Creating an own template

Templates in DCImanager 6 are sets of disk images and installation scripts that are stored at the location. DCImanager 6 uses templates to install operating systems (OS), perform diagnostics and restore servers.

You can create your own template based on a template from ISPsystem repository by copying an existing template and configuring its parameters.

Creating a template copy

To create a template copy, enter Templates → OS and operations templates → select the template → menu → Copy:

Enter the template Name.
Select who will have Access to the template:
- All;
- Admins only.
Specify whether the template requires EFI support.
Specify any discretionary template Tags.
Specify the macro Name and Value. Press Add macro, if you need to add more macros. Read more about macros in Template macros.
Copy the path to the directory where the copy of the template will be saved.
Press Copy.

Example of settings

Configuring template parameters

OS templates are stored at the location server in the /opt/ispsystem/dci/os_templates/<template_name> directory. The template consists of the metainfo.xml file and a set of installation files. Metainfo.xml describes the parameters that will be used during installation. Some of these parameters are used by template macros.

metainfo.xml file format

Parameters in the metainfo.xml file are specified in the format <parameter_name>parameter_value</parameter_name>. For example, <sshpublickey>yes</sshpublickey>. All paths in the parameters are specified relative to the directory with the template.

Main parameters:

<kernel> — name of the file with Linux kernel image;
<initrd> — name of the file with Initrd image;
<kernelcommand> — kernel loading parameters. Macros can be used in the parameter. Read more in Template macros;

Example of parameter

<kernelcommand>lang=en_US keymap=us ks=($OSINSTALLINFO_HTTP) method=http://mirror.yandex.ru/centos/7/os/x86_64/ initrd=initrd ip=($IP) netmask=($NETMASK) gateway=($GATEWAY) dns=($NAMESERVER)</kernelcommand>

<installcfg> — name of the configuration file for installation. This file is specified in the $OSINSTALLINFO_HTTP macro;
<image> — the name of the ISO image file to be mounted as a CD-ROM;
<tempipv4> — whether a temporary IPv4 address is required when installing an operating system with a primary IPv6 address. Possible options: yes — required, no — not required;
<sharedir> — directory inside the template, files from which will be available via HTTP. This file is specified in the $SHAREDIR_FILE macro;
<support><elem version="version"> — short control panel names and versions that support the template. For example, for the template to be supported by all versions of DCImanager 6 starting from 4.8.0, specify <support><elem version="4.8.0">dcimgr</elem></support>;
<illegal_password_characters> — characters that cannot be used in a password;
<sshpublickey> — support of adding public SSH keys. Possible options: yes — supported, no — not supported;
<up_mem_on_install> — RAM in MB, which the server can use when installing the OS. After installation, the amount of memory returns to its basic value;
<chpasswd_method> — password change method. Specify mount.linux for a Linux OS;
<loaderefi64> — UEFI loader file name;
<ipxeconf> — name of configuration file for loading via iPXE;
<ipxeconf type="tftp"> — option to load the ipxe.conf configuration file via tftp protocol. A string of the format "tftp://<control_panel_address>/.../ipxe.conf" is added to the configuration file dhcpd.conf.

Examples of templates

kickstart (CentOS)

The kickstart technology allows you to flexibly configure installation parameters for CentOS templates. Read more about kickstart in the official CentOS documentation.

Example of metainfo.xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<doc>
  <osname>CentOS-7-amd64</osname>
  <support>
    <elem>VMmgr</elem>
    <elem>IFXmgr</elem>
  </support>
  <rebootcount>1</rebootcount>
  <kernel>vmlinuz</kernel>
  <initrd>initrd.img</initrd>
  <type>ostemplate</type>
  <loader>pxelinux.0</loader>
  <pxelinuxcfg>pxelinux.conf</pxelinuxcfg>
  <tempipv4>yes</tempipv4>
  <kernelcommand>lang=en_US keymap=us ks=($OSINSTALLINFO_HTTPv4) ksdevice=link method=http://mirror.yandex.ru/centos/7/os/x86_64/ ip=($IPv4) netmask=($NETMASKv4) gateway=($GATEWAYv4) dns=($NAMESERVERv4) proxy=($HTTPPROXYv4) text</kernelcommand>
  <installcfg>install.cfg</installcfg>
  <limit>
    <elem name="ipv4">yes</elem>
    <elem name="ipv6">yes</elem>
    <elem name="mem">512</elem>
    <elem name="disk">2000</elem>
  </limit>
 </doc>

Example of install.cfg file

%pre

#!/bin/sh

for disk in `ls -la /dev/sd?`; do
    dd if=/dev/zero of=$disk bs=512 count=32
done

SWSIZE=$(grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo  | awk '{print int($2/1024)+1}')
if [ ${SWSIZE} -gt 2048 ]; then
    SWSIZE=2048
fi

if [ `cat /proc/scsi/scsi | grep -wc ATA` -eq 2 ]; then
     set $(fdisk -l 2>/dev/null | grep -vi mapper | grep Disk | grep dev |  sed 's/://' | awk '{print $2}' | tr '\n' ' ')
     HD1=$1
    HD2=$2
    if [ -b ${HD2} ]; then
        SIZE1=$(fdisk -l "${HD1}"  2>/dev/null  | grep Disk | grep dev |  sed 's/://'|awk '{print $5}')
        SIZE2=$(fdisk -l "${HD2}"  2>/dev/null  | grep Disk | grep dev |  sed 's/://'|awk '{print $5}')
        if [ -n "${SIZE1}" ] && [ -n "${SIZE2}" ] && [ "${SIZE1}" = "${SIZE2}" ]; then
            USE_MIRROR=yes
        fi
    fi
fi

if [ -n "${USE_MIRROR}" ]; then
cat > /tmp/part-include << EOF
part raid.11 --size=256 --asprimary --ondisk=sda
part raid.12 --size=${SWSIZE} --asprimary --ondisk=sda 
part raid.13 --size=1 --grow --asprimary --ondisk=sda 
part raid.21 --size=256 --asprimary --ondisk=sdb
part raid.22 --size=${SWSIZE} --asprimary --ondisk=sdb 
part raid.23 --size=1 --grow --asprimary --ondisk=sdb
raid /boot --fstype ext4 --device md0 --level=RAID1 raid.11 raid.21
raid swap --fstype swap --device md1 --level=RAID1 raid.12 raid.22
raid / --fstype ext4 --device md2 --level=RAID1 raid.13 raid.23
EOF
else
cat > /tmp/part-include << EOF
part /boot --fstype ext4 --size=256 --asprimary --ondisk=sda
part swap --size=${SWSIZE} --asprimary --ondisk=sda
part / --fstype ext4 --size=1 --grow --asprimary --ondisk=sda
EOF
fi

%end
auth --useshadow --enablemd5
# Crete partition map
bootloader --location=mbr
zerombr
clearpart --all --initlabel
firstboot --disable
# Disk partitioning information
%include /tmp/part-include
# System keyboard
keyboard us
# System language
lang en_US.UTF-8
# Installation logging level
logging --level=info
# Use NFS installation media
url --url http://mirror.yandex.ru/centos/7/os/x86_64/
#Root password
rootpw ($PASS)
# SELinux configuration
selinux --disabled
# Text installation
text
# System timezone
timezone --utc Europe/Moscow

# Network
network --bootproto=static --ip=($IPv4) --netmask=($NETMASK)  --gateway=($GATEWAYv4) --nameserver=($NAMESERVERv4) --hostname=($HOSTNAME) --device=link

# Install OS instead of upgrade
install
%packages
@core
%end

%post
# Network settings
#echo "NETWORKING=yes" > /etc/sysconfig/network
#echo "HOSTNAME=($HOSTNAME)"
ETHDEV=$(ip route show | grep default | grep -Eo 'dev\ .+\ ' | awk '{print $2}')
HWADDR=$(cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 | awk -F= '/HWADDR/ {print $2}' | sed 's/"//g')
UUID=$(cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 | awk -F= '/UUID/ {print $2}' | sed 's/"//g')

if [ -n "($IPv6)" ]; then
cat > /etc/sysconfig/network << EOF
NETWORKING=yes
NETWORKING_IPV6=yes
HOSTNAME=($HOSTNAME)
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=($GATEWAY)
EOF

cat > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-${ETHDEV} << EOF
DEVICE="${ETHDEV}"
BOOTPROTO="static"
DNS1="($NAMESERVER)"
HWADDR="${HWADDR}"
IPV6ADDR="($IPv6)/($NETMASKv6)"
IPV6INIT="yes"
IPV6_AUTOCONF="no"
IPV6_DEFAULTGW="($GATEWAY)"
NM_CONTROLLED="yes"
ONBOOT="yes"
TYPE="Ethernet"
UUID="${UUID}"
EOF

fi
%end

%post --nochroot
wget -O /dev/null --no-check-certificate "($FINISHv4)"
# Reboot after installation
%end

reboot

preseed (Debian, Ubuntu)

Recommended for use with Debian, Ubuntu OS templates Read more in the official Ubuntu and Debian documentation.