RHEL 7 vmware-iso build hangs

Stacy

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Mar 22, 2018, 1:06:48 PM3/22/18

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I apologize if this has been answered previously, I am new to the group, and looking for some help. I am using packer and vmware workstation 14 to build a RHEL 7 template. This works with our RHEL6 install, and when I boot the iso from vmware workstation or vsphere after creating the vm it installs just fine. However when I try and build with packer it hangs before installing the packages. I get the dracut-initqueue timeouts and an emergency shell. I have able to see my install media and ks file from the emergency shell, so I know the network is working. Not sure where to look for the problem, I have gone through the rdsosreport.txt file and do not see anything glaring. Here is my packer json and variables json and the command I am running to build.

Hangs at RTNETLINK answers: File exists

then times out

packer build -var-file variables.json foundation_template.json

variables.json

{

"ssh_username" : "root",

"ssh_password" : "password",

"output_dir" : "/var/packer/vmware/vmware-iso-rh7"

}

foundation.json

{

"builders":

[

{

"type" : "vmware-iso",

"boot_command":

[

"<wait>",

"<enter>",

"<wait>"

],

"headless" : true,

"disk_type_id" : "0",

"vnc_bind_address" : "0.0.0.0",

"vnc_port_min" : "5900",

"vnc_port_max" : "5910",

"vnc_disable_password" : true,

"iso_url" : "iso/rhel7_base.iso",

"iso_checksum" : "e4bee7df9c1820035c47f200a2176e81",

"iso_checksum_type" : "md5",

"output_directory" : "{{user `output_dir`}}",

"guest_os_type" : "rhel7-64",

"disk_size" : "64000",

"shutdown_command" : "/sbin/halt -p",

"ssh_wait_timeout" : "2700s",

"ssh_username" : "{{user `ssh_username`}}",

"ssh_password" : "{{user `ssh_password`}}",

"skip_compaction" : true,

"vmx_data" : {

"ethernet0.virtualDev" : "vmxnet3",

"scsi0.virtualDev" : "pvscsi"

},

"vm_name" : "rhel7-tmplate"

}

],

"provisioners":

[

{

"type" : "shell",

"script" : "scripts/run_updates.sh"

},

{

"type" : "shell",

"script" : "scripts/reset_network.sh"

}

]

}

Gabo Kete

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Mar 22, 2018, 4:20:39 PM3/22/18

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Hi Stacy

Your boot_command argument is not telling where the OS needs to boot, you need to specify where to boot , where is the Linux image, and what is the KS file that needs to use to start the installation

Have a look how boot_command works

https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/virtualbox-iso.html#boot_command

And here is an example of a boot_command I have running in my environment ( my boot command uses variables, so will share this with you, but not necessarily you need to use them, it is just for me it looks much more neat if I use them and much more flexible if I need to change them in the future)

variables

"vmlinuz_file": "centos7.1503_x64/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz", "initrd_file": "centos7.1503_x64/images/pxeboot/initrd.img", "iso_image":"http://192.168.1.150/isos/CentOS-7-x86_64-NetInstall-1503.iso", "ks_file": "simple-ks-integrado-CIS-BitbyBit.ks",
"ks_server": "192.168.1.150",
"ks_path": "centos7.1511_x64/ks/",

"boot_command": [

"<tab> text {{user `vmlinuz_file`}} initrd={{user `initrd_file`}} inst.ks=http://{{user `ks_server`}}/{{user `ks_path`}}/{{user `ks_file`}}<enter><wait>"

],

Stacy

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Mar 22, 2018, 6:06:14 PM3/22/18

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I am currently using the iso as the boot source, however I will break it all out like you have it in order to troubleshoot.

Alvaro Miranda Aguilera

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Mar 22, 2018, 8:16:33 PM3/22/18

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hello

your packer template boots a vm, puts the iso and press enter

if the iso is an standard rhel7 i am not sure will work.

have you done rhel7 un-attendend install?

- where you are setting the password for root ?

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Stacy

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Mar 23, 2018, 2:29:19 PM3/23/18

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thank you, the problem was some of my syntax needed to be updated to rhel7 verbage, and I figured it out by breaking up my pieces thanks to Gabo Kete, much appreciated

Stacy

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Mar 23, 2018, 2:30:34 PM3/23/18

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Thank you, I modified the boot_command, and was able to issues in my ks file due to deprecated entries I needed to update to rhel7 verbage, thanks again, I was reverse engineering this, and that helped alot.

On Thursday, March 22, 2018 at 1:20:39 PM UTC-7, Gabo Kete wrote:

Gabo Kete

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Mar 23, 2018, 4:48:17 PM3/23/18

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Glad you found the issue..

My advise is to use ksvalidator , it comes included in the pykickstart package... helps to check the syntax of a KS file and point out if you need to update it based on the RHEL/CENTOS/FEDORA version you are installing

https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/1-ksvalidator/

usage: ksvalidator [options] ksfile

positional arguments:

ksfile filename or URL to read from

optional arguments:

-h, --help show this help message and exit

-e, --firsterror halt after the first error or warning

-i, --followincludes parse include files when %include is seen

-l, --listversions list the available versions of kickstart syntax

-v VERSION, --version VERSION

version of kickstart syntax to validate against

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