Ubuntu image generated with vmware-iso builder loads fine in Fusion, but fails to load on ESXi
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Brandon Heller
Apr 10, 2015, 5:05:47 PM4/10/15
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I'm trying to use Packer to have a single place for generated a variety of VM formats. I'm starting with VMware Fusion 6.0.5 on a Mac OS X 10.10 machine.
The VM builds just fine and I can start it up in Fusion, but the real reason I'd doing this is to have a way to script the generation of machines for ESXi usage.
When I go to import the VM in ESXi 5.5, I get this error:
Transport (VMDB) error -32: Pipe: Read failed.
Failed to power on '/vmfs/volumes/537e9fd5-11172d44-4ae6-a0423f0154bc/packer-ubuntu14.04-2/output-vmware-iso/packer-vmware-iso.vmx'.
Google hasn't shown anything clearly relevant. Has anyone had any luck with the setup? I would try the post processor to do a direct send, but the server does not have vCenter installed.
Thanks!
Ethan S.
Apr 11, 2015, 3:51:00 PM4/11/15
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Did you set up ESX as one of your output types? I believe that there is a vmware_desktop target type as well as a vmware_esx target. They have to do slightly different things to define VMs for the server products.
Also, you don't need vCenter installed to do a direct send, just enter the IP and login information of the ESX host and Packer should take care of the rest. vCenter actually uses a similar communication mechanism to a direct host, so it should work with either.
Brandon Heller
Apr 11, 2015, 9:24:43 PM4/11/15
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The documentation I've been using is for the vmware-iso builder: https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/vmware-iso.html
Ethan, do you mean that there's a different builder than 'vmware-iso' which I should be using? When you say 'target type', do you mean remote type?
Thanks!
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Brandon Heller
Apr 12, 2015, 12:09:31 AM4/12/15
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FWIW, I was able to get this resolved by using specify the remote_[type, host, datastore, username, password] options for the vmware-iso type, then doing a remote ESXi build instead of Fusion.
I had one issue with the generated VM not DHCPing but this thread had the solution:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/packer-tool/02idn-nuIK4
The generated VM appears on the remote ESX datastore, so I can create the VM by navigating to the .vmx file and simply starting it. Very cool!
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Alvaro Miranda Aguilera
Apr 12, 2015, 12:07:45 PM4/12/15
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Brandon
Do you mind sharing notes you have taken?
since seems are plenty of edge cases you found and seems you got
answers for them..
Thanks
Alvaro.
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Do you mind sharing notes you have taken?
since seems are plenty of edge cases you found and seems you got
answers for them..
Thanks
Alvaro.
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> "Packer" group.
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Brandon Heller
Apr 12, 2015, 6:09:06 PM4/12/15
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Sure. Here's my template.json, which derives from the Ubuntu 14.04 one at github.com/shiguredo/packer-templates. I haven't fully verified the VirtualBox config yet. You'll need to pass in params for all variables defined as null at the top or replace them in template.son.
{
"variables": {
"ssh_name": null,
"ssh_pass": null,
"hostname": "ubuntu",
"disksize": 40960,
"esx_remote_host": null,
"esx_remote_datastore": null,
"esx_remote_username": null,
"esx_remote_password": null
},
"provisioners": [
{
"type": "shell",
"execute_command": "echo {{user `ssh_pass`}} |sudo -S sh '{{.Path}}'",
"override": {
"virtualbox-iso": {
"scripts": [
"scripts/base.sh",
"scripts/virtualbox.sh",
"scripts/cleanup.sh",
"scripts/zerodisk.sh"
]
},
"vmware-esx-remotebuild": {
"scripts": [
"scripts/base.sh",
"scripts/vmware.sh",
"scripts/cleanup.sh",
"scripts/zerodisk.sh"
]
}
}
}
],
"builders": [
{
"type": "virtualbox-iso",
"boot_command": [
"<esc><wait>",
"<esc><wait>",
"<enter><wait>",
"/install/vmlinuz<wait>",
" auto<wait>",
" console-setup/ask_detect=false<wait>",
" console-setup/layoutcode=us<wait>",
" console-setup/modelcode=pc105<wait>",
" debconf/frontend=noninteractive<wait>",
" debian-installer=en_US<wait>",
" fb=false<wait>",
" initrd=/install/initrd.gz<wait>",
" kbd-chooser/method=us<wait>",
" keyboard-configuration/layout=USA<wait>",
" keyboard-configuration/variant=USA<wait>",
" locale=en_US<wait>",
" netcfg/get_hostname=ubuntu-1404<wait>",
" noapic<wait>",
" preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg<wait>",
" -- <wait>",
"<enter><wait>"
],
"boot_wait": "5s",
"disk_size": "{{user `disksize`}}",
"guest_os_type": "Ubuntu_64",
"http_directory": "http",
"iso_checksum": "83aabd8dcf1e8f469f3c72fff2375195",
"iso_checksum_type": "md5",
"ssh_username": "{{user `ssh_name`}}",
"ssh_password": "{{user `ssh_pass`}}",
"ssh_port": 22,
"ssh_wait_timeout": "10000s",
"shutdown_command": "echo 'shutdown -P now' > /tmp/shutdown.sh; echo {{user `ssh_pass`}}|sudo -S sh '/tmp/shutdown.sh'",
"vboxmanage": [
[ "modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--memory", "512" ],
[ "modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--cpus", "1" ]
]
},
{
"name": "vmware-esx-remotebuild",
"type": "vmware-iso",
"boot_command": [
"<esc><wait>",
"<esc><wait>",
"<enter><wait>",
"/install/vmlinuz<wait>",
" auto<wait>",
" console-setup/ask_detect=false<wait>",
" console-setup/layoutcode=us<wait>",
" console-setup/modelcode=pc105<wait>",
" debconf/frontend=noninteractive<wait>",
" debian-installer=en_US<wait>",
" fb=false<wait>",
" initrd=/install/initrd.gz<wait>",
" kbd-chooser/method=us<wait>",
" keyboard-configuration/layout=USA<wait>",
" keyboard-configuration/variant=USA<wait>",
" locale=en_US<wait>",
" netcfg/get_hostname=ubuntu-1404<wait>",
" noapic<wait>",
" preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg<wait>",
" -- <wait>",
"<enter><wait>"
],
"boot_wait": "10s",
"disk_size": "{{user `disksize`}}",
"guest_os_type": "linux",
"http_directory": "http",
"iso_checksum": "83aabd8dcf1e8f469f3c72fff2375195",
"iso_checksum_type": "md5",
"ssh_username": "{{user `ssh_name`}}",
"ssh_password": "{{user `ssh_pass`}}",
"ssh_port": 22,
"ssh_wait_timeout": "10000s",
"shutdown_command": "echo 'shutdown -P now' > /tmp/shutdown.sh; echo {{user `ssh_pass`}}|sudo -S sh '/tmp/shutdown.sh'",
"vmx_data": {
"memsize": "512",
"numvcpus": "1",
"cpuid.coresPerSocket": "1",
"ethernet0.present": "TRUE",
"ethernet0.startConnected": "TRUE",
"ethernet0.virtualDev": "e1000",
"ethernet0.networkName": "VM Network",
"ethernet0.addressType": "generated",
"ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset": "0",
"ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv": "FALSE"
},
"remote_type": "esx5",
"remote_host": "{{user `esx_remote_host`}}",
"remote_datastore": "{{user `esx_remote_datastore`}}",
"remote_username": "{{user `esx_remote_username`}}",
"remote_password": "{{user `esx_remote_password`}}"
}
]
}
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