Add VM Templates to the Apps Library

To make new VM templates available in the platform, add them to your Apps library (Catalogue)

In private cloud datacenters you can upload VM templates from a local filesystem in different formats:

• upload OVA file (including multiple disks) or
• upload an ISO file or
• upload a single disk file.

This document describes how to upload an OVA file from a local file system to create a VM template.

Before you begin, check these requirements:

1. The platform reads OVA files such as those created with VMware. 
2. The file name must end in the extension ".ova". 
3. You can upload a multi-disk template for a single VM (virtual system)
4. The OVA file must contain an OVF description file for the template. 
5. The platform uses the Name tag in the VirtualSystem as the template name. If the Name is not set, the platform falls back to the ID. See OVF Reference.  

To add a new template from an OVA file

1. Go to Apps library

2. In the Private cloud section, select the datacenter

3. On the Virtual machine templates tab, at the bottom of the templates panel, click the + add button

4. Select Create from OVA file
   
   
5. Click Select file and browse for the file.
   
   Abiquo will display the File name.
6. Click Save. Abiquo will upload the file and create the template.
   When the template has been uploaded, Abiquo will open the Edit template dialog.
7. Check the template details.
   For more details of how to edit a template, see Modify a VM Template
   To add OVA parameters to all VMs, add them as Variables. See Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters.
8. Click Save

In private cloud, to create VM templates from a remote repository, do these steps:

1. Go to Apps library Catalogue

2. In the Private cloud section, select the datacenter

3. On the Virtual machine templates tab, at the bottom of the templates panel, click the + add button

4. Select Create from remote template repository
   
   
5. Select a Repository, then select a Category or All categories. 
   The Packages pane will display the available template definitions with an icon, title and brief description
6. Optionally, click on Show disks
7. For each VM template to download, select the checkbox next to the template definition
8. To start the download, click the Download button
   
   1. The platform will check that this template download will not exceed the repository limits for your enterprise or your enterprise in the datacenter.
   2. A status bar will appear next to the selected packages showing the download state.
      

If a template belongs to a Category in the remote template repository but the Category does not exist in the Apps library, the platform will create it for the download.

You can now work with the new VM template.

To import a template from a public cloud region into the platform's template cache, do the following steps:

1. Go to Apps library → Public → select the public cloud region
2. Then click the + add button at the bottom of the screen
   

3. The Import template popup will open

4. Enter the search criteria for your template
   

   1. In the ID field, you can enter an ID, such as an AMI ID
      1. In Google Cloud Platform, you can enter a full path ID, for example, ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/ubuntu-2004-focal-v20220308
   2. In the Name field, you can enter text to search for in the name 
   3. Select Private templates to display images that are only available to your user account in the public cloud provider. 
      1. In vCloud Director this option displays templates in the same organization as your user
      2. In OCI, to search for private templates, you must search by the template ID only.

   Then click Search to perform the search. The search can take some time and return several pages of templates

5. To import a template, click the import symbol in the top right-hand corner of the template

   1. If your Azure template has terms of use, then you will need to accept these now or when you first create a VM from the template. 
      1. Accepting the terms of use requires the privilege to Manage virtual machine template terms of use and it enables programmatic deployment of the template for your Azure subscription. If you then disable programmatic deployment in the portal but you would like to deploy the template, you will need to delete it from the platform and import it again.
      2. If you share the template with another enterprise, then a user of that enterprise will need to accept the terms of use before they can create a VM

   When a template has been imported, the color of the import symbol will change to gray

6. When you have finished importing templates click Close
   

You can now edit your template to customize it for your users, which includes:

• Add custom icon
• Add variables for startup scripts
• Share template with users in a tenant hierarchy
• Recommend and restrict hardware profiles
• Set default template credentials and configure initial password
• Add tags

For more details, see Modify a VM Template