The Apps Library is where the Cloud Admin will make it easy for the Cloud Users to use the infrastructure that they are providing.
In each private cloud datacenter, an Apps Library based on an NFS Repository should be configured and this is where the Cloud Admin will provide the virtual machine templates that can be deployed. For Service Providers the Apps Library enables the provider to offer appliances and applications to their customer. For Enterprises the Apps Library provides a central, controlled image repository so that only approved images can be deployed onto the infrastructure.
Enterprise Admins may also be allowed to upload their own templates to the Apps Library. They can then decide whether each template remains private to the Enterprise or is shared across the Abiquo Platform.
In private cloud datacenters, Cloud Administrators can set allocation limits to ensure that no single enterprise uses all the repository space. Repository usage is accounted and can be billed to each enterprise.
For customers running multiple Abiquo Datacenters, Abiquo recommends the creation of a Remote Repository. This provides a central repository from which images can be managed and downloaded to the local (data center) repositories. Abiquo provides a sample Remote Repository hosted on Amazon S3 that provides sample images for testing purposes.
In public cloud regions, the Apps Library enables you to filter and search for public cloud images. It also allows you to import the image details into the Abiquo public cloud region Apps library, which is a template definition cache. Here you can modify the way the templates will be presented to your users. However, Abiquo will maintain a link to the original public cloud image. The approved templates cached in the Apps Library are easily available for users to deploy. Users can also create instance templates to clone the disks of their virtual machines running in the public cloud region.
It is also possible to export templates from private datacenters to public cloud regions for hybrid cloud functionality.