning, and powering on a VM. |
| DHCP Relay | Abiquo provides a DHCP Relay server to forward DHCP requests and responses over VLANs between virtual machines and the DHCP Server. The DHCP Relay provides VLAN support for the DHCP server but does not provide DHCP Services, i.e. it does not replace the DHCP server. This server is used because a standard DHCP server can manage a maximum of around 200 VLANs. |
Enterprise | On our multi-tenant platform, an enterprise is a cloud tenant. So an enterprise could be a third-party company, development group, company department, etc. that can access the same virtual infrastructure. |
Enterprise Repository | The Apps Library that belongs to an enterprise, where users can select VM templates for self-service deployment |
| Generic iSCSI Storage | A storage device without a plugin for management by the Abiquo API. For these devices, the Storage Administrator must create volumes and an Administrator must add them to the platform. |
Hard Limit | An allocation limit that is the maximum amount of RAM, CPU and HD resources that are available for an enterprise. The limit can be set for an enterprise, an enterprise in a specific location, or a virtual datacenter. |
| Instance (template or Abiquo instance) | A snapshot copy of a VM system disk. In private cloud, an instance template is stored with the original master template from which the VM was deployed, and it uses the original template definition. See Manage Instances |
| Managed physical machine | A physical machine that is registered in the Abiquo platform that the Abiquo API can connect to. |
| Managed iSCSI Storage | External storage device that has an API and is managed by the platform using a plugin compatible with that API, meaning that volumes are created and deleted by the platform. |
Managed virtual machine | A VM that was created by the platform, or captured by the platform because it was already running on a hypervisor that was added to the platform. In contrast, a VM that has been retrieved but not captured is not managed by the platform. See Import and Capture Virtual Machines |
Management Network | The management network connects the platform servers with the hypervisors, network server, and storage for management purposes. |
Network Service Type | A network tag that enables you to define more than one network interface on a host in order to specify it as the physical network for one or more virtual networks. |
Persistent Virtual Machine | A VM with one or more disks on a volume of external storage (LUN) so that disk data persists after the VM is undeployed |
Physical Machine | A host or physical machine has a hypervisor running on it in order to provide a virtualization infrastructure. Also called a Cloud Node. Note that a physical machine may run a hypervisor, but you can also add a vCenter cluster as a physical machine. |
Rack | A group of physical machines within a datacenter that share the same switch (as in a physical Datacenter). This grouping is used for networking and high availability. |
| Reconfigure | To change the VM configuration after deployment |
Remote Service | A component that allows the Abiquo platform to manage infrastructure within a datacenter |
| Retrieved or Unmanaged VM | A VM that was created outside of the cloud platform and later imported from a physical machine in Abiquo. You can later capture these VMs so that they are managed by the platform. Or delete the unmanaged VMs that have not been captured. The term 'import' has also been used to mean 'retrieve'. |
| Remote Access IP | IP address on a machine that hosts a hypervisor for remote access to VMs over the Management Network. Also called a Service IP |
Service Network | The service network includes all the networks in a datacenter that connect the VMs in the cloud (private, external, unmanaged, public) |
Soft Limit | The point where the system alerts the user that they are near the absolute limit of a resource, called the hard limit. These allocation limits can be set for an enterprise, an enterprise in a specific location, or a virtual datacenter. |
Storage Network | A high-performance network used to connect the VMs to the storage server |
Storage Pool | A centralized storage infrastructure that allows the user to create iSCSI volumes and attach them to the VMs |
Synchronized VMs | When VMs are synchronized in private cloud, the VM states are the same in Abiquo and in the hypervisor. |
Synchronized VDCs and regions | In cloud providers (e.g. AWS, OpenStack cloud) when virtual datacenters or regions are synchronized, the elements are in the same state in Abiquo and in the public cloud region. Note that the public cloud syncrhonization process does not remove elements of configuration from undeployed VMs, for example, NICs and volumes. |
Remote Repository | A public or private repository of VM templates that can be accessed by Abiquo. Descriptions and VM disk files are served by HTTP. Also called a Template Repository |
| Template | See Virtual Machine Template |
| Tenant | In Abiquo, cloud tenants are known as enterprises. A cloud tenant is generally a group of users that have access to the same virtual resources, such as virtual datacenters and virtual machines, although Abiquo enables you to create different access profiles for each user. |
| Trunk Mode | A physical switch port configuration used in the Service Network that passes on all packets, regardless of their VLAN tags. If trunk mode is not used, the port must be configured for each individual VLAN used in the datacenter. |
| Unavailable VM template | An unavailable VM template in private cloud is a template with no disk file. In public cloud it is a template that is in the Abiquo Apps library cache but not available in the cloud provider. Users cannot deploy this template. Administrators can replace the disk file to make the template available again or when the template is no longer in use, they can delete it from the Apps library. |
| Undeploy | The process of destroying the virtual machine in the hypervisor and releasing resources on the platform. |
| VApp Spec | A VApp Spec (Virtual Appliance Spec) is a configuration blueprint saved from a virtual appliance that users can easily deploy |
Virtual Appliance | A group of Virtual Machines running in a Virtual Datacenter. The virtual appliance is like a folder that can contain a related set of virtual machines that are used to provide a service. For example, a web stack. At the virtual appliance level, you can deploy these virtual machines together, view their performance statistics, create anti-affinity layers for VM high availability, and so on. |
Virtual Datacenter | A set of virtual resources available to users in the same enterprise that may be controlled by the tenant administrator on a self-service basis (limit resources, create volumes, obtain public IP addresses, etc). The virtual appliances in a virtual datacenter all use the same type of virtualization technology (hypervisor, public cloud provider) or Docker host. These virtual appliances are in the same public cloud region or physical datacenter and rack. See Manage Virtual Datacenters |
| Virtual Datacenter Networks | Networks created at virtual datacenter level: private networks that by default are isolated within the virtual datacenter. |
Virtual Machine | A guest or virtual machine (VM) is an instance of a VM template with network and storage configurations once it is deployed on a cloud host, or an instance launched in a public cloud provider. It can be understood as a virtual operating system instance or container. Also called a Workload |
Virtual Machine Template | Abiquo uses virtual machine templates to create virtual machines. A virtual machine template consists of a virtual system disk and a VM template definition. The template may also contain additional disks. In public cloud, Abiquo stores the template definition but the template disk remains in the public cloud provider. |
| Virtual Machine Template Definition | Description of the VM and deployment requirements sent to the hypervisor or provider to create the VM. This includes resources (CPU, RAM and HD) and the hypervisor technology associated with the disk format |