Managing custom images
You can use the openstack CLI to upload a custom image to any of the regions you have access to.
In addition to that, you can create an image from a server’s boot volume.
Whenever possible, you should use the supported base images instead of creating your own.
Uploading a custom image
To upload a custom image, use openstack like so:
openstack image create --disk-format <format> --file <local-filename> <image-name>
For instance, see how to upload a Debian 13 cloud image, which you can subsequently use to create cloud servers in Cleura Cloud:
$ openstack image create \
--disk-format qcow2 \
--file debian-13-genericcloud-amd64-daily-20250623-2152.qcow2 \
debian-13-daily
+------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Field | Value |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| checksum | 5d073d57c0b89afa3a7a3352a42fd073 |
| container_format | bare |
| created_at | 2025-06-23T15:32:37Z |
| disk_format | qcow2 |
| file | /v2/images/b8e875da-cf0a-4732-ac12-5aad29adc2c0/file |
| id | b8e875da-cf0a-4732-ac12-5aad29adc2c0 |
| min_disk | 0 |
| min_ram | 0 |
| name | debian-13-daily-20250623-2152 |
| owner | dfc700467396428bacba4376e72cc3e9 |
| properties | direct_url='rbd://2ae305d1-6742-4b1c-af69-825a3bae8b53/images/b8e875da- |
| | cf0a-4732-ac12-5aad29adc2c0/snap', locations='[{'url': |
| | 'rbd://2ae305d1-6742-4b1c-af69-825a3bae8b53/images/b8e875da- |
| | cf0a-4732-ac12-5aad29adc2c0/snap', 'metadata': {'store': 'rbd'}}]', |
| | os_hash_algo='sha512', os_hash_value='8f7c42267ca2b592f5d0b4d2155951e4cbc33be |
| | 0c9e64063a986424b123ac15acfba33c93a14211ba2071f5a18601de6665f7dae6e989fec8578 |
| | f1f1a800d06f', os_hidden='False', |
| | owner_specified.openstack.md5='5d073d57c0b89afa3a7a3352a42fd073', |
| | owner_specified.openstack.object='images/debian-13-daily-20250623-2152', owne |
| | r_specified.openstack.sha256='440c4c8be83225f855de5a91e009b2c3257bfb84beb9550 |
| | 7c5beffeeaaa59a32', self='/v2/images/b8e875da-cf0a-4732-ac12-5aad29adc2c0', |
| | stores='rbd' |
| protected | False |
| schema | /v2/schemas/image |
| size | 337444864 |
| status | active |
| tags | |
| updated_at | 2025-06-23T15:36:54Z |
| virtual_size | 3221225472 |
| visibility | shared |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
You may also set properties like os_type, os_distro, and os_admin_user, so it becomes easier to filter through your list of custom images:
$ openstack image create \
--disk-format qcow2 \
--property os_type=linux \
--property os_distro=freebsd \
--property os_admin_user=freebsd \
--file freebsd-14.2-ufs-2024-12-08.qcow2 \
freebsd-14.2-ufs
Please keep in mind that although the uploaded disk image is in the qcow2 format, whenever you create a boot volume from it, that volume will be in the raw format.
Creating an image from a boot volume
You can create an image from an existing server’s boot volume.
Let’s assume you have a server named app-srv, which you have customized to your liking with the applications you want.
The server has one boot volume, and you need to know its ID:
$ openstack server show -c volumes_attached -f value app-srv
id='a90787d6-00e0-4ad2-b923-5e4659736b27'
To create an image from the boot volume, you first have to delete the parent server.
Before you delete the parent server, you should be sure that during its creation, its boot server was not configured for automatic deletion in the event of server deletion.
You can now create that image:
$ openstack image create \
--volume a90787d6-00e0-4ad2-b923-5e4659736b27 \
app-srv-img
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field | Value |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| container_format | bare |
| disk_format | raw |
| display_description | |
| id | a90787d6-00e0-4ad2-b923-5e4659736b27 |
| image_id | 2d842eea-f523-4ffc-9407-20de439dd4ed |
| image_name | app-srv-img |
| protected | False |
| size | 16 |
| status | uploading |
| updated_at | 2025-06-24T13:14:34.000000 |
| visibility | shared |
| volume_type | cbs |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
You may check the progress of the whole process using the openstack image show command:
$ openstack image show -c status app-srv-img
+--------+--------+
| Field | Value |
+--------+--------+
| status | saving |
+--------+--------+
When the image creation is complete, its status will be active:
$ openstack image show -c status app-srv-img
+--------+--------+
| Field | Value |
+--------+--------+
| status | active |
+--------+--------+