packer + vmware esxi: re-utilize iso already in datastore (instead of re-upload with every build)

[Alejandro]

Hi everyone,

I am testing packer and so far is a great tool!

I managed to make it work with vCenter(esxi) 5.5 and 6 with no problems. One issue that I would like to ask you all is about re-using the iso that is already in the datastore.

With every build it takes around 10 minutes total (from enter build command to finish) but it takes around 4 minutes to "upload" the dvd iso to the datastore. Is it possible to tell packer to just use the one that is already there?

This is my json file:

{
    "builders": [
        {
            "type": "vmware-iso",
            "format": "ovf",
            "vm_name": "PACKERTEST02",
            "iso_url": "/rhel-server-7.2-x86_64-dvd.iso",
            "iso_checksum": "03f3a0291634335f6995534d829bd21ffaa0d000004dfeb1b2fb81052d64a4d5",
            "iso_checksum_type": "sha256",
            "disk_size": "104761",
            "disk_type_id": "thin",
            "remote_host": "esxi-host",
              "remote_datastore": "nas",
              "remote_username": "root",
              "remote_password": "********",
              "remote_type": "esx5",
            "ssh_username": "vagrant",
            "guest_os_type": "rhel6-64",
            "ssh_password": "vagrant",
            "ssh_port": 22,
            "ssh_wait_timeout": "20m",
            "shutdown_command": "sudo -S /sbin/halt -h -p",
            "headless": "false",
            "floppy_files": [
                  "kickstart/rhel7-packertest02.ks.cfg"
            ],
            "boot_command": "<esc> linux inst.text inst.ks=hd:fd0:/rhel7-packertest02.ks.cfg <enter><wait>",
            "boot_wait": "5s",
            "keep_registered": "true",
            "vmx_data": {
                "config.version": 8,
                "virtualHW.version": 8,
                "ethernet0.virtualDev": "vmxnet3",
                "ethernet0.networkName": "VM Network",
                "ethernet0.addressType": "generated",
                "ethernet0.present": "TRUE",
                "ethernet1.virtualDev": "vmxnet3",
                "ethernet1.networkName": "VLAN100",
                "ethernet1.addressType": "generated",
                "ethernet1.present": "TRUE",
                "ethernet0.pciSlotNumber": "192",
                "ethernet1.pciSlotNumber": "224",
                "memsize": "2048",
                "numvcpus": "2",
                "cpuid.coresPerSocket": "1",
                "RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled": "TRUE",
                "RemoteDisplay.vnc.port":  "5900"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Cheers,

Alejandro

[Alvaro Miranda Aguilera]

can you delete the iso and take the time?

it shouldnt upload twice, what can happen is too slow to check the md5/sha1 sum

other option is once you build a minimal image, you use vmware-vmx and build from an existing vm.

as time permits, can you have a look ?

Thanks

Alvaro

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[Alejandro]

Hi Alvaro,

thanks for your quick reply. Yes, you are correct indeed:

...
2016/07/20 18:41:01 packer: 2016/07/20 18:41:01 Verifying checksum of /vmfs/volumes/nas/packer_cache/rhel-server-7.2-x86_64-dvd.iso
2016/07/20 18:41:01 packer: 2016/07/20 18:41:01 opening new ssh session
2016/07/20 18:41:01 packer: 2016/07/20 18:41:01 starting remote command: sha256sum -c
2016/07/20 18:45:00 packer: 2016/07/20 18:45:00 remote command exited with '0': sha256sum -c
2016/07/20 18:45:00 packer: 2016/07/20 18:45:00 Initial checksum matched, no upload needed.
2016/07/20 18:45:00 ui: ==> vmware-iso: Creating virtual machine disk
...

Next week I will try to upload a smaller iso and also play with with different checksums to see which one takes less time and let you all know.

Is it possible to skip the checksum altogether?

This is looking veeery good!!

Cheers,

Alejandro

[Alvaro Miranda Aguilera]

On Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 10:09 PM, Alejandro <alejandro...@gmail.com> wrote:

iso_checksum_type": "sha256",

Hello,

https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/vmware-iso.html

not recommended,  but the option is there. :)

iso_checksum_type (string) - The type of the checksum specified iniso_checksum. Valid values are "none", "md5", "sha1", "sha256", or "sha512" currently. While "none" will skip checksumming, this is not recommended since ISO files are generally large and corruption does happen from time to time.

Alvaro.

[Alejandro]

excelente!

Will try tomorrow.

Cheers,

Alejandro

[Alejandro]

cool, I've made the modification you recommended and also a few more ([0] remove ovftool) and now it takes 4 minutes from start-finish. :D
I can probably reduce even more if I polish the kickstart file, but is ok for now.

About checksum, since I am using jenkins+ansible, then I will create a job to periodically check for checksums (probably 1 every 24hs).

[0] https://github.com/mitchellh/packer/issues/3087