Overview
The Polystack Image Service is the centralized catalog for virtual machine images and instance snapshots. Every new instance launched on the platform boots from an image registered here. Images can be public (shared across all projects), private (scoped to your project), or community-shared with specific projects — giving you full control over your image library.Prerequisites
- An active Polystack account with project-member privileges or higher
- Access to the Polystack Dashboard or
openstackCLI - For uploading images: image data in a supported format (QCOW2, RAW, VHD, or VMDK)
What the Image Service Provides
Image Catalog
Centralized storage and discovery of OS images, application images, and snapshots
available across your Polystack environment.
Multiple Formats
Native support for QCOW2, RAW, VHD, and VMDK formats with automatic metadata
detection and validation on upload.
Visibility Controls
Per-image visibility settings — public, private, shared, or community — controlling
who can discover and use each image.
Instance Snapshots
Capture a running or stopped instance as an image snapshot. Use snapshots for
backups, cloning, and golden image workflows.
Image Sharing
Share specific images with other projects without making them globally public,
enabling controlled cross-team image distribution.
Rich Metadata
Attach structured properties to images — OS type, version, minimum disk, hardware
requirements — enabling the scheduler to make informed placement decisions.
Image Lifecycle
Supported Formats
Guides
User Guide
Upload images, manage snapshots, configure visibility, and share images with other
projects from the Dashboard and CLI.
Admin Guide
Configure storage backends, metadata schemas, image signing, caching, and quotas
for production image service deployments.
Compute User Guide
Learn how images are used when launching compute instances and creating snapshots.
Authentication & CLI
Configure CLI credentials to manage images from the command line.