VirtFusion

Manage OS templates and ISO images in VirtFusion

Offer operating systems in VirtFusion: enable cloud-init OS templates, group them for customers, add custom ISOs for manual installs and keep images current.

IntermediateVPS hosting providers2 min read

OS templates are the images VirtFusion uses to build or rebuild a server in about a minute. ISOs let customers or staff install an OS by hand through the console. This guide covers both from the admin side.

Before you start

How templates work

VirtFusion templates are cloud images. When a server is built, the image is written to its disk and cloud-init sets the hostname, root password or SSH key and network settings that VirtFusion passes in. That is why IP blocks must be correct first (VirtFusion networking).

Enable OS templates

  1. In the admin area, open the OS templates section.
  2. Enable the distributions you want to offer, for example current Ubuntu LTS, Debian, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux releases.
  3. Organise them into groups so customers see a short, clear list.
  4. Make the template groups available to the packages that should offer them.

Tip: Offer fewer, current releases. End-of-life images create support work and security risk. See Ubuntu vs Debian for a VPS when choosing defaults.

Add an ISO

  1. Open the ISO/media section of the admin area and add an ISO by URL or upload, as your version allows.
  2. Make it available to the right hypervisors or users.
  3. To use it, attach the ISO to a server, set the boot order to CD-ROM first and open the VNC console to run the installer.
  4. After installing, detach the ISO and set the boot order back to disk.

Servers installed from an ISO do not get cloud-init networking; the customer enters the IP, gateway and resolvers shown in the panel during setup.

Check afterwards

  • Build a test server with each newly enabled template and check login, network and disk size.
  • Rebuild the test server with another template to confirm reinstalls work.

Troubleshooting

  • Template build hangs: the hypervisor could not download the image; check outbound access and disk space.
  • Root password not accepted: cloud-init did not run; confirm the template is a supported cloud image.
  • Disk not grown to plan size: the guest did not expand its partition; reboot once or grow it manually.

Next steps

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