Using the Template Gallery

The template gallery allows lab authors to easily search for and select pre-created labs to use as the base for a new lab. Lab authors can select templates from the public template gallery maintained by Skillable or create a private gallery available only to their own users. Users can search by name or favorite individual templates and filter by only templates they have favorites for ease of finding frequently used templates. When accessing labs from the template gallery, authors are provided a few options:

• The Details option shows the instructions from the Template, for the new Lab Solution templates this provides extensive information of the content removing the need to use the Preview option and allows Lab Developers to select the correct template faster.

• The Preview option allows you to launch the lab so you can review the environment and confirm it is what you are looking for before creating a new lab based on it.

• The Create option allows you to generate a new lab directly from the gallery simply by defining some information – such as name, series and organization – about where you would like to save the new lab.

• The Pencil Icon allows you to edit the profile if you have management rights.

• The Heart Icon allows you to Favorite a template for future use.

Public Template Gallery

The Public Template Gallery contains highly optimized Skillable templates known as Lab Solutions.  Lab Solutions fit into one of three basic categories:

As mentioned the Public Template Gallery is maintained by Skillable.  Each Lab Solutions tile provides a published date (as seen above), which allows the Lab Developer to understand when this Solution was last updated by Skillable.  Skillable reviews the public Lab Solutions for quality and relevance on a quarterly basis, this review covers:

• New releases of operating system or significant operating system update

• Lab Solution Errors and reported issues

• Software Refresh

• Significant security vulnerabilities

• Customer Requests

When Lab Solutions are updated if the Lab Solution has very limited usage, the new solution will replace the old solution.  If the Lab Solution is a high volume template when the new template is published the old template will be marked as depreciated, and it will not receive further updates.  After six months it will be removed.  No templates will be deleted and removed templates will not impact any existing customer labs built from them.  If a Lab Solution template is removed and it is required Skillable can reinstate the template into an Organizations Gallery from a support request.  

Need a Lab Solution Template

If you would like to see a specific generic Lab Solution added to the Template Gallery contact Skillable support to request a new lab solution ensuring the request contains the details of the content required.

Template Gallery filtering for Organizations

By default when you enter the Template Gallery the default view is that a Lab Developer can call all the Public and Organization templates that are available to them.  It is possible to configure the default view to either be the Public templates or the Organizations templates.  This setting can be set by the person in the company that has the Manage Organization role or by contacting Skillable support.

How to set the filter

1. From the Admin page use the Find Organization from the Organization tile

2. Search for your Organization

3. Edit the Organization

4. On the Basic page set the dropdown as required shown in the image:

Create from Template

To create a lab profile from the Template, select Create on the chosen template and fill in the following fields.

• Number: Numbers are used in the title of the Lab Profile.

• Name: This will be the display name of the lab profile.

• Descriptions: A description of the Lab Profile.

• Organization:  Select the organization that will own the lab profile and be responsible for maintaining the profile. You may choose from any of the organizations you manage.

• Series: Select or dynamically create a new Lab SeriesPublish to which your profile will be assigned. You may also choose none.

• Expected Duration: The expected amount of time it will take a user to complete the lab.

• Maximum Duration: The maximum amount of time that a user can spend in the lab.

• Tags: By selecting one or more tags, the lab profile will be available as a template under these filters when/if published to the template gallery.

  These settings and more can later be modified from the lab profile edit page.

Filters

The lab templates in the gallery may be filtered based on their availability and technology focus.

• Public will show templates available to everyone in using Skillable Studio.

• My Organizations will show templates available only to the organizations you manage.

• Favorites will show any templates you have previously favorited(starred).

Lab Tags

Organization Managers and Lab Authors can add additional filters for technology focus by tagging lab profiles with a tag.  Tags are created in the Skillable Studio admin portal by selecting Lab Tags under the Lab Profile pane.

The Tags are in a Name: Value format, separated by a colon.  The Value can either be a single value or can provide a multi value selection option as in the picture.  Tags can also be enabled to be available within the Public and/or Organization Template Gallery.

Publishing Labs

Labs may be published to the organization gallery as a template by selecting the Publish to Organization Template Gallery option on the advanced tab when editing a lab profile. Additionally, lab profiles may be tagged from the Tags tab of the same page.

Restricted Editing Permissions Around Lab Profiles Published To The Template Gallery.

Editing of Lab Profiles and dependencies will be restricted to users that are able to Publish to the gallery, when a lab profile is already published to the corresponding gallery ( Public or Organization). A banner has also been placed at the top of any lab profile published to a gallery.

Dependencies include:

• Virtual Machine Profile

• Container Profiles

• Cloud Templates

• Access Control Policy

• Instructions

• Differencing Disks

• Start States

Custom Environments

If you find none of the templates meets your requirements, or you have something special in mind, you may create the lab profile from the ground-up using the Create Custom Environment link in the top right corner.