Abiquo 5.2.1 enables you to eject an ISO CD-ROM disk from a VM and delete it from the datastore, leaving an empty CD-ROM drive on the VM, which you can later delete.
To configure Abiquo to eject CD-ROMs:
On the Remote Services server, edit the abiquo.properties file and set the following property.
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.dvd.nodelete=true
In Abiquo, allow disk hot-reconfigure: edit VM templates and select it on the Advanced tab
To delete an ISO disk (captured or created) using the eject functionality:
Edit the VM and delete the ISO disk
Abiquo will delete the ISO file from the datastore but keep the CD drive as a Client Device in device mode Passthrough CD-ROM.
Abiquo will automatically answer the system boot prompt to force eject from a locked device
The ISO disk will now have no file reference and the disk capacity will be 0. It will continue to occupy one of four slots on an IDE controller.
To remove the empty CD-ROM drive from Abiquo and the hypervisor:
If the ISO disk is attached to an IDE controller, power off the VM
Edit the VM and delete the CD-ROM drive
Note that Abiquo will move the CD-ROM drive to the last position in the boot sequence after you reconfigure a VM to add any extra disks. This means that when you delete an ISO drive, it will not affect the boot order.