How to Create ESXi Template in vSphere - using Packer

 1// Virtual Machine Settings
 2common_vm_version           = 19
 3common_tools_upgrade_policy = true
 4common_remove_cdrom         = true
 5
 6// Template and Content Library Settings
 7common_template_conversion         = false
 8common_content_library_name        = "vm_library"
 9common_content_library_ovf         = false
10common_content_library_destroy     = false
11common_content_library_skip_export = false
12
13// Removable Media Settings
14common_iso_datastore = "OS_ISO"
15
16// Boot and Provisioning Settings
17common_data_source       = "http"
18common_http_ip           = null
19common_http_port_min     = 8000
20common_http_port_max     = 8099
21common_ip_wait_timeout   = "20m"
22common_ip_settle_timeout = "5s"
23common_shutdown_timeout  = "15m"

 1// vSphere Credentials - replace with your configuration
 2vsphere_endpoint            = "vcsa.cloudbricks.local"
 3vsphere_username            = "Administrator@vsphere.local"
 4vsphere_password            = "SuperSecretPassword"
 5vsphere_insecure_connection = false
 6
 7// vSphere Settings
 8vsphere_datacenter                     = "Lab"
 9//vsphere_cluster                      = "Cluster"
10vsphere_host                           = "esx-base.cloudbricks.local"
11vsphere_datastore                      = "SSD"
12vsphere_network                        = "cloudbricks"
13vsphere_folder                         = "Templates"
14
15vsphere_set_host_for_datastore_uploads = false

  1variable "vsphere_endpoint" {
  2  type        = string
  3  description = "The fully qualified domain name or IP address of the vCenter Server instance."
  4}
  5
  6variable "vsphere_username" {
  7  type        = string
  8  description = "The username to login to the vCenter Server instance."
  9  sensitive   = true
 10}
 11
 12variable "vsphere_password" {
 13  type        = string
 14  description = "The password for the login to the vCenter Server instance."
 15  sensitive   = true
 16}
 17
 18variable "vsphere_insecure_connection" {
 19  type        = bool
 20  description = "Do not validate vCenter Server TLS certificate."
 21}
 22
 23// vSphere Settings
 24
 25variable "vsphere_datacenter" {
 26  type        = string
 27  description = "The name of the target vSphere datacenter."
 28  default     = ""
 29}
 30
 31variable "vsphere_cluster" {
 32  type        = string
 33  description = "The name of the target vSphere cluster."
 34  default     = ""
 35}
 36
 37variable "vsphere_host" {
 38  type        = string
 39  description = "The name of the target ESXi host."
 40  default     = ""
 41}
 42
 43variable "vsphere_datastore" {
 44  type        = string
 45  description = "The name of the target vSphere datastore."
 46}
 47
 48variable "vsphere_network" {
 49  type        = string
 50  description = "The name of the target vSphere network segment."
 51}
 52
 53variable "vsphere_folder" {
 54  type        = string
 55  description = "The name of the target vSphere folder."
 56  default     = ""
 57}
 58
 59variable "vsphere_resource_pool" {
 60  type        = string
 61  description = "The name of the target vSphere resource pool."
 62  default     = ""
 63}
 64
 65variable "vsphere_set_host_for_datastore_uploads" {
 66  type        = bool
 67  description = "Set this to true if packer should use the host for uploading files to the datastore."
 68  default     = false
 69}
 70
 71// Virtual Machine Settings
 72
 73variable "vm_guest_os_language" {
 74  type        = string
 75  description = "The guest operating system lanugage."
 76  default     = "en_US"
 77}
 78
 79variable "vm_guest_os_keyboard" {
 80  type        = string
 81  description = "The guest operating system keyboard input."
 82  default     = "us"
 83}
 84
 85variable "vm_guest_os_timezone" {
 86  type        = string
 87  description = "The guest operating system timezone."
 88  default     = "UTC"
 89}
 90
 91variable "vm_guest_os_family" {
 92  type        = string
 93  description = "The guest operating system family. Used for naming and VMware Tools."
 94}
 95
 96variable "vm_guest_os_name" {
 97  type        = string
 98  description = "The guest operating system name. Used for naming."
 99}
100
101variable "vm_guest_os_version" {
102  type        = string
103  description = "The guest operating system version. Used for naming."
104}
105
106variable "vm_guest_os_type" {
107  type        = string
108  description = "The guest operating system type, also know as guestid."
109}
110
111variable "vm_firmware" {
112  type        = string
113  description = "The virtual machine firmware."
114  default     = "efi"
115}
116
117variable "vm_cdrom_type" {
118  type        = string
119  description = "The virtual machine CD-ROM type."
120  default     = "sata"
121}
122
123variable "vm_cpu_count" {
124  type        = number
125  description = "The number of virtual CPUs."
126}
127
128variable "vm_cpu_cores" {
129  type        = number
130  description = "The number of virtual CPUs cores per socket."
131}
132
133variable "vm_cpu_hot_add" {
134  type        = bool
135  description = "Enable hot add CPU."
136  default     = false
137}
138
139variable "vm_mem_size" {
140  type        = number
141  description = "The size for the virtual memory in MB."
142}
143
144variable "vm_mem_hot_add" {
145  type        = bool
146  description = "Enable hot add memory."
147  default     = false
148}
149
150variable "vm_disk_size" {
151  type        = number
152  description = "The size for the virtual disk in MB."
153}
154
155variable "vm_disk_controller_type" {
156  type        = list(string)
157  description = "The virtual disk controller types in sequence."
158  default     = ["pvscsi"]
159}
160
161variable "vm_disk_thin_provisioned" {
162  type        = bool
163  description = "Thin provision the virtual disk."
164  default     = true
165}
166
167variable "vm_network_card" {
168  type        = string
169  description = "The virtual network card type."
170  default     = "vmxnet3"
171}
172
173variable "common_vm_version" {
174  type        = number
175  description = "The vSphere virtual hardware version."
176}
177
178variable "common_tools_upgrade_policy" {
179  type        = bool
180  description = "Upgrade VMware Tools on reboot."
181  default     = true
182}
183
184variable "common_remove_cdrom" {
185  type        = bool
186  description = "Remove the virtual CD-ROM(s)."
187  default     = true
188}
189
190// Template and Content Library Settings
191
192variable "common_template_conversion" {
193  type        = bool
194  description = "Convert the virtual machine to template. Must be 'false' for content library."
195  default     = false
196}
197
198variable "common_content_library_name" {
199  type        = string
200  description = "The name of the target vSphere content library, if used."
201  default     = null
202}
203
204variable "common_content_library_ovf" {
205  type        = bool
206  description = "Export to content library as an OVF template."
207  default     = true
208}
209
210variable "common_content_library_destroy" {
211  type        = bool
212  description = "Delete the virtual machine after exporting to the content library."
213  default     = true
214}
215
216variable "common_content_library_skip_export" {
217  type        = bool
218  description = "Skip exporting the virtual machine to the content library. Option allows for testing/debugging without saving the machine image."
219  default     = false
220}
221
222// OVF Export Settings
223
224variable "common_ovf_export_enabled" {
225  type        = bool
226  description = "Enable OVF artifact export."
227  default     = false
228}
229
230variable "common_ovf_export_overwrite" {
231  type        = bool
232  description = "Overwrite existing OVF artifact."
233  default     = true
234}
235
236// Removable Media Settings
237
238variable "common_iso_datastore" {
239  type        = string
240  description = "The name of the source vSphere datastore for the guest operating system ISO."
241}
242
243variable "iso_path" {
244  type        = string
245  description = "The path on the source vSphere datastore for the guest operating system ISO."
246}
247
248variable "iso_file" {
249  type        = string
250  description = "The file name of the guest operating system ISO."
251}
252
253// Boot Settings
254
255variable "common_data_source" {
256  type        = string
257  description = "The provisioning data source. One of `http` or `disk`."
258}
259
260variable "common_http_ip" {
261  type        = string
262  description = "Define an IP address on the host to use for the HTTP server."
263  default     = null
264}
265
266variable "common_http_port_min" {
267  type        = number
268  description = "The start of the HTTP port range."
269}
270
271variable "common_http_port_max" {
272  type        = number
273  description = "The end of the HTTP port range."
274}
275
276variable "vm_boot_order" {
277  type        = string
278  description = "The boot order for virtual machines devices."
279  default     = "disk,cdrom"
280}
281
282variable "vm_boot_wait" {
283  type        = string
284  description = "The time to wait before boot."
285}
286
287variable "common_ip_wait_timeout" {
288  type        = string
289  description = "Time to wait for guest operating system IP address response."
290}
291
292variable "common_ip_settle_timeout" {
293  type        = string
294  description = "Time to wait for guest operating system IP to settle down."
295  default     = "5s"
296}
297
298variable "common_shutdown_timeout" {
299  type        = string
300  description = "Time to wait for guest operating system shutdown."
301}
302
303// Communicator Settings and Credentials
304
305
306
307variable "communicator_proxy_host" {
308  type        = string
309  description = "The proxy server to use for SSH connection. (Optional)"
310  default     = null
311}
312
313variable "communicator_proxy_port" {
314  type        = number
315  description = "The port to connect to the proxy server. (Optional)"
316  default     = null
317}
318
319variable "communicator_proxy_username" {
320  type        = string
321  description = "The username to authenticate with the proxy server. (Optional)"
322  default     = null
323}
324
325variable "communicator_proxy_password" {
326  type        = string
327  description = "The password to authenticate with the proxy server. (Optional)"
328  sensitive   = true
329  default     = null
330}
331
332variable "communicator_port" {
333  type        = string
334  description = "The port for the communicator protocol."
335}
336
337variable "communicator_timeout" {
338  type        = string
339  description = "The timeout for the communicator protocol."
340}

  1
  2//  BLOCK: packer config
  3
  4
  5packer {
  6  required_version = ">= 1.9.4"
  7  required_plugins {
  8    vsphere = {
  9      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/vsphere"
 10      version = ">= 1.2.1"
 11    }
 12
 13  }
 14}
 15
 16//  BLOCK: data
 17//  Defines the data sources
 18
 19//  BLOCK: locals
 20//  Defines the local variables.
 21
 22locals {
 23  iso_paths         = ["[${var.common_iso_datastore}] ${var.iso_path}/${var.iso_file}"]
 24  vm_name             = "${var.vm_guest_os_name}${var.vm_guest_os_version}"
 25
 26}
 27
 28//  BLOCK: source
 29//  Defines the builder configuration blocks.
 30
 31source "vsphere-iso" "esxi" {
 32
 33  // vCenter Server Endpoint Settings and Credentials
 34  vcenter_server      = var.vsphere_endpoint
 35  username            = var.vsphere_username
 36  password            = var.vsphere_password
 37  insecure_connection = var.vsphere_insecure_connection
 38
 39  // vSphere Settings
 40  datacenter                     = var.vsphere_datacenter
 41  cluster                        = var.vsphere_cluster
 42  host                           = var.vsphere_host
 43  datastore                      = var.vsphere_datastore
 44  folder                         = var.vsphere_folder
 45  resource_pool                  = var.vsphere_resource_pool
 46  set_host_for_datastore_uploads = var.vsphere_set_host_for_datastore_uploads
 47
 48  // Virtual Machine Settings
 49  vm_name              = local.vm_name
 50  guest_os_type        = var.vm_guest_os_type
 51  firmware             = var.vm_firmware
 52  CPUs                 = var.vm_cpu_count
 53  cpu_cores            = var.vm_cpu_cores
 54  NestedHV             = true
 55  CPU_hot_plug         = var.vm_cpu_hot_add
 56  RAM                  = var.vm_mem_size
 57  RAM_hot_plug         = var.vm_mem_hot_add
 58  cdrom_type           = var.vm_cdrom_type
 59  disk_controller_type = var.vm_disk_controller_type
 60  storage {
 61    disk_size             = var.vm_disk_size
 62    disk_thin_provisioned = var.vm_disk_thin_provisioned
 63  }
 64  network_adapters {
 65    network      = var.vsphere_network
 66    network_card = var.vm_network_card
 67  }
 68  vm_version           = "21"
 69  remove_cdrom         = var.common_remove_cdrom
 70  tools_upgrade_policy = var.common_tools_upgrade_policy
 71
 72
 73  // Removable Media Settings
 74  iso_paths    = local.iso_paths
 75
 76  // Boot and Provisioning Settings
 77  http_ip       = var.common_data_source == "http" ? var.common_http_ip : null
 78  http_port_min = var.common_data_source == "http" ? var.common_http_port_min : null
 79  http_port_max = var.common_data_source == "http" ? var.common_http_port_max : null
 80  boot_order    = var.vm_boot_order
 81  boot_wait     = var.vm_boot_wait
 82  http_directory = "/opt/code/packer/vmware/esxi8/data"
 83  boot_command  = ["<leftShift>O ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/esx-ks.cfg<enter>"]
 84  ip_wait_timeout   = var.common_ip_wait_timeout
 85  ip_settle_timeout = var.common_ip_settle_timeout
 86  shutdown_command  = "esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true -t 0 ; esxcli system shutdown poweroff -d 10 -r 'Packer Shutdown' ; esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e false -t 0 "
 87  shutdown_timeout  = var.common_shutdown_timeout
 88
 89  // Communicator Settings and Credentials
 90  communicator       = "ssh"
 91  ssh_proxy_host     = var.communicator_proxy_host
 92  ssh_proxy_port     = var.communicator_proxy_port
 93  ssh_proxy_username = var.communicator_proxy_username
 94  ssh_proxy_password = var.communicator_proxy_password
 95  ssh_username       = "root"
 96  ssh_password       = "VMware1!"
 97  ssh_port           = var.communicator_port
 98  ssh_timeout        = var.communicator_timeout
 99
100  // Template and Content Library Settings
101  convert_to_template = true
102}
103
104//  BLOCK: build
105
106build {
107  sources = ["source.vsphere-iso.esxi"]
108
109}

 1// Guest Operating System Metadata
 2vm_guest_os_language = "en_US"
 3vm_guest_os_keyboard = "us"
 4vm_guest_os_timezone = "UTC"
 5vm_guest_os_family   = "esxi"
 6vm_guest_os_name     = "esxi"
 7vm_guest_os_version  = "8"
 8
 9// Virtual Machine Guest Operating System Setting
10vm_guest_os_type = "vmkernel8Guest"
11
12// Virtual Machine Hardware Settings
13vm_firmware              = "efi"
14vm_cdrom_type            = "sata"
15vm_cpu_count             = 2
16vm_cpu_cores             = 2
17vm_cpu_hot_add           = false
18vm_mem_size              = 8192
19vm_mem_hot_add           = false
20vm_disk_size             = 40960
21vm_disk_controller_type  = ["pvscsi"]
22vm_disk_thin_provisioned = true
23vm_network_card          = "vmxnet3"
24
25// Removable Media Settings
26iso_path = "ISO"
27iso_file = "esxi8_u2.iso"
28
29// Boot Settings
30vm_boot_wait  = "1s"
31
32// Communicator Settings
33communicator_port    = 22
34communicator_timeout = "30m"

 1#
 2# Sample scripted installation file
 3#
 4# Accept EULA
 5vmaccepteula
 6# Set root password
 7rootpw VMware1!
 8#Install on local disk overwriting any existing VMFS datastore
 9install --firstdisk --overwritevmfs
10# Network configuration
11network --bootproto=dhcp --device=vmnic0
12#Reboot after installation completed
13reboot
14
15%firstboot --interpreter=busybox
16#esx/ssh
17vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_ssh
18vim-cmd hostsvc/start_ssh
19esxcli system settings advanced set -o /UserVars/SuppressShellWarning -i 1
20#esxi/ssh end

1packer build -var-file=common.pkrvars.hcl -var-file=vsphere.pkrvars.hcl vmware/esxi8/