Updating VM templates

Introduction to updating VM templates

There are two main ways to make sure your users have up-to-date templates in Abiquo:

1. Create a new template from an instance of the old template

2. Update existing template disks

Update a VM template by creating a new template

To update a VM template as a new template.

1. Deploy a VM from the template, shut it down gracefully, and create an Abiquo instance (as a backup)

2. Update the VM (e.g. install a new service pack or security patch), then create another instance template

3. Promote the new instance to a master template, and change the name to show users that it is a new version. See https://abiquo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/doc/pages/311371382/Manage+VM+templates#Promote-an-instance-to-a-master-template

4. Copy the new template to the catalogue in each of your datacenters (with Duplicate VM template)

5. In each datacenter catalogue, share the VM template to your enterprises (with Scopes)

6. Rename the old VM template or change the description to show users that it is deprecated

Updating VM template disk files

You can update VM template disk files. The use case is as follows.

• Upload or download a template

• Use it to create a VM 

• Update the template. Abiquo supports changes to:

  • file content

  • size

  • format (see Template compatibility table)

  • capacity

• Update the disk using the UI or the Appliance manager API 

• When the user next deploys the VM, the platform will copy the updated disk

For instructions:

• for the UI method, see https://abiquo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/doc/pages/311378488/Modify+VM+template+disks#Replace-a-template-disk

• for the API method, see Upload and replace template disks via API

Do not change VM template files on the filesystem

We do not recommend that you change the disks of a VM template on the NFS filesystem, for example, by replacing a VMDK file in the NFS repository. This is because you would also need to correctly update fields such as virtualimage.diskFileSize in the underlying Abiquo database. Changes to the Abiquo database are not recommended or supported by Abiquo. You may also need to update the OVF information if you change the underlying virtual disk because sometimes this information may be required to maintain platform coherence.

Considerations when updating VM templates

When you want to update a VM template, remember:

• You can rename and change descriptions of any VM template (or instance) in the catalogue, even if the template is used by a virtual appliance in the datacenter (deployed or undeployed)

• Any user with the appropriate privileges can create an instance of a template, and the instance will be stored in the user’s enterprise

• You cannot remove a master template if there is an instance in any enterprise. As a cloud admin user, you will need to switch to each enterprise and check the repository for instances. Or you can check in the repository file system

• You cannot remove scopes to “unshare” a template if it is being used by any virtual appliance in an enterprise in the datacenter

• You can remove a template disk from the filesystem to make the template Unavailable to users. If you later replace the template disk with the exact same disk, then the template will become Available again

• You can update a template disk, but you also need to update the template definition in Abiquo. To do this, follow the instructions for the Abiquo UI or API. After you update a template disk, users will deploy VMs with the new disks