WUcenter Packer template provisioner

🏗️ Build a minimal Ubuntu image for VMware vCenter or ESXi in minutes

Official template builder for WUcenter Ansible framework.

Features

• Dual VMware products support
  • Supports vCenter cluster API (vsphere-iso)
  • Supports single ESXi host (vmware-iso)
• Ubuntu products support
  • Supports Bionic Server (18.04.04)
  • Supports Focal Server (20.04)
• Minimal & Up-To-Date
  • ~220 packages, ~850MB
  • Static IP assignment
  • Oldschool NIC names, no IPv6
  • HWE Virtual Kernel
• Provisioning-ready
  • Python 3.6, compat Ansible >=2.5
  • OpenSSH server, PasswordAuthentication=yes, UseDNS=no
  • ansibler user/pass, uid 999, password-less sudoer

VMware vCenter prerequisites

• Since Packer 1.5.2, vSphere builder (vsphere-iso) is natively supported
• Previously, Packer 1.3.5 was compatible with vSphere Builder by JetBrains

VMware ESXi prerequisites

VMware ESXi is natively supported by Packer vmware-iso builder.

As seen here some tweaking is required on the ESXi server.

# Enable GuestIPHack for Hashicorp Packer
esxcli system settings advanced set -o /Net/GuestIPHack -i 1

# Un-firewall VNC ports for Hashicorp Packer
chmod 644  /etc/vmware/firewall/service.xml
sed -i '/<\/ConfigRoot>/d' /etc/vmware/firewall/service.xml
cat <<'EOF' >>/etc/vmware/firewall/service.xml
<!-- Hashicorp Packer enablement: open 5900-6000 TCP ports (VNC)  -->
<service id="1000">
  <id>packer-vnc-custom</id>
  <rule id="0000">
    <direction>inbound</direction>
    <protocol>tcp</protocol>
    <porttype>dst</porttype>
    <port>
      <begin>5900</begin>
      <end>6000</end>
    </port>
  </rule>
  <enabled>true</enabled>
  <required>true</required>
</service>
</ConfigRoot>
EOF
chmod 444 /etc/vmware/firewall/service.xml
esxcli network firewall refresh

Installation

• Clone the project somewhere
• Copy latest Packer binary in project or $PATH

Configuration

Create a configuration file from samples/*.json:

• Setup static network configuration: NET_*.
• Setup VMware server credentials: VMW_*

Remeber, 3 configuration levels are available:

1. Default variables in ubuntu-{bionic,focal}.{exsi,vcenter}.json
2. Custom variables in samples/{exsi,vcenter}.json
3. Runtime arguments as -var 'VMW_USERNAME=user@vc.lan' -var 'VMW_PASSWORD=<secret>'

Usage

Recommended usage is using var-files for config, except maybe for secrets and of course shell variables:

• This command will build a bionic VM on vCenter server:

time PACKER_LOG=1 packer build -on-error=ask -force \
  -var-file=samples/vcenter.json \
  -var 'NAME=MY_TEMPLATE_' \
  -var 'VERSION=1.1' \
  ubuntu-bionic.vcenter.json

• This command will build a bionic VM on ESXi server:

time PACKER_LOG=1 packer build -on-error=ask -force \
  -var-file=samples/esxi.json \
  -var 'NAME=MY_TEMPLATE_NAME_' \
  -var 'VERSION=1.1' \
  ubuntu-bionic.esxi.json

• This command will create a focal VM template on vCenter cluster:

time PACKER_LOG=1 packer build -on-error=ask -force \
  -var-file=samples/vcenter.json \
  -var 'VERSION=2.1' \
  ubuntu-focal.vcenter.json

Documentation

Configuration

The following self-explaining template variables are used:

• NAME
• VERSION
• RSC_CPU
• RSC_RAM
• RSC_DISK
• NET_GW
• NET_IP
• NET_NM
• NET_NS
• VMW_VCENTER
• VMW_USERNAME
• VMW_PASSWORD
• VMW_CLUSTER
• VMW_DATASTORE
• VMW_NETWORK
• VMW_FOLDER
• SSH_USERNAME
• SSH_PASSWORD

Note that modifying SSH_USERNAME & SSH_PASSWORD also requires editing passwd/* values in corresponding d-i/SEED_*.CFG file.

Implementation

d-i is preseeded with a virtual floppy.

d-i is extended by a custom script triggered by preseed/late_command.

Networking is configured from Linux kernel boot command.

Hacking

You can simply customize your template by editing debian-installer seed and corresponding "late" script in d-i/

References

• Packer vCenter builder https://github.com/jetbrains-infra/packer-builder-vsphere#parameter-reference
• Packer ESXi builder https://packer.io/docs/builders/vmware-iso.html#vmware-iso-builder-configuration-reference
• Ubuntu preseeding https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/s390x/apbs04.html

Roadmap

• Workaround more VMware bugs on bionic
  • https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/54986
  • https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/56409