Modify a virtual machine template
Before you begin:
- Find out which enterprise owns the template.
- Log in to the owner enterprise, or switch enterprises to this enterprise.
- You can switch enterprises in Home View or Users view.
To modify a VM template:
- Select the template and click on the control menu button in the top-right corner and select Edit.
Privilege: Manage VM templates from Apps library
In private cloud datacenters, standard templates have disks that will deploy to the hypervisor datastore, in contrast to persistent templates that have disks on external storage volumes. This documentation describes standard templates.
General information
The General information tab contains the basic template details.
Field | Value |
|---|---|
Name | A short name to identify the VM template. This will be the default name of a VM created from this template. |
Description | A description of the services and applications installed on the VM template |
Category | Logical grouping of VM templates to enable you to organize them. "Others" is a default category that cannot be deleted |
Icon | Enter the URL for the template's icon. This must be a URL with a public IP address, not localhost or 127.0.0.1. It may be the URL of the Abiquo Server. A default icon is assigned if the template does not have one. Abiquo recommends that you use square icon images with a size of 128x128 pixels. A transparent background also makes icons look better. The compatible image formats are PNG, JPG and GIF. If the template is a shared template, then all users will see the icon. Changing the icon of a master template will not change the icon of instances you created earlier. However, new instances will be created with the new icon. |
It also contains the CPU and RAM, or hardware profile selection.
Set CPU and RAM
Field | Value |
|---|---|
CPU | Number of CPUs assigned to this template. |
RAM | RAM memory size assigned for this template in MB or GB. |
Min CPU | Minimum value of CPU or RAM. If 0 or empty, then there is no constraint. The platform stores 0 as an empty value, so if you enter "0", it will disappear! You cannot set a minimum below the current template value. Changes apply to new VMs, they are not retroactive. However, if users edit existing VMs that already had out-of-range values, the platform displays a warning but does not enforce the range. Changes can affect recommended hardware profiles on the Advanced tab, so you may need to review them. Users with the Override VM constraints privilege can enter values outside this range |
| Max CPU Max RAM | Maximum value of CPU or RAM. If 0 or empty, then there is no constraint. The platform stores 0 as an empty value, so if you enter "0", it will disappear! Changes apply to new VMs, they are not retroactive. However, if users edit existing VMs that already had out-of-range values, the platform displays a warning but does not enforce the range. Changes can affect recommended hardware profiles on the Advanced tab, so you may need to review them. Users with the Override VM constraints privilege can enter values outside this range |
| Cores per socket | The number of cores per socket. The number of CPUs must be divisible by the number of cores per socket. The maximum value is 32 |
Set hardware profile
Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Hardware profile | Select a hardware profile |
CPU | Number of CPUs assigned to this template. |
RAM | RAM memory size assigned for this template in MB or GB. |
Manage VM template disks
The Disks tab contains details of disks currently attached to the machine and enables the user to edit, delete, and add new disks, as well as download disks to their local file system, depending on the user's privileges.
States of disks in private cloud
The platform uses the state of the disks to determine the template's state. The disks can be in the following states:
- DONE: the disk is ready, but conversions may still be in progress
- IN PROGRESS
- UNAVAILABLE: the disk is defined in the template but not present in the Apps library
- FAILED: the disk was not properly created because of an issue during its creation
- The state of a disk conversion can be as follows
- ENQUEUED
- FINISHED
- FAILED
Manage VM template disks in private cloud
To edit VM template disks in private cloud, edit a template and go to Disks
To change the boot order of a disk
- Click the pencil icon near the sequence number and enter a new number. There must always be a boot disk in the 0 position, and the boot disk cannot be an empty disk.
To download a disk
- Select the disk
- Click the download symbol on the right-hand side of the disk details
To manually launch conversions to new template formats if you have added any new hypervisor types after the initial conversion process ended
- Click Generate missing conversions.
To display and manage disk conversions
- Select the disk and check the conversion details in the lower panel
To restart a failed conversion:
- Click the Restart conversion link beside the conversion
To add a disk:
- Click the + button in the top right of the disk dialog
Select one of the options: Disk from local file, Disk from iso file, Empty disk or Template disk.
Enter the details of the disk
Disk from local file
Disk from ISO file
Empty disk
Enter the size of the disk and the disk controller type and controller information.
The platform will store the disk definition in the VM template and when you deploy a VM based on this template, the platform will create the disk on the hypervisor datastore.
- Template disk
Select a template from the Apps library and then select a disk from the template.
Abiquo will select the original disk, not the conversions. If you require other formats, generate conversions for these formats.
Edit a template disk in private cloud
To edit a disk:
- Select the disk
- Click the pencil edit button and make changes as described below
You can enter a disk controller value, according to the following table.
Delete a template disk
Before you begin, check that the template is not in use. A template is in use if it has deployed VMs or dependent instances.
To delete a template disk:
- Select the disk to delete
- Click the Delete trash can icon.
Public cloud region
To edit a public cloud template in the Apps library do these steps:
- Move the mouse over a template
Click the options button and select edit
The fields you can modify are described in the table below.
General information
Disks table
Variables
Scopes to share virtual machine templates
When editing a template, to make this template available to users of other tenants, open the Scopes tab and select scopes.
Privilege: Allow user to switch enterprises
You can select your own scope or any scope that is lower than your own scope in a scope hierarchy.
Shared templates can be seen by all enterprises in the template's scopes and are marked with the shared template symbol.
Only administrators with the Allow user to switch enterprises privilege can enable and manage shared templates. Administrators can only edit templates in the enterprise they belong to.
Instances of VMs created with a shared template only belong to the enterprise that created them and are not automatically shared.
You cannot delete a shared template if there are any instances of the template, in your enterprise or other enterprises. You cannot make the shared template private if there are instances of the template in other enterprises. If you make a shared template unavailable, when you refresh your Apps Library, it will be marked as unavailable in the Apps Library of all enterprises. In the time between when you make the template unavailable and when you refresh the Apps Library, users will not be able to deploy with the template, but it will not be marked as unavailable for users of other enterprises.
Advanced
Related pages
- Main Apps library page with links to related pages: Appliance Library View
- Guest setup