6 Compute Images

An image is a required resource for creating an instance. Private Cloud Appliance provides some images and enables you to use other images that you create:

  • Platform images: Private Cloud Appliance includes some images such as Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris images. These included images are called platform images. Platform images are available in every compartment of every tenancy. Platform images do not need to be downloaded or imported by a Compute Enclave user in order to access them to create an instance.

    To make platform Images available in the Compute Enclave, a Service Enclave administrator must import images as described in Providing Platform Images in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Administrator Guide.

    Note:

    Only the three most recently published versions of each major distribution are listed in the Compute Web UI and by the compute image list command. After an upgrade or patch, older versions might no longer be listed, but they are still accessible. To use an older image version, use the OCI CLI and specify the OCID of the image. One way to get the OCID of an older image is from the output of the compute instance get command of an instance that is using the image.

  • Custom images from existing instances: You can create a custom image of the boot disk of an instance. Instances that you launch from such an image include the customizations, configuration, and software installed on the instance when you created the image. See Creating an Image from an Instance.

  • Bring your own image: You can use your own versions of operating systems to create instances if the Private Cloud Appliance hardware supports it. See Bring Your Own Image (BYOI).

Note:

Images for Private Cloud Appliance must have paravirtualized network devices and boot volumes. Otherwise, image import will fail.

For conceptual information and important limitations, refer to "Compute Images" in the Compute Instance Concepts chapter of the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Concepts Guide.