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BackThe Right Image for Every Situation
Whether ready-to-use appliances, specialized distributions or your individual config, with custom images you can create cloud servers that are ideally prepared for their intended purpose from the very first start-up. Managing and using custom images has now become even easier, which means that you can build on the appropriate image in any situation.
Images as the base for new cloud servers
In order for new cloud servers to be available immediately, the operating system is not installed manually (e.g. from a DVD), but instead the root volume is prefilled with an image when a new cloud server is launched and this installation template is then further configured during the initial boot process.
You have been able to import and use your own images for a while now at cloudscale.ch. This enables you to create virtual servers in no time at all using a different operating system to those provided by us or using software and configurations that are completely adapted to your requirements. Where there are several available image files from distributors or third-party providers, it is often the case that one of them has been specifically optimized for OpenStack environments like at cloudscale.ch.
Managing custom images in the cloud control panel
Managing custom images is now also possible in our web-based cloud control panel. Even if you are not using our API, the cloudscale.ch CLI or the DevOps tools we support, such as Terraform and Ansible, you can now import your own images at cloudscale.ch in order to start one or more virtual servers on this base. In addition, it is now possible to import images directly in QCOW2 format without needing to convert them to RAW first. It goes without saying that you also benefit from this simplified process if you continue to import images via API.
We recommend that you use cloud-init for your own images, too. Using cloud-init, virtual servers can apply numerous settings automatically during the boot process, e.g. relating to the name and IP address of the server. You can also hand over many other options to cloud-init as "user data" at the time you create the server. In addition, you can specify for each custom image how our system should handle the user data. This is of particular significance if your image uses Ignition, which serves a similar purpose, rather than cloud-init. You will find further details about this in the documentation.
Whether you are compiling a customized image with your preferred tools and settings or using a comprehensive complete package from a third-party provider, managing and using your custom images has now become even easier at cloudscale.ch.
For the right base,
Your cloudscale.ch team