To make new virtual machine templates available in Abiquo, you must add them to your appliance library.
Add VM Templates to Datacenter Apps Library
You can upload VM templates from a local filesystem in OVA format (multiple disks) or as a single disk.
Privilege: Upload virtual machine template
Template disks must be in a compatible format. After you add a single-disk template to the platform, you can edit this template to add more disks. After you add the template, it will be converted to the format of each hypervisor in the platform. If you do not have any hypervisors, it will be converted to all possible hypervisor formats. Before you add templates to your Apps library, add one physical machines of each hypervisor type so as to optimize your 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 options
- Create from remote template repository
- Create from local or ISO file
- Create from OVA file
Download templates from the Docker registry
Upload Templates from the Local Filesystem
You can upload a template with a multi-part upload over an HTTP connection from your browser to the Apps library.
Privilege: Upload virtual machine template
The platform supports browser upload of files larger than 2 GB but for very large files, it may be convenient to use another method.
The requirements to upload different template types are described in the following table.
| Template type | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Local file | Enter the number of CPUs, RAM and the deployed size of the VM hard disk. |
| ISO file | You must enter the 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. |
Upload from local or ISO file
General information tab
Complete this form to create a new VM template in the appliance library.
Disk from local file
Disk from ISO file
Disks tab
* Capacity of the Hard Disk
You must enter a correct value for the Capacity of the hard disk - see Determine the size of a VM Disk File. Otherwise, deployment may fail with a message such as "is not a virtual disk". The hard disk size of a deployed virtual machine 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.
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.
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.
Abiquo will check that this template upload will not exceed the repository limits for your enterprise or your enterprise in the datacenter.
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.
Downloading virtual machine templates
Downloading to client requires access to the Appliance Manager IP address configured for the current datacenter.
Incompatible Virtual Machine Templates
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
OVA upload
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.
For more Information about VM Templates, see Virtual Machine Template Guide
Related pages
- 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.