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Creating virtual machines from templates

About VM templates

You can use VM templates to help you easily create VMs.

Expedite creation with boot sources

You can expedite VM creation by using templates that have an available boot source. Templates with a boot source are labeled Available boot source if they do not have a custom label.

Templates without a boot source are labeled Boot source required. See Managing automatic boot source updates for details.

Customize before starting the VM

You can customize the disk source and VM parameters before you start the VM.

If you copy a VM template with all its labels and annotations, your version of the template is marked as deprecated when a new version of the Scheduling, Scale, and Performance (SSP) Operator is deployed. You can remove this designation. See Removing a deprecated designation from a customized VM template by using the web console.
Single-node OpenShift

Due to differences in storage behavior, some templates are incompatible with single-node OpenShift. To ensure compatibility, do not set the evictionStrategy field for templates or VMs that use data volumes or storage profiles.

Creating a VM from a template

You can create a virtual machine (VM) from a template with an available boot source by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console. You can customize template or VM parameters, such as data sources, Cloud-init, or SSH keys, before you start the VM.

You can choose between two views in the web console to create the VM:

  • A virtualization-focused view, which provides a concise list of virtualization-related options at the top of the view

  • A general view, which provides access to the various web console options, including Virtualization

Procedure

  1. From the OpenShift Container Platform web console, choose your view:

    • For a virtualization-focused view, select Administrator → Virtualization → Catalog.

    • For a general view, navigate to Virtualization → Catalog.

  2. Click the Template catalog tab.

  3. Click the Boot source available checkbox to filter templates with boot sources. The catalog displays the default templates.

  4. Click All templates to view the available templates for your filters.

    • To focus on particular templates, enter the keyword in the Filter by keyword field.

    • Choose a template project from the All projects dropdown menu, or view all projects.

  5. Click a template tile to view its details.

    • Optional: If you are using a Windows template, you can mount a Windows driver disk by selecting the Mount Windows drivers disk checkbox.

    • If you do not need to customize the template or VM parameters, click Quick create VirtualMachine to create a VM from the template.

    • If you need to customize the template or VM parameters, do the following:

      1. Click Customize VirtualMachine. The Customize and create VirtualMachine page displays the Overview, YAML, Scheduling, Environment, Network interfaces, Disks, Scripts, and Metadata tabs.

      2. Click the Scripts tab to edit the parameters that must be set before the VM boots, such as Cloud-init, SSH key, or Sysprep (Windows VM only).

      3. Optional: Click the Start this virtualmachine after creation (Always) checkbox.

      4. Click Create VirtualMachine.

        The VirtualMachine details page displays the provisioning status.

Removing a deprecated designation from a customized VM template by using the web console

You can customize an existing virtual machine (VM) template by modifying the VM or template parameters, such as data sources, cloud-init, or SSH keys, before you start the VM. If you customize a template by copying it and including all of its labels and annotations, the customized template is marked as deprecated when a new version of the Scheduling, Scale, and Performance (SSP) Operator is deployed.

You can remove the deprecated designation from the customized template.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Virtualization → Templates in the web console.

  2. From the list of VM templates, click the template marked as deprecated.

  3. Click Edit next to the pencil icon beside Labels.

  4. Remove the following two labels:

    • template.kubevirt.io/type: "base"

    • template.kubevirt.io/version: "version"

  5. Click Save.

  6. Click the pencil icon beside the number of existing Annotations.

  7. Remove the following annotation:

    • template.kubevirt.io/deprecated

  8. Click Save.

Creating a custom VM template in the web console

You create a virtual machine template by editing a YAML file example in the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Procedure

  1. In the web console, click Virtualization → Templates in the side menu.

  2. Optional: Use the Project drop-down menu to change the project associated with the new template. All templates are saved to the openshift project by default.

  3. Click Create Template.

  4. Specify the template parameters by editing the YAML file.

  5. Click Create.

    The template is displayed on the Templates page.

  6. Optional: Click Download to download and save the YAML file.