Templates

Templates are the operating systems customers can deploy on the platform. Currently, the following server templates are offered:

Specialized templates include:

  • pfSense, for software-defined networking with Web UI
  • VyOS, for software-defined networking via CLI
  • WatchGuard FireboxV, for software-defined networking with comprehensive network security

Other templates may be available upon request.

Customizing Templates

Upon configuring an instance to your exact requirements, you may wish to deploy it multiple times. Orchestration systems like Ansible, Puppet or Chef can be run from another instance over your private network to automatically configure new instances.

An alternative is to turn the instance boot disk into a template.

  1. Shut down the target instance
  2. Go to the Disks screen under Storage
  3. Click the ⚙ Actions menu button and select Clone to template. This will clone the disk as a template.
  4. Alternatively, it is also possible to convert the disk into a template, rather than clone.
  5. After creating the template, the template will now be located under Templates and can now be used as any other template.

The template can also be converted or cloned back as a disk, through the Convert to regular disk and Clone to regular disk options.

Templates can also be updated/reverted to new versions. To update firstly you need the new version as an unattached disk.

  1. Click the ⚙ Actions menu button and select Update.
  2. Select the new disk and click OK. This will convert that selected disk into a template, and mark the current template as Superseded

To revert simply click the ⚙ Actions menu button and select Revert. This will only work if the previous version still exists.

Building New Templates

Specialized use cases and workloads may require a template not offered on the platform. Fortunately, the panel makes installing new operating systems simple with the ISO import tool.

To upload an ISO to the platform:

  1. Go to Disks under Storage
  2. Click Create Blank Disk from the top-right corner
  3. Leave the default options, and give the disk a descriptive name, such as “OS.iso”
  4. Click the OS dropdown and choose ISO image import
  5. Click Create

The platform will download your ISO or gzipped ISO and copy across to your target disk. To boot from this ISO image:

  1. Go to the Instances screen under Compute
  2. Click New Instance from the top-right corner
  3. Configure your instance as required with a new blank disk to install to
  4. Under the Disks column add the blank disk and the ISO as a second disk
  5. Under Boot from in the System column set Boot from to CD-ROM
  6. Click Create and Start to apply and start the instance

A standard operating system installation can now be performed. Once completed, remove the CD-ROM disk and reset the boot options to Disk as above. From here the disk can now be used as is, or converted to a template using the steps above.