Creating a generic operating system custom image
Beta
Generic operating system custom images is a beta feature that is available to select customers for evaluation and testing purposes. To request to be included in the evaluation of this beta feature, contact IBM Support.
You can specify a generic operating system during image import to create an image that contains any operating system that you want. When you provision a server from a generic operating system custom image, the operating system-specific initialization actions aren't performed automatically. You must specify each specific action by using user data.
All custom images must meet the following requirements：
- Contain a single file or volume
- Is in qcow2 or vhd format
- Is cloud-init enabled or can be booted using ESXi kickstart
- Size doesn't exceed 250 GB
- The minimum size is 10 GB. For any image that is less than 10 GB, the size is rounded up to 10 GB.
For more information about generic operating system custom images, see Generic operating system custom images and User data format considerations.
Step 1 - Start with a single image file in qcow2 or VHD format
If you're creating your own generic operating system custom image, begin with a single image file in qcow2 or VHD format. It might be helpful to begin with a cloud-enabled vendor image.
Kernel logs are important in debugging boot-related issues. To make sure that kernel logs are printed to the serial console, use the console=ttyS0 kernel command line argument. In addition, the nomodeset and nofb kernel parameters are used to resolve display-related issues during the boot process for older kernels that were released before mid 2021. The newer kernels use the video mode setting into the kernel.
Step 2 - Set up the specific operating system
Set up the image with the specific operating system that you choose. Make sure that you set up the network drivers and the cloud-init or cloudbase-init options for the operating system.
Step 3 - Verify the boot disk size
Make sure that the image has a boot disk size of 10 - 250 GB. Images that are less than 10 GB are rounded up to 10 GB.
If you are customizing a virtual server to migrate from the Classic infrastructure, return to Migrating a virtual server from the classic infrastructure and continue the migration steps.
Step 5 - Upload image to IBM Cloud Object Storage
Upload your image to IBM Cloud Object Storage. On the Objects page of your IBM Cloud® Object Storage bucket, click Upload. You can use the Aspera high-speed transfer plug-in to upload images that are larger than 200 MB. For more information about uploading to IBM Cloud Object Storage, see Upload data.
Next steps
When your generic operating system custom image is created and available in IBM Cloud Object Storage, you can import the custom image into VPC and Onboard a virtual server image for VPC. Make sure that you Granted access to IBM Cloud Object Storage to import images.
If you plan to use a private catalog to manage your custom images, you must first import that image into IBM Cloud VPC, and then onboard the virtual server image into a private catalog.
After the custom image imports, you can then use the custom image to deploy a virtual server in the IBM Cloud® Virtual Private Cloud infrastructure.