To make new VM templates available in the platform, add them to your Apps library (also called the Appliance library).
Upload Templates from the Local Filesystem
You can upload VM templates from a local filesystem in OVA format (multiple disks) or as a single disk.
Privilege: Upload virtual machine template
Before you begin:
- Check that your template disks are in a compatible format for the platform.
- Check that you have the template details ready to enter, or that your file meets the requirements, depending on your upload:
- Local file: number of CPUs, RAM and the Capacity, which is the deployed size of the VM hard disk. See Determine the size of a VM Disk File.
- ISO file: number of CPUs and RAM for the VM
- OVA file: Abiquo reads OVA files such as those created with VMware. The name of the OVA file must end in the extension ".ova". You can upload a multi-disk template for a single VM. The OVA file must contain an OVF description file for the template. The platform uses the Name tag in the VirtualSystem as the template name. If the Name is not set, Abiquo falls back to the ID. See OVF Reference.
- You can upload a template with a multi-part upload over an HTTP connection from your browser to the Apps library. The platform supports browser upload of files larger than 2 GB but for very large files, it may be convenient to use another method.
- If you do not have any hypervisors, the platform will convert the template into ALL possible hypervisor formats. So before you add templates to your Apps library, add one physical machine of each hypervisor type that you will require conversions for, in order to reduce unnecessary use of the NFS repository space. See V2V Conversion.
To add a new template:
- In the Apps library view, select the datacenter and click the add button
Select one of the upload or download options and enter the appropriate data
Upload an OVA file
To upload an OVA file:
- Select Create from OVA file, and select the file.
- Abiquo will display the filename. Click Save. Abiquo will upload the file and create the template.
When the template has been uploaded, Abiquo will open the Edit template dialog. Check the template details and click Save.
Upload from local or ISO file
Complete this form to create a new VM template in the appliance library.
Disk from local file
* Capacity of the Hard Disk
You must enter a correct value for the Capacity of the hard disk, otherwise, when your deploy may fail with a message such as "is not a virtual disk". The hard disk size of a deployed VM is the physical size of the template disk for fixed formats, and the provisioning size for sparse formats and compressed formats, e.g. stream-optimized. The Hard disk size entered in this field is recorded in the template definition (a short version of an OVF description) and used to create the disk on deployment.
Disk from ISO file
Disks tab
The disk you upload is saved as the 0 disk in the boot sequence. Abiquo will send this disk to the hypervisor as the boot disk. If your disk is not a bootable system disk, then move the disk to a different position in the boot sequence when you add a bootable system disk.
You can edit the uploaded disk but you cannot delete it before you save the template.
You cannot resize the disk before you deploy the VM.
Variables tab
To add variables to a VM template, enter the Key and Value, then click Add. 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.
The variables will be added automatically to new VMs. Users can edit the variables when configuring the VM.
Advanced tab
Click Save to upload the template file.
After you save the template, you can edit the template and add more disks, edit, reorder and delete disks. You can also add a cost code.
Troubleshooting VM template uploads
The GUI upload process is handled by the browser and there are some limitations. If a file is not compatible with GUI upload, you can upload it manually. Manual upload requires access to the filesystem, so it should be done by a system administrator. See Importing Templates into the Appliance Library.
For more Information about VM Templates, see Virtual Machine Template Guide
Note that downloading templates to the client requires access to the Appliance Manager IP address configured for the current datacenter.
Download templates from the Docker registry
Pages related to VM templates
- Main Apps library page with links to related pages: Appliance Library View
- Create instance templates: Manage VMs#SaveVMdiskstocreateaninstancetemplate
- Manage instance templates: Manage VM Templates#Manageinstancetemplates
- VM automation with cloud-init templates: Guest setup
- Configuration pages
- VM repository folder
- In Modify a VM template, see Extended OVF Support and Template Definition and OVF Reference.