Abiquo 5.4
Introduction to the Apps library
The Appliance Library (Apps library) enables cloud providers to offer users a catalog of VM templates for self-service deployment.
To access the Apps library, click the disk stack Apps Library button on the main menu.
Privilege: Access Appliance Library view
For each datacenter or public cloud region, the platform displays the VM templates available to your enterprise.
Manage the Apps library using the API
API Feature
This feature is available in the API. For datacenters, see DatacenterRepositoriesResource.
For datacenters and public cloud regions, see TemplateDefinitionsResource and TemplateDefinitionListsResource
Apps library concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| VM template | To deploy a VM, the platform uses a VM template and a hardware specification. A VM template consists of a VM template definition and VM template disk files, which include the system disk and any auxiliary disks. |
| VM template definition | The VM template definition includes information about the disks, the hardware, and product (additional metadata: name, description, icon, category, installed software). When you load a VM template definition and disk files into the Apps library, the platform generates a VM template based on the information in the VM template definition. A VM template definition can only include one virtual system, but you can create systems with multiple VMs using virtual appliances within Abiquo. In a private cloud datacenter, you can create VM templates from a local OVA, or one or more disk files and definition (details or OVF). |
| Instance templates | Abiquo Instances are templates created from copies of VM disks. You can use instances just like any other template for creating new VMs. In a datacenter, an instance is linked to the original master template. The master template is marked with an M symbol in the top left-hand corner. An instance is marked with an S symbol in the top left-hand corner. |
| V2V conversion | In a private cloud datacenter, Virtual-to-Virtual Conversion (V2V) is a process that runs to convert a new template into the default format for each hypervisor in the platform. It runs when users download VM templates, create VM instances, or upload new templates. If a hypervisor supports more than one format, then templates that are not supported by the platform for this hypervisor will be converted to the default format. Other formats will not be converted. If there are no hypervisors present, it will convert templates into the default base formats of all hypervisors. |
| Owner enterprise | The enterprise in which a VM template was created |
| Standard template | In private cloud datacenters, a standard template has disks that will deploy to the hypervisor datastore |
| Persistent template | In private cloud datacenters, a persistent template has disks on external storage volumes |
Apps library symbols
The template icons in the Apps library are marked with the following symbols.
| Template type | Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Shared template |
| This template may be used by all enterprises listed in the template's scopes. |
| Main template |
| In private cloud, this template has secondary templates or instance templates. Click on the template to display the instance template panel. |
| Secondary template |
| In private cloud, this template is a secondary template (or instance template). It is a copy of the selected disks of a VM created from the main template. You can create instances from VMs in the Virtual appliances view. |
| Deleted template |
| Also called an Unavailable template. In private cloud, this template has one or more disks missing in the Apps library filesystem. In public cloud, the template is no longer available |
| Failed template |
| In private cloud, this template has a disk file that was not properly created. |
- For information about creating instance templates, see Manage VMs#SaveVMdiskstocreateaninstancetemplate
- For information about managing instances, see Manage Instances in Datacenters
VM template states
The platform derives template states from the states of the disks in the template. If any of the disks is in an error state, the template will also be in an error state. You can delete individual disks that are in an error state, but a template must always have one disk, even if it is in an error state.
Template disks can be in the following states.
- IN PROGRESS: The platform has registered the template and is uploading or downloading a disk file to the Apps library
- DONE: The template is complete, although conversions to other hypervisors may not be present yet
- FAILED: the disk was not properly created because of an issue during its creation
- UNAVAILABLE: the disk is defined in the template but not present in the Apps library.
- The platform will not allow an administrator to delete a template when it is used in VMs or has dependent instance templates. Instead, the platform will delete the template disk files to prevent further deploys.
- If an administrator replaces the disk file, then the platform makes the template available again.
The priority of the disk state in determining the template state is as follows: 1. In progress, 2.Failed, 3. Unavailable, 4. Done. For example, if a template has any failed disks, the template will also be in the failed state, even if any of its other disks are unavailable or done.
Disk conversion states
In private cloud, the platform will automatically convert VM template disks to enable users to work with them on all available hypervisors. The state of a disk conversion does not affect the state of the template.
The possible states of conversions are:
- ENQUEUED
- FINISHED
- FAILED
To display the conversions of a template disk, edit the template, go to the Disks tab and select the disk.
Pages related to Apps library
- For a basic introduction to adding VM templates, see: Add Virtual Machine Templates to Abiquo
- For full details of adding VM templates, see: Add VM Templates to the Apps Library
- VM automation with cloud-init templates: Guest setup
- Configuration pages
- VM repository folder
- In Modify a VM template, see Extended OVF Support and Template Definition and OVF Reference.
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