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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

Before you begin:

  1. Log in or switch enterprises to the tenant that owns the template

To modify a VM template:

  1. Select the template and click on the control menu button in the top-right corner and select Edit

Privileges: Manage VM templates from Apps library

In private cloud datacenters, standard templates have disks that will deploy to the hypervisor datastore, in contrast to persistent templates that have disks on external storage volumes. This documentation describes standard templates.

Edit template general information

Enter the general information about the template as follows:

  1. Enter a Name to identify the template. This is the default name in the hypervisor of the VMs that users create from the template

  2. Optionally, select the Category in which the template will appear for users

  3. If you are not using hardware profiles only, enter default values for CPU and RAM

    1. For the Min values of CPU or RAM. If 0 or empty, then there is no minimum. You cannot set a minimum below the current template value. Changes apply to new VMs, not existing VMs.

    2. For the Max values of CPU or RAM. If 0 or empty, then there is no maximum. Changes apply to new VMs, not existing VMs.

  4. For Cores per socket, the number of CPUs must be divisible by the number of cores per socket. The maximum value is 32

  5. For the Icon, enter a URL with a public IP address, not localhost or 127.0.0.1. It may contain the IP address of the API server.

  • We recommend square images of size 128x128 pixels with a transparent background. Compatible formats are PNG, JPG, and GIF.

  • If an administrator shares the template with other tenants, then this icon will display for their users

  • If you change the icon of a template with instance templates, when you create the next instance, it will have the new icon

  • If you do not set an Icon, the platform will use the default VM icon from the UI theme

  • If the Operating System is set on the Advanced tab, and you don't set an icon, the platform may display the icon for a specific OS type or a generic OS type. The platform will not assign this icon to VMs.
    See Configure default template icons by operating system type

Troubleshooting minimum and maximum CPU and RAM values

  • The platform stores 0 as an empty value, so if you enter "0", it will disappear!

  • If users edit existing VMs that already had out-of-range values, the platform displays a warning but does not enforce the range.

  • Changes can affect recommended hardware profiles on the Advanced tab, so you may need to review them

  • Users with the Override VM constraints privilege can enter values outside this range

Modify VM template disks

See Modify VM template disks

Edit VM template variables

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.

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. Remember to check your provider documentation about metadata security.


Share VM templates

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

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. 

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

For more information, see Manage scopes and Manage resource scopes

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

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.


Activate hardware profiles for a VM template

When you edit a VM template, you can recommend some hardware profiles for users when they create VMs from this template. You can also activate only the recommended hardware profiles.

By default, users can access all hardware profiles that are active in the infrastructure (see Create a hardware profile) and allowed for their enterprise (see Configure an enterprise in a cloud location).

To activate a set of selected hardware profiles for a VM template:

  1. Go to Apps library → Public/Private → select region or datacenter → Templates

  2. Edit a template

  3. Go to Recommended

  4. Select the hardware profiles to recommend for this template. When the user creates a VM, the platform will display (Recommended) beside them.
    For shared templates, remember that the administrator must allow the user's tenant to access the hardware profiles. See Configure an enterprise in a cloud location.

  5. To activate and display the recommended hardware profiles only, select the Enable only recommended HPs option


Activate datastore tiers for a VM template

When you edit a VM template in private cloud, you can recommend some datastore tiers for users when they create VMs from this template. You can also restrict users to the recommended tiers.

By default, when users configure VMs, they can access all datastore tiers that are appropriately configured in the infrastructure and allowed for their enterprise. 

To activate a set of selected datastore tiers for a template:

  1. Go to Apps library → Private → select region or datacenter → Templates

  2. Edit the template

  3. Go to Recommended

  4. Select the datastore tiers to recommend for this template. The platform will display these datastore tiers in the selection list with (Recommended) beside them. Remember that the administrator must allow the user's tenant to access the datastore tiers

  5. To activate and display the recommended datastore tiers only, select the Enable only recommended DS tiers option


Add a bootstrap script to a VM template

Add a bootstrap script to a VM template and the platform will add it to all VMs created from the template to use with the Cloud-init or similar options for Guest setup. 

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:

  1. Go to Catalogue →  Edit VM template

  2. Go to Bootstrap

  3. Paste your configuration or script in the Bootstrap script text box

  4. 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.


Edit template advanced tab

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

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 code

(info) The cost codes are now on the separate Cost codes tab. For more details, see Multiple 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 VM templates for 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.

Enable hot add and hot reconfigure for VM templates

To allow users to reconfigure their VMs without powering off:

  1. Go to Apps library 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

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. 
Check that the Operating system and OS version are 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

Enable users to add CPUs in the platform while the VM is powered on

RAM hot-add

Enable users to add RAM in the platform while the VM is powered on

Disks hot-reconfigure

Enable users to 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

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

Remote access hot-reconfigure

Enable users to reset remote access in the platform while the VM is powered on.
On ESXi, if the user changes the VNC password, the change will apply after the power on

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 Apps library → select a datacenter or public cloud region

  2. Go to Templates

  3. Edit a template

  4. Add tags 

    For more details see Edit resource tags


Manage VM templates with the API

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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