# Synced Images

When a provisioning target (Cloud) is added, all available image and template records from that Cloud will be synced in regardless of Inventory settings on the Cloud. These image records will be available in the Virtual Images section and can be provisioned by using the target clouds generic Instance Type (ex. By selecting the HVM or VMware Instance Type from the provisioning wizard).

NOTE

Synced Virtual Images are just metadata records in VM Essentials pointing to the image in the target Cloud. The actual image files are not copied/imported to VM Essentials manager.

Before provisioning a synced Virtual Image, ensure the image is configured properly:

Name
:   Name of the Virtual Image in VM Essentials. This can be changed from the name of the image, but editing will not change the name of the actual image file.

Operating System
:   Specifies the platform and OS of the image. All Windows images will need to have Operating System specified on the Virtual Image, as VM Essentials will assign Linux as the platform for all images without an operating system specified.

Minimum Memory
:   The Minimum Memory setting will filter available Plan options during provisioning. Plans that do not meet the minimum memory value set on the Virtual Image will not be provided as Plan choices by the provisioning wizard.

Cloud Init Enabled?
:   On by default, uncheck for any image that does not have Cloud-Init or Cloudbase-Init installed.

    IMPORTANT

    Provisioning a Virtual Image that has Cloud Init Enabled? checked on the Virtual Record in VM Essentials but does not have cloud-init installed will result in immediate provisioning failure.

Install Agent
:   On by default, uncheck to skip Agent install. Note this will result in the loss of utilization statistics, logs, Task execution, and monitoring (Some utilization stats are still collected by Agent-less workloads).

Username
:   An existing Username on the Image. This is required for authentication, unless VM Essentials is able to add user data, Cloud-Init, Cloudbase-Init or Guest Customizations. If Cloud-Init, Cloudbase-Init Guest Customizations or Nutanix Sysprep are used, credentials are defined in Administration > Settings > Provisioning and User Settings. If credentials are defined on the Image and Cloud-Init is enabled, VM Essentials will add that user during provisioning, so ensure that user does not already exist in the image (aka `root`). For Windows Guest Customizations, VM Essentials will set the Administrator password to what is defined on the image if Administrator user is defined. Do not define any other user than Administrator for Windows Images unless using Cloudbase-init. VM Essentials recommends running Guest Customizations for all Windows Images, which is required when joining Domains as the SID will change.

Password
:   Password for the existing user on the image if the Username field is populated.

Storage Provider
:   Location where the Virtual Image will be stored. Default Virtual Image Storage location is `/var/opt/morpheus/morpheus-ui/VMs`. Additional storage providers can be configured in Infrastructure > Storage.

Cloud-Init User Data
:   Accepts what would go in `runcmd` and can assume bash syntax. Example use: Script to configure satellite registration at provision time.

Auto Join Domain?
:   Enable to have Instances provisioned with this image auto-join configured domains (Windows only, domain controller must be configured in Infrastructure > Network and the configured domain set on the provisioned to Cloud or Network).

VirtIO Drivers Loaded?
:   Enable if VirtIO Drivers are installed on the image for provisioning to KVM-based hypervisors, such as HVM cluster

VM Tools Installed?
:   On by default, uncheck if VMware Tools (including OpenVMTools) are not installed on the Virtual Image. VM Essentials will skip network wait during provisioning when deselected.

Force Guest Customization?
:   VMware only, forces guest customizations to run during provisioning, typically when provisioning to a DHCP network where guest customizations would not run by default. This is required for host/computer name definitions. domain joining, licenses and user definitions when using DHCP.

Trial Version
:   Enable to automatically re-arm the expiration on Windows Trial Images during provisioning.

IMPORTANT

Provisioning a Virtual Image that has Cloud Init Enabled? checked on the Virtual Record in VM Essentials but does not have cloud-init installed will result in immediate provisioning failure.

IMPORTANT

For Linux images without cloud-init, an existing username and password must be defined on the Virtual Image record for Agent Install, Domain joining, licensing, script execution and other automation, and SSH or RDP Console access.
