Upload OVA templates from the local filesystem

To make new VM templates available in the platform, add them to your Catalogue. In private cloud datacenters you can upload VM templates from a local filesystem in different formats. This document describes how to upload an OVA file from a local file system to create a VM template.

The enterprise where you upload and save the VM template will be the owner of the VM template. To modify this template, you must be in the owner enterprise, which means you must log into or switch to the owner enterprise). You can later share this template with other enterprises by selecting access lists (scopes).

Privileges: Upload virtual machine template

Before you begin, check these requirements:

Abiquo reads OVA files created with VMware and from the VM marketplace. See also Export an OVA from ESXi vSphere 7 with OVF tool
The file name must have the .ova extension and it must contain an OVF file
The OVA must have a single VM (virtual system)
Abiquo uses the Name tag in the VirtualSystem as the template name. If the Name is not set, the platform falls back to the ID
To deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters, the template must have guest tools. See Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters

For very large files, use another method of adding templates. For example, see Appliance manager template API upload and download
If you do not have any hypervisors, the platform will convert the template into ALL possible hypervisor formats. So first add your VMware hypervisors to reduce use of the NFS repository space.

To add a new template from an OVA file

Go to Catalogue
In the Private cloud section, select the datacenter
On the Virtual machine templates tab, at the bottom of the templates panel, click the + add button
Select Create from OVA file
Click Select file and browse for the file.
Abiquo will display the File name.
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:

On the Disks tab, you can add an extra empty hard disk for your application data.
To add OVA parameters to all VMs, add them on the Variables tab. See Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters.
On the Advanced tab, if your VM template requires UEFI boot, select the checkbox
For the User, enter the default user for the template
For the Password, enter the default password of the user on the VM template
Check and select the Operating system and if required, the OS version. For more details see Set the guest operating system for VMware
Click Save

Advanced VM template configuration

To use advanced VM configuration with cloud_init or guest tools:

Install cloud_init (or cloudbase_init) or VMware guest tools on your VM template
Follow the steps on the page for your tool:
- Prepare for guest setup with cloud-init or similar
- Prepare for guest setup with hypervisor tools

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

Related links

For general information about Abiquo templates, see Catalogue view
Upload an ISO disk from the local filesystem
Upload a template disk from the local filesystem for a single file.
For Abiquo OVF file specifications, see OVF reference
For Abiquo disk compatibility, see Template compatibility table
To upload or download templates, the AM remote service must use HTTPS. See Configure Abiquo Tomcat with HTTPS for Remote RS
Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters