OS Images
Build the operating-system catalogue for bare metal provisioning: add images, import official sources, set requirements, and control order-time availability.
What OS Images is for
The OS Images page holds the catalogue of operating systems you can install on bare metal servers. Each image you add becomes a choice in the operating-system picker on the order form and is used to image a freshly allocated machine during provisioning. The page lives inside your Bare Metal settings, so it is only relevant if you offer dedicated / bare metal products.
How to reach it
OS Images is a sub-tab inside the bare metal settings, not a top-level sidebar entry:
- Open Settings from the admin sidebar.
- Select the Bare Metal tab.
- Choose the OS Images sub-tab (next to Overview and Templates).
The Bare Metal tab only appears when bare metal / inventory features are enabled for your platform. If you do not see it, that feature set is turned off.
The two tabs
Within OS Images there are two views, selected by the tab strip at the top:
- Images — your own configured catalogue. This is the list customers actually pick from.
- Official Sources — a built-in, curated list of standard cloud images you can add to your catalogue in one click, without filling in every field by hand.
The Images tab
The Images tab shows a table of every operating system in your catalogue. A Search box (matches the image name, its slug, and the distribution) and an OS Family dropdown (Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Other, or All Families) sit at the top to help you narrow a long list. The table has these columns:
- Image
- The image logo (if a logo URL was supplied) and its display name.
- Requirements
- The minimum RAM and minimum disk the image needs, shown as e.g. "2048MB RAM, 20GB Disk".
- Status
- An on/off toggle. Green means the image is active and offered at order time; grey means it is hidden from new orders.
- Actions
- A link icon that opens the image's download URL in a new tab, an edit (pencil) button, and a delete (trash) button.
If the catalogue is empty, the tab shows a placeholder with an Add your first image link.
Adding or editing an image manually
Click Add Image (top right of the Images tab, above the table) to open the image form. To change an existing one, click its pencil icon. The form is identical in both cases and is divided into sections.
Basic information
- Enter a Name shown to customers, for example "Ubuntu 22.04 LTS".
- Enter a Slug (a short identifier such as
ubuntu-2204). Click Generate to build one automatically from the distribution and version. - Optionally add a Description and a Logo URL. When a logo URL is present, a small preview appears next to the field.
Classification — set the OS Family, Distribution, Version, and Architecture. Changing the family updates the available distribution choices automatically. Architecture is either x86_64 (AMD64) or aarch64 (ARM64).
Provisioning Configuration — this is where you point at the actual image file. Fill in the Image URL, an optional Image Checksum with its Checksum Algorithm (MD5, SHA256, or SHA512), the Image Type, and the Disk Format.
Minimum Requirements — set RAM (MB), Disk (GB), and CPU Cores. These define the smallest machine the image can be installed on.
Boot mode and status — tick Supports UEFI and/or Supports BIOS to declare which boot modes the image works with, and tick Active to make it available immediately.
Click Create (or Update when editing) to save. The Save button stays disabled until a Name, Slug, and Image URL are filled in.
Field reference
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Customer-facing image name. Required. |
| Slug | Short machine-friendly identifier; use Generate to auto-fill it from the distribution and version. Required. |
| Description | Optional notes shown for the image. |
| Logo URL | Optional image logo; previewed beside the field and shown in the table. |
| OS Family | Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, or Other. Drives the distribution list. |
| Distribution | The specific distribution within the family. |
| Version | Release version, e.g. 22.04. |
| Architecture | x86_64 (AMD64) or aarch64 (ARM64). |
| Image URL | Location of the image file to install. Required. |
| Image Checksum | Optional hash used to verify the downloaded image. |
| Checksum Algorithm | MD5, SHA256, or SHA512 — matches the hash you entered. |
| Image Type | Whole Disk Image, or Partition Image (requires kernel/ramdisk). |
| Disk Format | qcow2, raw, vhd, vhdx, vmdk, or iso. |
| RAM (MB) | Minimum memory the image needs. |
| Disk (GB) | Minimum disk space the image needs. |
| CPU Cores | Minimum CPU cores the image needs. |
| Supports UEFI | Declares the image boots in UEFI mode. |
| Supports BIOS | Declares the image boots in legacy BIOS mode. |
| Active | When on, the image is offered on new orders. |
Turning an image on or off
Use the Status toggle in any row to switch an image between active and inactive without deleting it. Inactive images disappear from the order form's operating-system picker, but they stay in the catalogue and remain attached to any existing services that already use them. This is the safe way to retire an image you no longer want to sell.
Deleting an image
Click the trash icon and confirm in the dialog. Deletion is permanent, so prefer toggling an image off when it might still be referenced by live services.
The Official Sources tab
The Official Sources tab is the fastest way to populate your catalogue. It shows a card for each standard distribution, with the logo, distribution, version, architecture, OS family tag, an optional vendor name, and a License required note where applicable. A Search box and the same OS Family filter narrow the list.
Each card carries one of three controls on the lower right:
- Add to Images — imports the source into your catalogue with its fields (name, family, distribution, version, architecture, image URL, requirements, boot support, and logo) pre-filled. You will see a confirmation toast.
- Added — a green badge meaning this source is already in your catalogue.
- Manual upload — shown for sources (such as some Windows images) that have no direct download URL. These cannot be one-click imported; add them through the manual Add Image form instead.
Where a card lists a Vendor link, you can open the publisher's page in a new tab for licensing or release details.
If you try to add a source that already exists, the page tells you the image already exists rather than creating a duplicate.
Tips and notes
- Pair images with a template. Each image only describes the operating system. To apply a configuration automatically at install time, link it with a Deployment Template.
- Set requirements realistically. The minimum RAM, disk, and CPU values gate which machines an image can be installed on, so match them to what the OS actually needs.
- Use checksums for integrity. Supplying a checksum and matching algorithm lets the platform verify the downloaded image before it is written.
- Toggle, don't delete, for retirement. Switching Status off hides an image from new orders while keeping existing services intact.