Create and Manage Templates

You can perform a set of actions with the templates:

  • view/edit/delete system templates
  • create/edit/delete/make public custom templates
  • manage template recipes and recipe variables
  • manage template system service add-ons
  • download new and update existing templates

View Template Details


The Control Panel's Templates List menu lists all of the templates available on your system, their version number, the number of recipes assigned to the template, the Operating System they install, whether swap disk is allowed, whether you can adjust their CPU cores/priority & RAM without rebooting a virtual server based on that template ("resize without reboot"), and whether hot migration is allowed.
The templates are organized into four tabs:

  • System templates - the OS images provided by OnApp.
  • My templates - the list of custom templates created by the user who is currently logged in. 

  • User templates - the list of templates converted by all users in the cloud from VS backups. To see user templates, make sure the See User Templates permission is enabled.

  • Inactive templates - the templates that are currently unavailable to build VS on.

On this page:

See also:



To see which virtual servers are based on a specific template:

  1. Go to your Сontrol Panel > Cloud > Templates > Templates List menu to bring up the list of templates.
  2. Click the template's label (name) in the list.

If you are viewing the templates list on a narrow screen, you can customize the way the table is displayed by clicking the actions icon at the top of the table. In the drop-down list that appears, check the columns you want to be displayed and click Apply. The narrower your screen is, the more unchecked columns will be hidden from the table. If your screen is too narrow to fit all the columns you have checked, a scrollbar will appear at the bottom of the templates list. You can always alter your column selection later. Note that by default the Backup server column is not visible in the table on narrow screens.

Column selection is currently set for one browser. If you have checked some columns in one browser and open the list in some other browser, the column selection will be the default one for that other browser.

Edit Template Details


You can edit a range of template details through the Control Panel, including minimum disk size required, version number, filename and label. To do so:

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Templates > Templates List menu. You'll see a list of templates on your system.
  2. Click the Actions icon next to the template you want to change, then choose Edit Template.
  3. On the screen that follows, enter template details as required:

    • Label – change the template name
    • Filename – edit the template filename
    • Version – the template version
    • Min disk size – the minimum VS disk size required to build a VS on this template (in GB)

    • Min memory size – the minimum VS RAM required to build a VS on this template (in MB)

      The maximum RAM that can be assigned to a VS is 168 GB regardless of the Max RAM value set in the bucket.

    • Allowed hot migrate - move the slider to the right if you want to be able to hot-migrate VS created from this template.

  4. Click the Save button to finish.


Install/Update Templates


The Template server URL has to be set at Control panel > Admin > Settings > Configuration > Backups/Templates tab as a prerequisite for installing/upgrading templates.

VMware vCenter templates are not installed using the template server. For information on installing VMware templates, refer to the Create & Manage vApp Templates section.

OnApp template manager allows you to update the system templates which are already installed to your cloud and download new templates available on a template server.

The OnApp template library includes over 100 VS templates based on various 32-bit and 64-bit flavours of Windows and Linux operating systems. OnApp customers can also access a large number of JumpBox virtual Compute resources and deploy them as templates in OnApp. 

Only customers with a Paid license have access to the complete template library, and special deals with JumpBox.

Installing Templates

To download and install a template from a remote template server: 

  1. Go to the Control Panel > Cloud > Templates menu.
  2. Click the System Templates tab.The page that loads will list all the templates installed to your cloud.
  3. Click the Available tab.
  4. You will see the list of all templates available for installation. You can scroll through the list of templates with the Previous/Next buttons at the bottom of the screen.
  5. Click the plus button next to a required template to install.

Upgrading Templates

Template manager allows you to update the installed templates from the template server.

To update a template:

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Templates menu.
  2. Click the System Templates tab.
  3. On the page that appears, the Updates tab will show the list of templates with more recent version than you have installed.
  4. Click the plus button next to a required update to install.
If you update an existing template (by downloading a more recent version) it will not update existing VSs built on the previous version. Only new VSs, or those that are rebuilt, will use the new template.

Installations

You can see the status of the active downloads and cancel/restart them.

For this:

  1. Go to the Control Panel > Cloud > Templates menu.
  2. Click the System Templates tab.The page that loads will list all the templates installed to your cloud.
  3. Click the Installations tab.
  4. You will see the list of all templates that are currently being installed to your Cloud with their details and status.
  5. Click the Properties icon next to a required template to restart or delete the template installation/update.

Where Templates Are Stored

Depending on the configuration of your cloud, new templates are stored at different locations.

No backup servers and ssh_file_transfer option is disabled

In this configuration, the templates will be uploaded to all Compute resources. If this template already exists somewhere, the action is skipped. In such case NFS or any other sharing service should be enabled between Compute resource's.

No backup servers and ssh_file_transfer option  is enabled

The template is uploaded to this ssh_file_transfer server only.

There are backup servers and ssh_file_transfer option is disabled

The templates are uploaded to all backup servers. The action is skipped if such a template already exists. In this configuration ensure that some sharing service is between backup servers. Provisioning is performed at backup servers only. If there is more than one backup server in the cloud, the user is prompted to choose to which BS a template will be stored.

There are backup servers and ssh_file_transfer is enabled

The templates are uploaded to this ssh_file_fransfer server only. 

High Availability is configured for the Cloud

In this configuration, make sure to store templates at Database&Transactions server or any other server with shared NFS service, so that both Control Panels could access the templates directory.

While creating a virtual server from a template, make sure that the template is located on a backup server that is attached to the compute resource on which you wish to built the VS, otherwise, the creation of the VS will fail.

Delete System Templates


To delete a template:

  1. Go to the Control Panel > Cloud > Templates > Templates List menu.
  2. Click the Actions icon next to the template you wish to delete, then choose Delete Template.

You cannot delete a template if there are virtual servers in your system built on that template. To delete the said template you will have to destroy such virtual server first.

Create Custom Templates


You can create custom templates by making a backup of an existing virtual server and saving it as a template for future use. To create a custom template:

  1. Create a new virtual server and configure it as you would like for your template.
  2. Click the Actions icon next to this virtual server, then choose Backups.
  3. In the list of backups, click Convert to Template next to the backup you want to convert.
  4. Click OK to proceed.
  5. On the next screen, enter the following:
    1. A label for your template.
    2. The minimum memory size: make sure the minimum memory size takes into account the settings for the template on which the VS was built, plus any modifications you may have made to the template before making the backup.
    3. The minimum disk size: ensure the value is based on the template settings and any possible modifications you may have made, e.g. installing additional software.
    4. Click the Convert Backup button.
  6. The backup will be scheduled for creation. When conversion is complete, it will be then listed on the Templates > Templates List > User Templates tab, from where you can edit it.
  • If templates limit has been exceeded, you will get the following error message: "You have reached your template creation limit".
  • During the custom Windows templatecreationthe Admin account is created anew.
  • To select a preferred licensing type (KMS, MAK, own) for a Windows virtual server built on a custom template you need to add this custom template to My Template Groups and associate the desired licensing type with such group.
  • When updating a custom template (by converting a more recent backup of a VS, for example), existing VSs built on previous versions will not be updated. Only new VSs, or those that are rebuilt, will use the new template.

Edit Custom Templates


You can edit your custom templates at any time. To do so:

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Templates > Templates List menu and click the User Templates tab. Your custom templates will be listed there.
  2. Click the Actions icon next to the template you want to change.
  3.  Choose Edit Template, make your changes on the screen that follows, and click Save.


Delete Custom Templates


You can delete your custom templates at any time. To do so:

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Templates > Templates List menu and click the User Templates tab. Your custom templates will be listed there.
  2. Click the Actions icon next to the template you want to delete.
  3. Choose the  Delete Template button next to a template if you want to delete it.

You cannot delete a template if there are virtual servers in your system built on that template. To delete the said template you will have to destroy such virtual server first.

Make Templates Public


The template list is organized into three tabs. The User templates tab lists all the custom templates created form the backups. By default those templates are available only to those users who created them. When you make templates public, you make your templates available to all users:

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Templates > Templates List menu.
  2. Click User templates tab.
  3. Click the Actions button next to the template you want to make public, then select Make public.
  4. Confirm the window that pops up.

When you make a custom template public, it is moved to a System templates tab.


Allow Users to Make Templates Public


All custom templates are private by default, which means they are only available to the users who created them. As the administrator, you can give users the right to create templates that are available to all users – i.e. to create public templates. This is handled through the Control Panel's Roles menu:

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Admin > Roles menu.
  2. Click the Edit icon next to the role you want to edit.
  3. On the screen that follows, check the box next to the Make own template public permission and click the Save button.