packer-plugin-xenserver/docs/builders/Commented-Example.md

layout	page_title	description
docs	XenServer-iso Commented Example	This is a Commented example for how to use the xenserver-iso Packer Builder. This Example is written in hcl

What's this

This Example builds a vanilla Centos 8 Template. No Provisioning or Post-Processing will be done.

If you want to run this example, you have to replace the following variables with your own values.

  remote_host     = "xenserver.example.org"
  remote_username = "root"
  remote_password = "very-secret-password"
  sr_iso_name     = "Local-ISO"
  sr_name         = "Local-SR"
  tools_iso_name  = "guest-tools.iso"

Parts of this example

This examples composes the following files from the examples folder

• centos8-example.pkr.hcl
• ks-centos8-example.cfg

Explanation of centos8-example.pkr.hcl

• source "xenserver-iso" "example" { } directs packer to configure an Artifact named example using the xenserver-iso builder

• iso_url = "http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/centos/8.3.2011/isos/x86_64/CentOS-8.3.2011-x86_64-dvd1.iso" use the iso obtainable from this url

• iso_checksum_type = "sha1" the checksum is of type sha1

• iso_checksum = "aaf9d4b3071c16dbbda01dfe06085e5d0fdac76df323e3bbe87cce4318052247" The checksum for the ISO.

• sr_name = "Local-SR" store the vmdisk used during install on the SR named Local-SR

• sr_iso_name = "Local-ISO" store the iso used during install on the ISO-SR named Local-ISO

• tools_iso_name = "guest-tools.iso" mount the guest-tools iso with the name guest-tools.iso

• remote_host = "xenserver.example.org" the ipadress or fqdn of the xenserver. This should be the pool primary

• remote_username = "root" the user with witch to connect.

• remote_password = "very-secret-password" the password for the user.

• vm_name = "packer-centos8-example" How packer will name the vm.

• vm_description = "This is an example." The description field of the vm

• vm_memory = 4096 the Amount of RAM, in MB

• disk_size = 4096 the Size of the Primary Disk in MB

• http_directory = "examples/http/centos8' Packer will spin up a http-server for serving files to the installing vm. the kickstart file ks-centos8-examples.cfg is in this directory

• boot_wait = "10s' Wait for 10s after starting the VM before typeing the boot_command

• boot_command = ["<tab> text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks-centos8-examples.cfg<enter><wait>"'

  • The command to type into the installing vm.
  • <tab> a tab Character \t
  • text ks=http:// character literals
  • {{ .HTTPIP }} will be replaced by the local ip-address.
  • : character literal
  • {{ .HTTPPort }} will be replaced by the local port. Will be randomly selectet between 8000 and 9000
  • /ks-centos8-examples.cfg character literals
  • <enter> an enter character
  • <wait> wait for 1s

• ssh_username = "root" The ssh user packer uses to connect to the VM

• ssh_password = "centos" The ssh password packer uses to connect to the VM

• ssh_wait_timeout = "10m" consider install failed if unable to connect via ssh 10m into the build

• shutdown_command = "/sbin/shutdown" After connection via ssh issue this command to shut down the vm

• output_directory = "packer-centos8-local" Store the resulting xva file in this directory

• keep_vm = "on_success" Create a template with the vm after a successfull build

• build { } Tell packer what to do while builing

• sources = ["xenserver-iso.example"] Build the xenserver.example without changing any configuration.

Explanation of ks-centos8-examples.cfg

eula --agreed
# agree to the eula of centos

lang en-US.UTF-8
# set the system-locale to en-US.UTF-8

timezone Europe/Berlin
# set the timezone to Europe/Berlin

url --url="http://mirror.centos.org/centos/8.3.2011/BaseOS/x86_64/os/"
# Primary installation mirror

text
skipx
# Install in textmode, do not configure X11

firstboot --disable
# Dont do any configuration on first boot

rootpw --plaintext centos
# set the reboot to "centos"

firewall --enabled --ssh
# enable the firewall, allow ssh

selinux --enforcing
# ensure selinux is in enforcing mode

logging --level=info
# Installation logging level

network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 --onboot=on
# configure the network with dhcp on install

clearpart --all
zerombr
bootloader --location=mbr
# Clear all partitioning on all disk
# Zero the MBR section
# Install the bootloader into the MBR

part / --asprimary --fstype="ext4" --size=1024 --grow
# / shall the a primary partition with ext4
# with a mimimul size of 1024 MB, but growing to the actual size of the disk

%packages
@base
%end
# install all packages of the core group

reboot --eject
# After finishing eject all CD-Disk and reboot