Manage the datacenter catalogue

Introduction to the datacenter catalogue

The datacenter catalogue of VM templates is stored on the NFS repository. The catalogue holds VM templates, which include VM templates created from uploaded disk files, and instance templates, which are created from copies of VM disks, and disk conversions from other formats.

The catalogue also includes blueprints from which users can create complete configurations (virtual appliance specs) and service configurations, which define services for Abiquo’s XaaS feature (anything as a service).

Display VM templates

Usually, when you open the catalogue, the platform will display all available VM templates.

To display VM templates:

1. Go to the Catalogue

2. Select Private or Public

3. Select the datacenter or public cloud region. 
   The VM templates can in list view or in icon view, and by categories, such as Operating Systems. 

Open

Display VM templates in the Catalogue in list view

In icon view, select a VM template to activate the VM template options menu, which will vary, depending on the user context.

Open

VM template options menu

Manually refresh the catalogue

In general, the platform automatically refreshes the Catalogue each time you open it to update the display of VM templates. However, when you first create a datacenter, you may need to refresh it manually. 

To manually refresh the Catalogue, click the round arrow Refresh button beside the datacenter or public cloud region name in the repository list.  

When the Catalogue is refreshed, the platform will:

• Add new templates that have been manually uploaded to the repository file system

• Mark templates with missing disk files as unavailable. (These disks were deleted from the repository file system)

  • Mark shared templates that are unavailable for the owner enterprise as unavailable for all other enterprises

Display all VM templates in the catalogue

In private cloud, by default the Catalogue displays the VM templates in the done, failed, or in progress states only.

To control the display of templates, use the funnel filter control in the top right-hand corner. The options are as follows:

• Done

• Failed

• In progress

• Show only ISO

To display deleted templates, which are unavailable to users because there is a disk missing from the Catalogue filesystem, select Show deleted templates.

• To display instances of a deleted template, select it. To display an instance of a deleted template in the main view, promote it to make it a main template.

The screenshot shows a template in progress, a complete template, an unavailable template, and a failed template, which are all marked with the corresponding symbols.

How much space is left in the catalogue?

To update the display of available space, in the Catalogue beside the datacenter name, click the round arrow refresh button. The platform will display the Capacity (total disk space) and Remaining Capacity (the remaining space) of the NFS repository where the catalogue is stored.

Manage remote repositories

In a test system Abiquo lets you download some basic templates for testing from a remote template repository.

You can perform the following actions on the Create template from remote template repository dialog:

• Add or Remove remote template repositories:

  • To add a new repository, click the + Add button and enter a URL (the format includes http:// and :port) for a template repository.

  • To remove a template repository, select it and click the trash bin delete button 

• Refresh: To update the screen with the current template definitions available, downloaded, etc., click the refresh button

Pages related to the datacenter catalogue

• Parent page with introduction to the Catalogue and basic concepts: Catalogue view

  • Add VM templates to the catalogue

  • Modify a VM template

  • Manage VM templates

• How to configure the Catalogue template repository folder: VM repository folder . 

• Create instance templates: Save VM disks to create an instance template

• Manage instance templates: Manage VM templates | Manage instance templates in datacenters