15 minutes tutorial

Log in
Create the Physical infrastructure
Add a Cloud node
Download an image
Add a Remote Repository to the Datacenter
Select and download the desired images
Create the Virtual infrastructure
Create and deploy a Virtual Appliance

This page describes the process to create a Virtual Machine and get it deployed into the target hypervisor. There are 4 simple steps to take:

1. Add a Cloud Node to Abiquo infrastructure.

2. Create a Virtual Datacenter.
3. Configure the Appliance Library with an image repository and download an image.
4. Create a Virtual Appliance, add a Virtual Machine, and deploy it.

Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that the Abiquo platform has been installed, the desired Cloud Node has been installed too, and the
hypervisor is properly configured. For detailed information, see the installation instructions of the Administrator's Guide.

Log in
Just log in as a System Administrator using the default account, as explained in Starting abiquo for the first time page:

Username: admin
Password: xabiquo

Create the Physical infrastructure

Once logged in, go to Infrastructure view, click the button and fill the form to create a new Datacenter:
 Remote Service Address
Although localhost is set by default as the Remote Service address, it is desirable to set it to an accesible (public) host name or
IP. Abiquo exchanges these addresses between the distributed components of the platform, so addresses such as localhost or
127.0.0.1 should not eb used in order to avoid inter-module communication issues.

The default Abiquo installation installs all RemoteServices in localhost. In most cases the default values for all the Remote Services can be used.

The following Remote Services are only available in Enterprise Edition and will not appear in Community Edition form:

Discovery Manager
DHCP Service
Business Process Manager

Add a Cloud node

Once the datacenter has been created, enter it. Select the Infrastructure tab, and click the button to create a new Rack.

Once the rack has been created, use the icon to create a new Physical Machine:

Fill the form as explained in the Creating Physical Machines page, and accept. The Cloud node will be attached to the selected Rack and
displayed in the Infrastructure tab tree view.
 Physical Machine creation form

In Community Edition, all information must be entered manually. Note that the State check is only available in
Enterprise Edition, and the Virtual Switch list is a free text box.
In Enterprise edition, the physical machine information is auto discovered given the machine IP.

Download an image
The next step is to download an image to the Appliance Library in order to add it to a Virtual Appliance and deploy it to the just added Cloud
Node. To do so, go to the Appliance Library view and follow the next steps to download an image and make it available to the created Datacenter:

Add a Remote Repository to the Datacenter

Default configuration
The Abiquo sample Remote Repository is created by default after installation, so this step can be ommited in most cases.

First of all, a Remote Repository must be added to the datacenter. Remote Repositories contain a set of virtual images that can be downloaded
to the Appliance Library and associated with a Datacenter. Once an image is downloaded and associated with a datacenter, it can be used in
any Virtual Appliance that resides on that Datacenter.

To add a Remote Repository, select the Dacatender, click the button and go to Virtual Image > from Remote Repository option. In the

popup that appears, click the button and enter the Remote Repository address.

Abiquo sample Remote Repository

Abiquo provides a sample image repository at: http://abiquo-repository.abiquo.com/s3direct

Select and download the desired images

Once the Remote Repository has been created, a list with the available images is shown. You can now download an image by selecting it in the

image list and clicking the button.

 Download a compatible image

In Community Edition, the downloaded image must be compatible with the target hypervisor, according to the
Hypervisor Compatibility table.
In Enterprise Edition, any image can be downloaded, and a background V2V process will convert it to all necessary
formats to guarantee that it will be ready to be deployed in any target hypervisor.

Once the image is downloaded, you will see it in the Appliance Library and it will be ready to be added to a Virtual Appliance.

Create the Virtual infrastructure

The next step is to create a Virtual Datacenter. The Virtual Datacenter adds ans abstraction layer to the physical infrastructure, in order to provide
a Cloud Service. Users will not be aware of the underlying physical infrastructure; they will create their Virtual Appliances in a Virtual Datacenter
and the Abiquo platform will deploy them to the physical infrastructure based on the Best Fit Resource Scheduler.

To create a Virtual datacenter, go to the Virtual Datacenters view, click the button of the Virtual datacenter menu, and fill thee form:

Enter a name, and select the Physical datacenter and a Hypervisor Type. You can optionally change the default network configuration, but this
configuration will not be covered in this tutorial. For more information, refer to VLAN customization section in the Manage Virtual Datacenters
page.
 DHCP configuration
The DHCP information that will be used to assign IPs to the Virtual Machines of the Virtual Datacenter, can be viewed by

selecting the Virtual Datacenter, clicking the button and selecting the Show DHCP info option.

In Community Edition, this configuration must be copied manually to your DHCP server.
In Enterprise Edition, DHCP is automatically configured by the DHCP Remote Service.

Create and deploy a Virtual Appliance

The final step is to create and configure a Virtual Appliance. To create it, select the Virtual Datacenter, an in the Virtual Appliances tab, click the

button and fill the form with the desired name for the Virtual Appliance.

Once the Virtual Appliance has been created, it will appear in the Virtual Appliances list. Select and enter it, to add the desired images:

On the left side, a list of all available and compatible images are listed. Just drag & drop all desired images, and save the virtual appliance.

Once the Virtual Appliance has been saved, it can be deployed by clicking the button. When the deploy process finishes, the Virtual
Appliance will be powered on, and you will be able to manage the lifecycle of all the Virtual Machines in the Virtual Appliance using the control
buttons that appear at the bottom right part of the screen: