Images
The Images page (sidebar → Images) is the catalog of all the disk images known to Stranola — captured from a node by PXE, or manually uploaded — ready to be used as the source for a recipe for deployment.
Provision
The page is a two-pane "explorer": a folder tree on the on the left and a table of images on the right. Select a folder In the tree view, filter the table to show the contents of that folder; select the root ("All") removes the filter. A search field above the table filters the rows by text, independently of the folder filter — both apply to at a time.
On the board, some fold-out cards track the work in the second grade Current feed — screenshots and uploads taking place right now — so you can monitor long transfers without leaving the page.
Folder tree
When you hover your mouse over a folder, small action icons appear:
- New subfolder and rename (pencil).
- Delete — this deletes the subfolders as well; the images that If there were any inside, they would move to the root instead of being deleted.
- Padlock — a locked folder remains fixed in place when sort; only the unblocked sisters are reordered alphabetically.
You can drag folders: drop one on top of another, and the dot Where you release the mouse determines what happens—near the top edge or The lower part of the destination reorders it as a sibling before or after; release at The environment nurtures her as a daughter. A folder cannot detach itself from within itself the same folder or one of its subfolders. The images are saved in a folder in the same way: drag a row from the table onto a folder of the tree.
The tree search algorithm itself filters out the branches that contain a coincidence; a button on the toolbar organizes the folders in alphabetical order (preserving capital letters), and another expands or collapses all of them the branches all at once.
The list of images
Columns, from left to right:
| Column | What's on display |
|---|---|
| Name | The image's name. A delta image (see below) is shown indented below its base with a tree connector, a DELTA badge, and a "base: …" subline; a base image with deltas displays a badge showing the count. |
| Description | Free-form notes, if any. |
| Source node | The hostname of the node from which the image was captured, if it was captured via PXE rather than manually uploaded. |
| Size | Disk size, readable. |
| Compression | The algorithm used (and the level, if specified), plus a second flag: SEEKABLE (supports random access—required for efficient --diff deployments) or STREAM (simple sequential decompression, without random access). |
| Hash | The first few characters of the image's BLAKE3 checksum, with a button to copy the full hash. |
| Created | When it was captured or uploaded. |
Selecting rows works the same way as in the rest of Stranola — click, Ctrl/⌘+click to select one, Shift+click to select a range — and one The bulk action bar appears as soon as there is at least one row selected, offering Download and Delete for all of the one selection at a time.
Delta Images
When a node is recaptured, Stranola can save only the blocks that have changed from a chosen base image — a delta — instead of a completely new copy. A delta is always displayed nested based on its position in the table. Two things follow from this:
- You cannot delete a base image while a delta is linked to it. reference** — promote or remove the deltas first.
- Upload (only displayed in a delta) turns it into an image complete and independent: Stranola reconstructs the base + delta in a single file in the background, and then the old database can be deleted if You don't need it anymore. Progress is tracked with a bar and survives navigate away from the page.
Seekable conversion
Convert to indexable (displayed only in full-size images, not
delta) recompresses an image so that its compressed blocks can
can be read in any order, without having to unzip everything from the
principle. This is what makes --diff expansions fast, and the
Random selection of chunks — a simply compressed image
("STREAM"), on the other hand, requires a slower, sequential reading pattern.
Choose a frame size (64 MB is the recommended default value) and the
The conversion runs as a background task with its own progress bar
progress.
Download and Delete
- Download generates a one-time download link and sends the file to your browser.
- Delete asks for confirmation and then deletes the image — subject to the base/delta protection from above, and locked directly if the image It is in use due to an ongoing or pending deployment.
Upload an image
Click Upload Image to open the upload modal, or simply Drag a file to any part of the page. Fields: a name required (checked against existing image names while you write), an optional description, and the file itself. The Compression is automatically detected based on the file you upload — no There's nothing to choose from. A "run in the background" option (enabled (by default) moves the transfer to a small floating dock so that you can continue browsing the app while it uploads; the modal It also gives advance notice if the image directory is running low on disk space.