[Users] custom location for OS template

[knawnd at gmail.com]

Kir Kolyshkin wrote on 08/05/11 03:37:
> On 05/03/2011 04:17 PM, knawnd at gmail.com wrote:
>> Is there any way to specify a location for os templates? The default one
>> is written in /etc/vz/vz.conf as
>> template=/vz/template
>>
>> but I would like to have a possibility to specify the custom one e.g.
>> with absolute path:
>> $ vzctl create --ostemplate /vz/tmpl/centos-5-x86.tar.gz <CTID>
>
> Why such a feature would be needed? Is that a problem to put a tarball 
> (or just a symlink)
> to /vz/template/cache?
For my needs I am trying to implement OpenVZ support in OpenNebula [1]  
with minimal changes in OpenNebula code. OpenNebula creates directory on 
remote host (cluster node) like $VM_DIR/<VM_ID>/ with some files inside 
it including VM deployment (a.k.a config) file, OS template/image, etc. 
All VMs on remote nodes are running under unprivileged user belonging to 
certain group (e.g. oneadmin:cloud). So it seems that the easiest way to 
create VM from certain OS template would be to do something like
$ vzctl create --ostemplate <path_to_OS_template> <CTID>
but indeed it looks like such approach would break the /etc/vz/dists/* 
logic of choosing proper distscripts.
So probably I will try to use symlinks. Thanks for idea!

Regards,
Nikolay.

[1] http://www.opennebula.org
>
>> with corresponding value for ostemplate variable in VE config:
>> ostemplate="/vz/tmpl/centos-5-x86.tar.gz"
>
> This will definitely break the /etc/vz/dists/* logic of choosing 
> proper distscripts.
>
>> I think that way would provide more flexibility.
>
> There are infinite ways to provide more flexibility for vzctl -- the 
> question is
> which ones are worth implementing.
>
>
> Kir.