General information about cloud server images
An image is an exact copy of a disk's file system and its contents. You can use images to create cloud servers or create boot volumes for cloud servers.
You can use:
- pre-built images — images with a pre-installed operating system prepared by Selectel specialists;
- custom images — images that you can manually upload to the image storage.
You can work with images in the control panel, using the OpenStack CLI or Terraform.
You can also use applications to create servers.
Records of cloud server image operations are saved in audit logs.
Pre-built images
Pre-built images are prepared by Selectel specialists. For each pre-built image, the working environment is prepared, necessary parameters are configured, and the assembly is completed. The images are fully compatible with the cloud platform.
You can view the current list of pre-built images in the Control Panel: from the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → click Create Server → block Source → tab OS.
Custom images
If you need an image to create a cloud server that is not in the list of pre-built ones, you can upload your own image to the image storage.
You can use custom images to migrate servers from other cloud platforms or within the Selectel cloud platform, and use disk images to clone cloud servers.
Supported image formats are .aki, .ami, .ari, .iso, .raw, .qcow2, .vdi, .vhd, .vhdx and .vmdk. For some .ami format images (Amazon Machine Image images for launching a server), you must additionally upload .aki (Amazon kernel image) and .ari (Amazon RAM disk image).
The following container formats are supported: .aki, .ami, .ari, .bare, .ova, .ovf.
Cost
Most pre-built images are included in the price of cloud servers and do not incur additional charges. Asta Linux and RED OS images are paid for separately because these OSs require a license. You can view the license cost for a specific OS version in the Control Panel when creating a server.
The cost of storing a custom image depends on its size and the pool to which it is uploaded. Custom image storage is billed according to the cloud platform payment model.
Image storage prices are available on selectel.ru.