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This page describes the most common methods to load VM templates into the multi-cloud platform.

For an overview and links to additional methods, see Add virtual machine templates to Abiquo

Upload OVA templates from the local filesystem

This section describes how to upload an OVA file from a local file system to create a VM template in the catalogue.
If your file is very large, you may prefer to save it directly to the VM repository or use the AM API, see Appliance manager template API upload and download

The enterprise you are working in when you upload and save the VM template will be the owner of the VM template.

Privileges: Upload virtual machine template

Before you begin, check these requirements:

  1. Abiquo reads OVA files created with VMware and from the VM marketplace. See also Export an OVA from ESXi vSphere 7 with OVF tool

  2. The file name must have the .ova extension and it must contain an OVF file

  3. The OVA must have a single VM (virtual system)

  4. Abiquo uses the Name tag in the VirtualSystem as the template name. If the Name is not set, the platform uses the ID. The template name will be the default name for VMs that users create from this template

  5. To deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters, the template must have guest tools. See Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters

  • If you do not have any hypervisors, the platform will convert the template into ALL possible hypervisor formats. So add your hypervisors first, to reduce use of the NFS repository space.

To add a new template from an OVA file

  1. Go to Catalogue

  2. In the Private cloud section, select the datacenter

  3. On the Virtual machine templates tab, at the bottom of the templates panel, click the + add button

  4. Select Create from OVA file

    Create a template from an OVA file

  5. Click Select file and browse for the file.

    Browse for an OVA file on your local filesystem

    Abiquo will display the File name.

  6. Click Save. Abiquo will upload the file and create the template. When Abiquo has created the template, it will open the Edit template dialog

Basic steps to configure a VM template

Here is a brief description of some initial steps to edit a VM template:

  1. On the Disks tab, you can add an extra empty hard disk for your application data.

  2. To add OVA parameters to all VMs, add them on the Variables tab. See Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters.

  3. On the Advanced tab, if your VM template requires UEFI boot, select the checkbox. If you are not sure, check with your system administrator because a UEFI VM will not boot without this configuration

  4. For the User, enter the default user for the template

  5. For the Password, enter the default password of the user on the VM template

  6. Check and select the Operating system and if required, the OS version. For more details see Set the guest operating system for VMware

  7. Click Save

  • To modify a VM template, you must log into or switch to the owner enterprise (where the template was created).

  • To share a VM template with other enterprises, go to Scopes and select access lists

Advanced VM template configuration

To use advanced VM configuration with cloud_init or guest tools:

  1. Install cloud_init (or cloudbase_init) or VMware guest tools on your VM template

  2. Follow the steps on the page for your tool:

For a diagram and comparison of these features, see Guest setup

Related links

Download templates from a remote template repository

In private cloud, to create VM templates from a remote repository, do these steps:

Privilege: Download template from remote repository

  1. Go to Catalogue

  2. In the Private cloud section, select the datacenter

  3. On the Virtual machine templates tab, at the bottom of the templates panel, click the + add button

  4. Select Create from remote template repository

  5. Select a Repository, then select a Category or All categories. 
    The Packages pane will display the available template definitions with an icon, title and brief description

  6. Optionally, click on Show disks

  7. For each VM template to download, select the checkbox next to the template definition

  8. To start the download, click the Download button

    1. The platform will check that this template download will not exceed the repository limits for your enterprise or your enterprise in the datacenter.

    2. A status bar will appear next to the selected packages showing the download state.

If a template belongs to a Category in the remote template repository but the Category does not exist in the Catalogue, the platform will create it for the download.

You can now work with the new VM template.

Add public cloud templates to the catalogue

To import a template from a public cloud region into the platform's template cache (the Catalogue), do the following steps.

  1. Go to Apps library → Public → select the public cloud region

  2. Then click the + add button at the bottom of the screen

  3. The Import template popup will open

  4. Enter the search criteria for your template

    1. In the ID field, you can enter an ID, such as an AMI ID

      1. In Google Cloud Platform, you can enter a full path ID, for example, ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/ubuntu-2004-focal-v20220308

    2. In the Name field, you can enter text to search for in the name 

    3. Select Private templates to display images that are only available to your user account in the public cloud provider. 

      1. In vCloud Director this option displays templates in the same organization as your user

      2. In OCI, to search for private templates, you must search by the template ID only.

    Then click Search to perform the search. The search can take some time and return several pages of templates

  5. To import a template, click the import symbol in the top right-hand corner of the template

    1. If your Azure template has terms of use, then you will need to accept these now or when you first create a VM from the template. 

      1. Accepting the terms of use requires the privilege to Manage virtual machine template terms of use and it enables programmatic deployment of the template for your Azure subscription. If you then disable programmatic deployment in the portal but you would like to deploy the template, you will need to delete it from the platform and import it again.

      2. If you share the template with another enterprise, then a user of that enterprise will need to accept the terms of use before they can create a VM

    When a template has been imported, the color of the import symbol will change to gray

  6. When you have finished importing templates click Close

You can now edit your template to customize it for your users, which includes:

  • Add custom icon

  • Add variables for startup scripts

  • Share template with users in a tenant hierarchy

  • Recommend and restrict hardware profiles

  • Set default template credentials and configure initial password

  • Add tags

For more details, see Modify a VM template in public cloud

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