tiCrypt 2.18.1

VM Images

Prerequisites

User Role:

Sub-admin, Admin, Super-admin

Permission Requirements

• VM Administration
  • View all VM images
  • Create VM images from raw volumes (to create an image, or create one from another)
  • Edit any VM image (to edit or clone an image)
  • Delete any VM image (to delete an image)

Access VM Images

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.

A row is red when the image has no drive format, no operating system, or a volume that is not OK.

The following table describes the columns of the VM Images table.

Column	Content
Name	The name of the image.
Realm	The realm of the image's volume.
Parent	For a clone, the image it was cloned from, with a link to its panel.
Writable	Whether the image can be modified. An image that has clones cannot.
Size	The capacity of the volume.
OS	The operating system.
Bus type	The device bus type.
Limit	The maximum number of VMs that can be created from the image.
Secure Boot	Whether the image boots with secure boot (UEFI).
Info	The pool and volume of the image, as pool::volume.
HW Setups	The number of hardware setups that use the image.
Created	When the image was created.
Modified	When the image was last changed.
Drive Format	The drive formats the image supports.
Capabilities	The capabilities of the image, such as Slurm.

View Basic Information of a VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to view.
5. Click the View button in the top right panel.
6. Review the VM Image panel. Its header shows how many hardware setups use the image.

The panel's Basic info card shows the Realm, Capacity, Operating system, Drive formats, Capabilities, Boot ("Secure boot (UEFI)" or "Legacy boot (BIOS)"), Max instances ("No limit" when none is set), Created on and Last modified on. A Description card appears when the image has one, and a Used by N Hardware Setups card lists the hardware setups that use it.

View the Hardware Setup Used for a VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to view the hardware setup.
5. Click the View button in the top right panel.
6. Click the Hardware Setup card in the bottom left panel.
7. In the new left panel, view the hardware setup name, description, realm, user and team availability, creation date, image, cores, memory, used devices and VMs.

Create a New VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Click the Create new VM image button in the top right panel.
5. In the Create new VM image pop-up, enter the VM image name, Libvirt volume, operating system, supported drive formats, supported capabilities, the device BUS type, boot options, maximum instances and optional description.
6. Click Create image.

Result:

The message "Created <name>" appears and the image is added to the table.

The following table describes the fields of the Create new VM image pop-up.

Field	Description
Name	Required, up to 80 characters, without any of / \ | " : * ? < > { }. It must differ from the name of every other VM image.
Libvirt volume	Required. Lists only the volumes that have no VM image yet, because each volume can have one image. The image is scoped to the realm of the volume you select. If every volume already has an image, the pop-up says "There are no Libvirt volumes in the system which don't already have images created for them."
Operating System	Required: Linux or Windows. Unknown/Other is rejected with "You must select Linux or Windows".
Supported Drive Formats	Required, at least one.
Supported Capabilities	Optional: Slurm, Constellations, or both. An image with the Slurm capability makes its VM configurations appear in VM Accounts.
Device BUS Type	VirtIO (the default) or SCSI. Set at creation only.
Boot options	Use secure boot (UEFI) or Use legacy boot (BIOS).
Max Instances	Optional. A whole number from 1 to 1,000,000.
Description	Optional, up to 250 characters. Markdown is supported.

Add VM Creation Limit in a VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to add a VM creation limit.
5. Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
6. In the pop-up, under Maximum instances, enter the number of VMs allowed for the VM image in Max Instances: a whole number from 1 to 1,000,000.
7. Click Update image.

note

Maximum VM creation limits enforce software licensing restrictions and, as a result, support software compliance.

A limit cannot be removed once set

After an image has a limit, Max Instances can be changed but not cleared. Leaving it empty shows "A limit cannot be removed once set: enter the new maximum". A value that is not a whole number shows "Must be a whole number".

Set Up VirtIO or SCSI in a New VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Click the Create new VM image button in the top right panel.
5. In the pop-up, enter the Libvirt volume, image name, operating system and supported drive formats.
6. Under the BUS type section, select either the VirtIO or SCSI BUS type.
7. Click Create image.

tip

For Libvirt VM images, use VirtIO as the BUS type.

Edit an Existing VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to edit.
5. Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
6. In the Update <name> pop-up, edit the VM image name, operating system, supported drive formats, supported capabilities, boot options, maximum instances and optional description. The Libvirt volume and the device BUS type cannot be changed.
7. Click Update image.

Result:

Only the fields you changed are saved, and the message "Updated <name>" appears. If nothing changed, "No changes made" appears instead.

Edit the Operating System of a VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to edit.
5. Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
6. In the pop-up, under the Parameters section, select the operating system: Linux or Windows. Unknown/Other is listed but rejected with "You must select Linux or Windows".
7. Click Update image.

Edit the Supported Drive Format of a VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to edit.
5. Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
6. In the pop-up, under the Parameters section, select the supported drive format as ext4, ntfs, btrfs, xfs, or zfs.
7. Click Update image.

Edit the Boot Options of a VM Image

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image to edit.
5. Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
6. In the pop-up, under Boot Options, select either Use secure boot (UEFI) or Use legacy boot (BIOS).
7. Click Update image.

Clone an Existing VM Image

A clone is a new VM image made from an existing one. There are two kinds:

• Shallow Clone: the copy references the source image's data and records only the changes (copy-on-write). It is near-instant regardless of image size. The source cannot be deleted or modified for as long as the clone exists.
• Deep Clone: the copy is a full, independent copy of the image. It runs in the background, during which the source cannot be deleted or modified, and no service VM may run from the source image. Once complete, the clone is fully independent of the source.

Neither kind of clone can be used for a service VM. Both actions work on one image at a time and need the Edit any VM image permission.

Location: Management > Virtual Machines > VM Images

1. Select the VM image to clone.
2. Click the Shallow Clone or Deep Clone button in the top right panel.
3. In the pop-up, read the warning and enter the clone Name. It must differ from the name of every other VM image; a duplicate shows "Conflicts with another VM image".
4. Click Shallow Clone or Deep Clone.

Result:

A task named after the clone starts. When it ends, the clone appears in the table, and its Parent column links to the source image.

Create a VM Image from an Existing One

Create from copies the settings of an existing image into a new image on another volume. Unlike a clone, it copies no data: the new image describes a volume you choose.

Location: Management > Virtual Machines > VM Images

1. Select the VM image whose settings you want to copy.
2. Click the Create from button in the top right panel.
3. In the Create new VM image from <name> pop-up, change the Name, which starts as the source image's name and must be unique.
4. Select a Libvirt volume that has no VM image yet.
5. Review the copied operating system, drive formats, capabilities, bus type, boot option, maximum instances and description.
6. Click Create image.

Result:

The message "Created new image from <source name>" appears and the new image is added to the table.

Delete VM Image(s)

bulk-action

1. Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
2. Navigate to the Virtual Machines section.
3. Click the VM Images in the left panel.
4. Select the VM image(s) to delete.
5. Click the Delete button in the top right panel.
6. In the Delete <name | N VM images>? pop-up, view the hardware setups that depend on the image(s) to delete.
7. Click the Delete button next to each hardware setup to delete it. Delete at the bottom stays disabled while any hardware setup depends on the image(s).
8. Once done, click Delete.

note

• An image cannot be deleted while a hardware setup uses it.
• Removing a Libvirt image does not delete the underlying volume; Libvirt images are metadata layers over the actual storage content.