Apps Library

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The Apps Library is where the Admin will make it easy for the cloud users to use the infrastructure that they are providing. This is where the Admin will provide the VM templates for creating VMs and blueprints for creating virtual appliance (VApp) configurations.

In each private cloud datacenter, the Admin should configure an Apps Library based on an NFS Repository. Then Admins can upload templates as OVAs, template disks, or ISO disks, for example. The Apps library in public cloud is a cache of template details with links to the original provider templates.

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.

Click here to show/hide the task: Download sample templates

Abiquo supplies sample templates in a Remote Repository hosted on Amazon S3. Download some of these templates for testing.

On the Apps Library Tab select the data center.
Click the + Add button on the right hand side and select Create from remote repository

The Abiquo Official Repository should have been added as default (http://abiquo-repository.abiquo.com/ovfindex.xml).
Select the templates and click Download to save them to the local datacenter Apps library

Note that by default the Cloud Admin has the privilege to Manage repository (to add and delete remote repositories) and Admins have access to the Apps library and the privilege to Download VM templates from remote repository.

The Cloud Admin can upload VM templates from the local filesystem and may also allow Enterprise Admins to upload their own templates to the Apps Library for their users. If the enterprise is a reseller, the Cloud Admin can allow them to share templates with their tenants.

Click here to show/hide the task: Upload a custom VM template

To upload a custom VM template:

On the Apps Library Tab select the data center
Click the + Add button and select the option to Create from OVA
Select the OVA file. Abiquo imports OVAs created in VMware. The OVA shoulld contain a single virtual system and the disk format should be compatible with Abiquo. See Template Compatibility Table
After you upload the OVA, edit the template as required. On the Advanced tab, check that the Operating system is set correctly

The template will be uploaded to your Apps Library and can be used to deploy VMs within a virtual appliance.
Note: Your appliance manager must be correctly configured to allow disk uploads. Browser upload uses HTTP protocols and larger disk files may require a different process.

Users can create clones of their VM disks as instance templates. In private cloud, instances are stored with the master templates in the Apps library.

Screenshot: A template and clones of VM disks created from the template (instance templates)

In private cloud datacenters, Cloud Admins can set allocation limits to ensure that no single enterprise uses all the repository space. The platform meters Repository usage and you can bill each tenant for it.

For customers running multiple Abiquo datacenters, Abiquo has a template mobility feature that can export from a private cloud datacenter to another datacenter and supported public cloud providers.

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 cache of template definitions. Here you can modify the way that Abiquo will present the public cloud templates to your users and, for example, restrict the hardware profiles that users can work with. Users can easily find and deploy the approved templates cached in the Apps Library. Users can also create instance templates to clone the disks of their VMs running in the public cloud region.

Screenshot: In public cloud the Apps library imports the details of templates from the provider and links to the provider's disk files.

In both private and public cloud, Admins can also create application blueprints called virtual appliance specs by saving the configuration of a group of VMs to the Apps library. The user can then automatically create a new virtual appliance directly from the blueprint.