You can upload an image of almost any operating system and create an instance from it. The exception is Windows OS. To create a machine with this OS, in the "Instances" section, click "Create Instance" and select Windows in the "Image" section.
What is an Image?
An image is a copy of the file system structure and data stored on a disk.
The image is primarily intended for quickly creating an instance boot volume. The image is also suitable for distributing software, such as operating system distributions or disks with already installed programs.
Preparing images for upload
1. OS preparation
G-Core Labs Cloud virtual volumes use high-performance Virtio SCSI controllers. Please, make sure that your operating system supports virtio-scsi block devices. Check that the virtIO drivers are installed.
VirtIO drivers of the guest operating system “know” that they are running in a virtual environment and co-operate directly with the hypervisor, thus achieving greater performance when working with the network and in disk operations.
2. Image format
G-Core Labs Cloud automatically converts supported source image formats to the raw format for creating an image with fast instance loading, as well as to the qcow2 format for creating an image with the standard instance loading.
List of supported source formats:
|
raw vhd vhdx vmdk vdi iso |
ploop qcow2 aki ari ami
|
Images loading
To upload an image:
1. Go to the Images section in the project control panel and click Import via URL.
2. Enter the image name, download link, and select whether you want to use Quick instance start option. Click Next.
Quick instance start option
When uploading an image, you can use the Quick instance start option
It is possible to create an instance from an image:
1. without using RBD Copy-On-Write technology (standard start), with full copying of image data to a volume. The qcow2 format is used.
This method is resource-intensive and time-consuming, but it allows to delete loaded images later without affecting an instance work.
2. using RBD Copy-On-Write (quick start) technology, which prevents copying image data when reading and writing new information to the original data area. The raw format is used.
Due to the fact that data for running an instance is read directly from the loaded image, it is faster to start the instance.
To use the quick launch, activate the Quick instance start option.
Important! If the Quick instance option start is enabled, deleting an image is not possible if the project has running instances that are created from this image. The option status cannot be changed after applying.