What Is Image Management Service?¶
Overview¶
An image is a cloud server or disk template that contains an operating system (OS), service data, or necessary software.
Image Management Service (IMS) allows you to manage the entire lifecycle of your images. You can create ECSs or BMSs from public, private, or shared images. You can also create a private image from a cloud server or an external image file to make it easier to migrate workloads to the cloud or on the cloud.
Image Types¶
IMS provides public, private, and shared images. Public images are provided by the cloud platform, private images are created by users, and shared images are private images that other users shared with you.
Image Type | Description |
|---|---|
Public image | A public image is a standard, widely used image. It contains an OS and preinstalled public applications and is available to all users. Public images are very stable and their OS and any included software have been officially authorized for use. If a public image does not contain the environments or software you need, you can use a public image to create an ECS and then deploy the required environments or software on it. |
Private image | A private image contains an OS or service data, preinstalled public applications, and a user's personal applications. Private images are only available to the users who created them. A private image can be a system disk image, data disk image, or full-ECS image.
|
Shared image | A shared image is a private image another user has shared with you. For more information about shared images, see "Sharing Images" in Image Management Service User Guide. |
IMS Functions¶
IMS provides:
Public images that contain common OSs
Creation of a private image from an ECS or external image file
Public image management, such as searching for images by OS type, name, or ID, and viewing the image ID, system disk size, and image features such as user data injection and disk hot swap
Private image management, such as modifying image attributes, sharing images, and replicating images
Creation of ECSs using an image
Access Methods¶
The cloud platform provides a web-based service management platform (a management console). You can access the IMS service through HTTPS APIs or from the management console.
API
If you need to integrate IMS into a third-party system for secondary development, use APIs to access the IMS service. For details, see Image Management Service API Reference.
Management console
If no integration with a third-party system is needed, use the management console. Log in to the management console and choose Compute > Image Management Service on the homepage.