ISO Installation

Here, we cover how to install a virtual machine from ISO on Luna Node Dynamic.

• Add the ISO to your account: if the ISO is not already provided (we have some like Ubuntu and Fedora Server), go to Add a new image to add the ISO file. The ISO file needs to be available for download from a web or FTP server; if it is not, then you can create a temporary VM to host the ISO file. After adding the ISO, please wait for ten to fifteen minutes to allow time for the download to complete; depending on the size of the file and the download speed, this process may take significantly longer.
• Provision the VM: create a new VM from the ISO file.
• Install the OS: once the VM is ready, go to the VM management page and select VNC connection. From here, complete installation of the operating system.
  • Note that you should delete any existing partitions on the disk when installing, otherwise you may encounter issues like "partition in use" or "grub-install failed"; when in doubt, use guided partitioning
• Shut down the VM: after you have finished installing, turn the VM off by hitting Shutdown.
• Swap the boot order: while the VM is offline, hit Swap boot order so that the VM boots to the first disk instead of to the CD-ROM ISO. You may notice that the image source will change to "blank"; this lets OpenStack know that it should no longer treat the VM as an ISO.
  • Note: if you have JavaScript enabled, the swap boot order button will take care of shutting down and starting the VM as well.
• Start up the VM: now you can start the VM and enjoy your operating system! To do this, hit Start, then Shutdown, then Start again (this sequence of commands is needed in order to clear the cache; note that if you have Javascript enabled, this is done automatically).

Taking a snapshot

You may also want to provision more virtual machines from the ISO. Live snapshots are not possible for operating systems installed from ISO files; instead, you must do a cold snapshot by first turning off the VM. You must also ensure that the boot order has been swapped so that the VM is set to boot to the first disk and not the ISO image. Then, enter a name for the snapshot and hit Snapshot.

When the snapshot is ready, you can provision additional VM from it as usual.