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The project I've been working on uses VmBuilder (https://launchpad.net/vmbuilder) tool to create custom Xenial images that were then packaged into ovf using ovftool to run on VmWare Exsi hypervisor.

Recent requirement changes requires the newer Vm's to be build on Bionic or Focal images, however the VmBuilder package do not support these suites. Is there a way to make things work? Or, are there any alternatives that could be used in this scenario?

  • The VmBuilder package is no longer maintained actively and since it is built on python 2.X a newer alternative is a much welcome solution.
rksanjeev
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1 Answers1

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You might want to give Packer a try. This is a tool that make headless installations from ISO images and can generate multiple types of VM images.

Basically you would do something like this:

  1. Write (or find) a build template. These are JSON formatted and can be named anything, like bionic-production.json or focal-uat.json.
  2. Confirm that the template is complete: 
    packer verify focal-uat.json
  3. Build the image: 
    packer build focal-uat.json

There are a remarkable number of output formats and builder templates available for you to start with.

matigo
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  • There's a catch, we have IP addr, gateway and dns addr that need to be configured during the build and we're also using local apt mirror. However I don't find a way to configure these in the documentation. Is there a way around? – rksanjeev Oct 05 '21 at 05:21
  • Perhaps someone on the Packer forums can help out. I have not needed to configure systems the way you are attempting. – matigo Oct 05 '21 at 08:17