Google compute error: ssh_username must be specified

[Andy Spooner]

I am testing creating images on Google Cloud Compute using Packer. However, when i run a  build demo using the packer.json file below I receive the following error:

An ssh_username must be specified

  Note: some builders used to default ssh_username to "root".

Packer's documentation states that I may need to add a ssh_username to the Google Cloud builder. However, Google usernames are in the format of an email address; when i set ssh_username to a valid email address that has been authenticated to Google Cloud, Packer reports this as an error of incorrect format.

Can someone please point me in the direction where i can find appropriate documentation to setup ssh_username correctly and to promote to sudo?

Note, I have tried authenticating with a service key without joy. Using a service key is my preferred option.

packer.json 

{

  "variables": {

    "git_commit": "",

    "git_branch": "",

    "account_file": "test/test-******.json",

    "project_id": "test-11211"

  },

  "builders": [

    {

      "type": "googlecompute",

      "account_file": "{{user `account_file`}}",

      "project_id": "{{user `project_id`}}",

      "source_image": "ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20161213",

      "zone": "us-central1-a",

      "image_name": "redmine-{{timestamp}}-{{user `git_branch`}}-{{user `git_commit`}}"

    }

  ],

  "provisioners": [

    {

      "type": "chef-solo",

      "install_command": "apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl && curl -L https://www.opscode.com/chef/install.sh | {{if .Sudo}}sudo{{end}} bash",

      "cookbook_paths": ["chef/site-cookbooks"],

      "run_list": [

        "recipe[rails-sample]",

        "recipe[rails-sample::user]",

        "recipe[rails-sample::ruby]",

        "recipe[rails-sample::app]"

      ]

    }

  ]

}

Cheers

And

[Alvaro Miranda Aguilera]

Hello.

ssh_username  is the user to be used in the VM/Instance to log in.

IT should default to root, which here seems is not.

Can you set it up to root and test?

Whatever the result, could you please create an Issue on github to track this?

  "builders": [

    {

      "type": "googlecompute",

      "account_file": "{{user `account_file`}}",

      "project_id": "{{user `project_id`}}",

      "source_image": "ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20161213",

      "zone": "us-central1-a",

      "image_name": "redmine-{{timestamp}}-{{user `git_branch`}}-{{user `git_commit`}}",

      "ssh_username": "root"

    }

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[Rickard von Essen]

ssh_username doesn't have a default value anymore. It must be specified. Ubuntu doesn't allow ssh with root. Since this image has GCE tools it will create the user you give and give it sudo rights. So just add ssh_username: ubuntu should work. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/packer-tool/CAHqq0ew3-7pZsS_Gbp-X-WKjB_E4vjOoBD0%2B4Tj0yNt0utDCHw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Andy Spooner]

Thank you for the advice. I was able to build an image by adding  "ssh_username": "root". The user 'root' can be substituted with any another name, as the user will be created as part of the build.

Best