Manage template pools

A template pool stores VM templates. With a template pool, you can rapidly deploy VMs and share VM templates across different environments, increasing resource usage and enhancing deployment efficiency. You can perform the following management operations:

Add a template pool—You can create a dedicated storage pool path to save VM templates. The system supports using an iSCSI shared directory, FC shared directory, NFS, NVMe-oF shared directory, or shared file system as a template pool. As a best practice to save management network bandwidth in a stateful failover system, use a shared directory that both the primary and back management platforms can access as a template pool, an iSCSI shared directory, FC shared directory, or NFS directory for example. If no shared storage is available, create a local synchronization partition as a template pool. The primary management platform will automatically synchronize the data in the partition to the backup management platform.
Enable a template pool—Enable an inactive template pool for the system to identify it. An active template pool can be used to store new VM templates or deploy VMs.
Suspend a template pool—Suspend an active template pool.
Delete template pools—Delete template pools that do not contain VM templates. If a template pool is a local directory and contains VM templates, the template pool cannot be deleted.
Import VM templates—Filter out the VM templates that are in a storage template but are not displayed in CVM. You can import these VM templates to CVM so they can be downloaded, distributed among template pools, or used to deploy VMs.
View template pool information—View details of a template pool.
Manage CVM storage adapters—In a stateful failover network, if the host that runs CVM is not added to the system as a CVK host, you can view information about the storage adapters used by the host, set the IQN, and perform a device scan through this feature. ARM hosts do not support this function. This feature is unavailable for storage pools of the local file directory, local synchronization partition, and shared file system.
Manage CVM host networks—In a stateful failover network, if the host that runs CVM is not added to the system as a CVK host, you can manage vSwitches for the VM through this feature. ARM hosts do not support this function. This feature is unavailable for storage pools of the local file directory, local synchronization partition, and shared file system.

Restrictions and guidelines

If a data pool has been configured as an RBD storage pool, storage volumes in the data pool cannot be configured as template pools.

Before you configure an NVMe-oF template pool, configure lossless network settings. For how to configure lossless network settings, contact Technical Support.

Add a template pool

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click Add Template Pool.
Configure the parameters as described in "Parameters."
Click OK.

Start a template pool

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click Start in the Actions column for a template pool.
In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Suspend a template pool

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click Suspend in the Actions column for a template pool.
In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Delete a template pool

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click Delete in the Actions column for a template pool.
In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Import VM templates

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click Scan Templates in the Actions column for a template pool.
Select the target VM templates, and then click Import.

Display information about a template pool

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click View in the Actions column for a template pool.

Manage CVM storage adapters

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click CVM Storage Adapter.
To edit the IQN of an open-iSCSI storage adapter, click Edit in the Actions column for the adapter.
To perform a device scan, click Scan in the Actions column for a storage adapter.

Manage CVM host networks

On the top navigation bar, click Ops.
From the left navigation pane, select System Ops > Stateful Failover.
Click Template Pool.
Click CVM Network.
To add a vSwitch for the host, click Add.
To edit a vSwitch, click Edit in the Actions column for the vSwitch.
To delete a vSwitch, click Delete in the Actions column for the vSwitch.

Parameters

Add template pool:

Target Path: Enter the local mount point directory. For a local file directory, shared file system directory, or a local synchronization partition, the directory path must begin with /vms/. For template pools of other types, the directory path cannot begin with /vms/ or /dev/ and cannot be /dev/.
Type: Select a storage type. Options are iSCSI Shared Directory, FC Shared Directory, Network File System, NVMe-oF Shared Directory, and Shared File System Directory. You can select the Local File Directory option only in a non stateful failover system. You can select the Local Synchronization Partition option only when the following requirements are met:
- A stateful failover system has been set up.
- The CVM hosts are not added to management platforms as CVK hosts.
- No local synchronization partition has been created.
Local Sync Partition: Only logical disks or partitions with the same name and capacity in both primary and backup CVM hosts can be used. Creating a local sync partition will format the disk or partition. You can create a maximum of one local sync partition. NVMe disks cannot be used as local sync partitions. As a best practice, set the size of a local synchronization partition to be not larger than 4T.
IP Address: Enter the IP address of the iSCSI shared directory.
LUN: Select the LUN of the iSCSI shared directory. Make sure the selected LUN is not used by any shared file system, iSCSI network storage, template pool, or any other CVM management platform. In a stateful failover system, make sure the LUN is accessible to the primary and backup management platforms. This parameter is available only when the type of the template pool is iSCSI Shared Directory.
NAA: Select the NAA of the FC shared directory. Make sure the selected LUN is not used by any shared file system, FC network storage, template pool, or any other CVM management platform. In a stateful failover system, make sure the LUN is accessible to the primary and backup management platforms. This parameter is available only when the type of the template pool is FC Shared Directory.
UUID: Unique identifier used to uniquely identify and locate specific storage devices in a virtualization system to ensure that the virtualization system can correctly identify and access the required storage resources.
Source Host IP: Enter the IP address of the network file system. In a stateful failover system, make sure the primary and backup management platforms can reach the network file system. This parameter is available only for network file systems, which are not supported by ARM hosts.
Source Path: Enter the path of the network file system. This parameter is available only for network file systems, which are not supported by ARM hosts.
Shared Storage Pools: Select a shared file system.
Storage Name: Enter the name of the template pool folder.