VMware ISO

Type: vmware-iso

This builder creates a virtual machine, installs an operating system from an ISO, provisions software within the operating system, and then exports the virtual machine as an image. This is best for those who want to start by creating an image for use with VMware desktop hypervisors (VMware Fusion Pro, VMware Workstation Pro, and VMware Workstation Player ¹) and VMware vSphere Hypervisor ².

Basic Example

This example builds a virtual machine from a guest operating system ISO file. The builder will start the virtual machine, boot from the ISO, and install the operating system, and run any provisioners, and then export the virtual machine as an image.

HCL Example:

source "vmware-iso" "example" {
  iso_url = "https://releases.ubuntu.com/yy.mm/ubuntu-yy.mm-live-server-amd64.iso"
  iso_checksum = "sha256:8762f7e74e4d64d72fceb5f70682e6b069932deedb4949c6975d0f0fe0a91be3"
  ssh_username = "packer"
  ssh_password = "password"
  shutdown_command = "shutdown -P now"
}

build {
  sources = [
    "source.vmware-iso.example"
  ]
}

JSON Example:

{
  "type": "vmware-iso",
  "iso_url": "https://releases.ubuntu.com/yy.mm/ubuntu-yy.mm-live-server-amd64.iso",
  "iso_checksum": "sha256:8762f7e74e4d64d72fceb5f70682e6b069932deedb4949c6975d0f0fe0a91be3",
  "ssh_username": "packer",
  "ssh_password": "password",
  "shutdown_command": "shutdown -P now"
}

Configuration Reference

Optional:

• disk_size (uint) - The size of the disk in megabytes. The builder uses expandable virtual hard disks. The file that backs the virtual disk will only grow as needed up to this size. Default is 40000 (~40 GB).

• cdrom_adapter_type (string) - The type of controller to use for the CD-ROM device. Allowed values are ide, sata, and scsi.

• guest_os_type (string) - The guest operating system identifier for the virtual machine. Defaults to other.

• version (int) - The virtual machine hardware version. Refer to KB 315655 for more information on supported virtual hardware versions. Minimum is 13. Default is 19.

• vm_name (string) - The name of the virtual machine. This represents the name of the virtual machine .vmx configuration file without the file extension. Default is packer-<BUILDNAME>, where <BUILDNAME> is the name of the build.

• vmx_disk_template_path (string) - The path to a configuration template for defining the contents of a virtual machine .vmx configuration file for a virtual disk. Template variables {{ .DiskType }}, {{ .DiskUnit }}, {{ .DiskName }}, and {{ .DiskNumber }} are available for use within the template.

  Note: This option is intended for advanced users, as incorrect configurations can lead to non-functional virtual machines.

• vmx_template_path (string) - The path to a configuration template for defining the contents of a virtual machine .vmx configuration file.

  Note: This option is intended for advanced users, as incorrect configurations can lead to non-functional virtual machines. For simpler modifications of the virtual machine.vmx configuration file, consider using vmx_data option.

• snapshot_name (string) - The name of the virtual machine snapshot to be created. If this field is left empty, no snapshot will be created.

• vhv_enabled (bool) - Enable virtual hardware-assisted virtualization for the virtual machine. Defaults to false.

Hardware Configuration

Optional:

• firmware (string) - The firmware type for the virtual machine. Allowed values are bios, efi, and efi-secure (for secure boot). Defaults to the recommended firmware type for the guest operating system.

• cpus (int) - The number of virtual CPUs cores for the virtual machine.

• cores (int) - The number of virtual CPU cores per socket for the virtual machine.

• memory (int) - The amount of memory for the virtual machine in MB.

• network (string) - The network which the virtual machine will connect for local desktop hypervisors. Use the generic values that map to a device, such as hostonly, nat, or bridged. Defaults to nat.

  Note: If not set to one of these generic values, then it is assumed to be a network device (e.g., VMnet0..x).

• network_name (string) - The network which the virtual machine will connect on a remote hypervisor.

• network_adapter_type (string) - The virtual machine network card type. Recommended values are e1000 and vmxnet3. Defaults to e1000.

  Refer to VMware product documentation for supported network adapter types for the hypervisor and guest operating system.

• sound (bool) - Enable virtual sound card device. Defaults to false.

• usb (bool) - Enable a the USB 2.0 controllers for the virtual machine. Defaults to false.

  Note: To enable USB 3.0 controllers, set a usb_xhci.present key to true in the vmx_data option.

• serial (string) - Add a serial port to the virtual machine. Use a format of Type:option1,option2,.... Allowed values for the field Type include: FILE, DEVICE, PIPE, AUTO, or NONE.

  • FILE:path(,yield) - Specifies the path to the local file to be used as the serial port.

    • yield (bool) - This is an optional boolean that specifies whether the virtual machine should yield the CPU when polling the port. By default, the builder will assume this as FALSE.

  • DEVICE:path(,yield) - Specifies the path to the local device to be   used as the serial port. If path is empty, then default to the first serial port.

    • yield (bool) - This is an optional boolean that specifies whether the virtual machine should yield the CPU when polling the port. By default, the builder will assume this as FALSE.

  • PIPE:path,endpoint,host(,yield) - Specifies to use the named-pipe "path" as a serial port. This has a few options that determine how the VM should use the named-pipe.

    • endpoint (string) - Chooses the type of the VM-end, which can be either a client or server.

    • host (string) - Chooses the type of the host-end, which can be either app (application) or vm (another virtual-machine).

    • yield (bool) - This is an optional boolean that specifies whether the virtual machine should yield the CPU when polling the port. By default, the builder will assume this as FALSE.

  • AUTO:(yield) - Specifies to use auto-detection to determine the serial port to use. This has one option to determine how the virtual machine should support the serial port.

    • yield (bool) - This is an optional boolean that specifies whether the virtual machine should yield the CPU when polling the port. By default, the builder will assume this as FALSE.

  • NONE - Specifies to not use a serial port. (default)

• parallel (string) - Add a parallel port to add to the virtual machine. Use a format of Type:option1,option2,.... Allowed values for the field Type include: FILE, DEVICE, AUTO, or NONE.

  • FILE:path - Specifies the path to the local file to be used for the parallel port.

  • DEVICE:path - Specifies the path to the local device to be used for the parallel port.

  • AUTO:direction - Specifies to use auto-detection to determine the parallel port. Direction can be BI to specify bidirectional communication or UNI to specify unidirectional communication.

  • NONE - Specifies to not use a parallel port. (default)

Extra Disk Configuration

Optional:

• disk_additional_size ([]uint) - The size(s) of additional virtual hard disks in MB. If not specified, the virtual machine will contain only a primary hard disk.

• disk_adapter_type (string) - The adapter type for additional virtual disk(s). Available options are ide, sata, nvme, or scsi.

  Note: When specifying scsi as the adapter type, the default adapter type is set to lsilogic. If another option is specified, the plugin will assume it is a scsi interface of that specified type.

  Note: This option is intended for advanced users.

• vmdk_name (string) - The filename for the virtual disk to create without the .vmdk extension. Defaults to disk.

• disk_type_id (string) - The type of virtual disk to create.

  For local desktop hypervisors, the available options are:

  Type ID	Description
  0	Growable virtual disk contained in a single file (monolithic sparse).
  1	Growable virtual disk split into 2GB files (split sparse).
  2	Preallocated virtual disk contained in a single file (monolithic flat).
  3	Preallocated virtual disk split into 2GB files (split flat).
  4	Preallocated virtual disk compatible with ESXi (VMFS flat).
  5	Compressed disk optimized for streaming.

  Defaults to 1.

  For remote hypervisors, the available options are: zeroedthick, eagerzeroedthick, and thin. Defaults to zeroedthick.

  ~> Note: The rdm:dev, rdmp:dev, and 2gbsparse types are not supported for remote hypervisors.

  ~> Note: Set skip_compaction to true when using zeroedthick or eagerzeroedthick due to default disk compaction behavior.

  Note: This option is intended for advanced users.

Optional:

• iso_urls ([]string) - Multiple URLs for the ISO to download. Packer will try these in order. If anything goes wrong attempting to download or while downloading a single URL, it will move on to the next. All URLs must point to the same file (same checksum). By default this is empty and iso_url is used. Only one of iso_url or iso_urls can be specified.

• iso_target_path (string) - The path where the iso should be saved after download. By default will go in the packer cache, with a hash of the original filename and checksum as its name.

• iso_target_extension (string) - The extension of the iso file after download. This defaults to iso.

VMware Tools Configuration

Optional:

• tools_upload_flavor (string) - The flavor of VMware tools to upload into the virtual machine based on the guest operating system. Allowed values are darwin (macOS), linux, and windows. Default is empty and no version will be uploaded.

• tools_upload_path (string) - The path in the virtual machine to upload the VMware Tools. This only takes effect if tools_upload_flavor is non-empty. This is a configuration template that has a single valid variable, Flavor, which will be the value of tools_upload_flavor when the upload path is set to {{.Flavor}}.iso.

  Note: This setting is not used when remote_type is esx5.

• tools_source_path (string) - The local path on your machine to the VMware Tools ISO file.

  Note: If not set, but the tools_upload_flavor is set, the plugin will load the VMware Tools from the product installation directory.

Floppy Configuration

A floppy can be made available for your build. This is most useful for unattended Windows installs, which look for an Autounattend.xml file on removable media. By default, no floppy will be attached. All files listed in this setting get placed into the root directory of the floppy and the floppy is attached as the first floppy device. The summary size of the listed files must not exceed 1.44 MB. The supported ways to move large files into the OS are using http_directory or the file provisioner.

Optional:

• floppy_files ([]string) - A list of files to place onto a floppy disk that is attached when the VM is booted. Currently, no support exists for creating sub-directories on the floppy. Wildcard characters (\*, ?, and []) are allowed. Directory names are also allowed, which will add all the files found in the directory to the floppy.

• floppy_dirs ([]string) - A list of directories to place onto the floppy disk recursively. This is similar to the floppy_files option except that the directory structure is preserved. This is useful for when your floppy disk includes drivers or if you just want to organize it's contents as a hierarchy. Wildcard characters (\*, ?, and []) are allowed. The maximum summary size of all files in the listed directories are the same as in floppy_files.

• floppy_content (map[string]string) - Key/Values to add to the floppy disk. The keys represent the paths, and the values contents. It can be used alongside floppy_files or floppy_dirs, which is useful to add large files without loading them into memory. If any paths are specified by both, the contents in floppy_content will take precedence.

  Usage example (HCL):

  floppy_files = ["vendor-data"]
  floppy_content = {
    "meta-data" = jsonencode(local.instance_data)
    "user-data" = templatefile("user-data", { packages = ["nginx"] })
  }
  floppy_label = "cidata"
  

• floppy_label (string) - Floppy Label

CD-ROM Configuration

• cd_files ([]string) - A list of files to place onto a CD that is attached when the VM is booted. This can include either files or directories; any directories will be copied onto the CD recursively, preserving directory structure hierarchy. Symlinks will have the link's target copied into the directory tree on the CD where the symlink was. File globbing is allowed.

  Usage example (JSON):

  "cd_files": ["./somedirectory/meta-data", "./somedirectory/user-data"],
  "cd_label": "cidata",
  

  Usage example (HCL):

  cd_files = ["./somedirectory/meta-data", "./somedirectory/user-data"]
  cd_label = "cidata"
  

  The above will create a CD with two files, user-data and meta-data in the CD root. This specific example is how you would create a CD that can be used for an Ubuntu 20.04 autoinstall.

  Since globbing is also supported,

  cd_files = ["./somedirectory/*"]
  cd_label = "cidata"
  

  Would also be an acceptable way to define the above cd. The difference between providing the directory with or without the glob is whether the directory itself or its contents will be at the CD root.

  Use of this option assumes that you have a command line tool installed that can handle the iso creation. Packer will use one of the following tools:

  • xorriso
  • mkisofs
  • hdiutil (normally found in macOS)
  • oscdimg (normally found in Windows as part of the Windows ADK)

• cd_content (map[string]string) - Key/Values to add to the CD. The keys represent the paths, and the values contents. It can be used alongside cd_files, which is useful to add large files without loading them into memory. If any paths are specified by both, the contents in cd_content will take precedence.

  Usage example (HCL):

  cd_files = ["vendor-data"]
  cd_content = {
    "meta-data" = jsonencode(local.instance_data)
    "user-data" = templatefile("user-data", { packages = ["nginx"] })
  }
  cd_label = "cidata"
  

• cd_label (string) - CD Label

ISO Configuration

By default, Packer will symlink, download or copy image files to the Packer cache into a "hash($iso_url+$iso_checksum).$iso_target_extension" file. Packer uses hashicorp/go-getter in file mode in order to perform a download.

go-getter supports the following protocols:

• Local files
• Git
• Mercurial
• HTTP
• Amazon S3

Examples: go-getter can guess the checksum type based on iso_checksum length, and it is also possible to specify the checksum type.

In JSON:

    "iso_checksum": "946a6077af6f5f95a51f82fdc44051c7aa19f9cfc5f737954845a6050543d7c2",
    "iso_url": "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

    "iso_checksum": "file:ubuntu.org/..../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso.sum",
    "iso_url": "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

    "iso_checksum": "file://./shasums.txt",
    "iso_url": "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

    "iso_checksum": "file:./shasums.txt",
    "iso_url": "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

In HCL2:

    iso_checksum = "946a6077af6f5f95a51f82fdc44051c7aa19f9cfc5f737954845a6050543d7c2"
    iso_url = "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

    iso_checksum = "file:ubuntu.org/..../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso.sum"
    iso_url = "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

    iso_checksum = "file://./shasums.txt"
    iso_url = "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

    iso_checksum = "file:./shasums.txt",
    iso_url = "ubuntu.org/.../ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso"

Required:

• iso_checksum (string) - The checksum for the ISO file or virtual hard drive file. The type of the checksum is specified within the checksum field as a prefix, ex: "md5:{$checksum}". The type of the checksum can also be omitted and Packer will try to infer it based on string length. Valid values are "none", "{$checksum}", "md5:{$checksum}", "sha1:{$checksum}", "sha256:{$checksum}", "sha512:{$checksum}" or "file:{$path}". Here is a list of valid checksum values:

  • md5:090992ba9fd140077b0661cb75f7ce13
  • 090992ba9fd140077b0661cb75f7ce13
  • sha1:ebfb681885ddf1234c18094a45bbeafd91467911
  • ebfb681885ddf1234c18094a45bbeafd91467911
  • sha256:ed363350696a726b7932db864dda019bd2017365c9e299627830f06954643f93
  • ed363350696a726b7932db864dda019bd2017365c9e299627830f06954643f93
  • file:http://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/SHA256SUMS
  • file:file://./local/path/file.sum
  • file:./local/path/file.sum
  • none Although the checksum will not be verified when it is set to "none", this is not recommended since these files can be very large and corruption does happen from time to time.

• iso_url (string) - A URL to the ISO containing the installation image or virtual hard drive (VHD or VHDX) file to clone.

HTTP Configuration

Packer will create an http server serving http_directory when it is set, a random free port will be selected and the architecture of the directory referenced will be available in your builder.

Example usage from a builder:

wget http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/foo/bar/preseed.cfg

Optional:

• http_directory (string) - Path to a directory to serve using an HTTP server. The files in this directory will be available over HTTP that will be requestable from the virtual machine. This is useful for hosting kickstart files and so on. By default this is an empty string, which means no HTTP server will be started. The address and port of the HTTP server will be available as variables in boot_command. This is covered in more detail below.

• http_content (map[string]string) - Key/Values to serve using an HTTP server. http_content works like and conflicts with http_directory. The keys represent the paths and the values contents, the keys must start with a slash, ex: /path/to/file. http_content is useful for hosting kickstart files and so on. By default this is empty, which means no HTTP server will be started. The address and port of the HTTP server will be available as variables in boot_command. This is covered in more detail below. Example:

    http_content = {
      "/a/b"     = file("http/b")
      "/foo/bar" = templatefile("${path.root}/preseed.cfg", { packages = ["nginx"] })
    }
  

• http_port_min (int) - These are the minimum and maximum port to use for the HTTP server started to serve the http_directory. Because Packer often runs in parallel, Packer will choose a randomly available port in this range to run the HTTP server. If you want to force the HTTP server to be on one port, make this minimum and maximum port the same. By default the values are 8000 and 9000, respectively.

• http_port_max (int) - HTTP Port Max

• http_bind_address (string) - This is the bind address for the HTTP server. Defaults to 0.0.0.0 so that it will work with any network interface.

Shutdown Configuration

Optional:

• shutdown_command (string) - The command to use to gracefully shut down the machine once all provisioning is complete. By default this is an empty string, which tells Packer to just forcefully shut down the machine. This setting can be safely omitted if for example, a shutdown command to gracefully halt the machine is configured inside a provisioning script. If one or more scripts require a reboot it is suggested to leave this blank (since reboots may fail) and instead specify the final shutdown command in your last script.

• shutdown_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The amount of time to wait after executing the shutdown_command for the virtual machine to actually shut down. If the machine doesn't shut down in this time it is considered an error. By default, the time out is "5m" (five minutes).

Export Configuration

Optional:

• format (string) - The output format of the exported virtual machine. Allowed values are ova, ovf, or vmx. Defaults to vmx for local desktop hypervisors and ova for remote hypervisors.

  For builds on a remote hypervisor, remote_password must be set when exporting the virtual machine

  For builds on a local desktop hypervisor, the plugin will create a .vmx and export the virtual machine as an .ovf or .ova file. THe plugin will not delete the .vmx and .vmdk files. You must manually delete these files if they are no longer needed.

  Note: Ensure VMware OVF Tool is installed. For the latest version, visit VMware OVF Tool.

  Note: For local builds, the plugin will create a .vmx and supporting files in the output directory and will then export the virtual machine to the specified format. These files are not automatically cleaned up after the export process.

• ovftool_options ([]string) - Additional command-line arguments to send to VMware OVF Tool during the export process. Each string in the array represents a separate command-line argument.

  Important: The options --noSSLVerify, --skipManifestCheck, and --targetType are automatically applied by the plugin for remote exports and should not be included in the options. For local OVF/OVA exports, the plugin does not preset any VMware OVF Tool options by default.

  Note: Ensure VMware OVF Tool is installed. For the latest version, visit VMware OVF Tool.

• skip_export (bool) - Skips the export of the virtual machine. This is useful if the build output is not the resultant image, but created inside the virtual machine. This is useful for debugging purposes. Defaults to false.

• keep_registered (bool) - Determines whether a virtual machine built on a remote hypervisor should remain registered after the build process. Setting this to true can be useful if the virtual machine does not need to be exported. Defaults to false.

• skip_compaction (bool) - At the end of the build process, the plugin defragments and compacts the disks using vmware-vdiskmanager or vmkfstools for ESXi environments. In some cases, this process may result in slightly larger disk sizes. If this occurs, you can opt to skip the disk compaction step by using this setting. Defaults to false. Defaults to true for ESXi when disk_type_id is not explicitly defined and false

Output Configuration

Optional:

• output_directory (string) - This is the path on your local machine (the one running Packer) to the directory where the resulting virtual machine will be created. This may be relative or absolute. If relative, the path is relative to the working directory when packer is executed.

  If you are running a remote hypervisor build, the output_dir is the path on your local machine (the machine running Packer) to which Packer will export the vm if you have "skip_export": false. If you want to manage the virtual machine's path on the remote datastore, use remote_output_dir.

  This directory must not exist or be empty prior to running the builder.

  By default this is output-BUILDNAME where "BUILDNAME" is the name of the build.

• remote_output_directory (string) - This is the directory on your remote hypervisor where you will save your vm, relative to your remote_datastore.

  This option's default value is your vm_name, and the final path of your vm will be vmfs/volumes/$remote_datastore/$vm_name/$vm_name.vmx where $remote_datastore and $vm_name match their corresponding template options

  For example, setting "remote_output_directory": "path/to/subdir will create a directory /vmfs/volumes/remote_datastore/path/to/subdir.

  Packer will not create the remote datastore for you; it must already exist. However, Packer will create all directories defined in the option that do not currently exist.

  This option will be ignored unless you are building on a remote hypervisor.

Hypervisor Configuration

Optional:

• fusion_app_path (string) - Path to "VMware Fusion.app". By default this is /Applications/VMware Fusion.app but this setting allows you to customize this.

• remote_type (string) - The type of remote machine that will be used to build this VM rather than a local desktop product. The only value accepted for this currently is esx5. If this is not set, a desktop product will be used. By default, this is not set.

• remote_datastore (string) - The path to the datastore where the VM will be stored on the ESXi machine.

• remote_cache_datastore (string) - The path to the datastore where supporting files will be stored during the build on the remote machine.

• remote_cache_directory (string) - The path where the ISO and/or floppy files will be stored during the build on the remote machine. The path is relative to the remote_cache_datastore on the remote machine.

• cleanup_remote_cache (bool) - When set to true, Packer will cleanup the cache folder where the ISO file is stored during the build on the remote machine. By default, this is set to false.

• remote_host (string) - The host of the remote machine used for access. This is only required if remote_type is enabled.

• remote_port (int) - The SSH port of the remote machine

• remote_username (string) - The SSH username used to access the remote machine.

• remote_password (string) - The SSH password for access to the remote machine.

• remote_private_key_file (string) - The SSH key for access to the remote machine.

• skip_validate_credentials (bool) - When Packer is preparing to run a remote hypervisor build, and export is not disable, by default it runs a no-op ovftool command to make sure that the remote_username and remote_password given are valid. If you set this flag to true, Packer will skip this validation. Default: false.

Advanced Configuration

Optional:

• vmx_data (map[string]string) - Key-value pairs that will be inserted into the virtual machine .vmx file before the virtual machine is started. This is useful for setting advanced properties that are not supported by the plugin.

  Note: This option is intended for advanced users who understand the ramifications of making changes to the .vmx file. This option is not necessary for most users.

• vmx_data_post (map[string]string) - Key-value pairs that will be inserted into the virtual machine .vmx file after the virtual machine is started. This is useful for setting advanced properties that are not supported by the plugin.

  Note: This option is intended for advanced users who understand the ramifications of making changes to the .vmx file. This option is not necessary for most users.

• vmx_remove_ethernet_interfaces (bool) - Remove all network adapters from virtual machine .vmx file after the virtual machine build is complete. Defaults to false.

  Note: This option is useful when building Vagrant boxes since Vagrant will create interfaces when provisioning a box.

• display_name (string) - The inventory display name for the virtual machine. If set, the value provided will override any value set in the vmx_data option or in the .vmx file. This option is useful if you are chaining builds and want to ensure that the display name of each step in the chain is unique.

Boot Configuration

The boot configuration is very important: boot_command specifies the keys to type when the virtual machine is first booted in order to start the OS installer. This command is typed after boot_wait, which gives the virtual machine some time to actually load.

The boot_command is an array of strings. The strings are all typed in sequence. It is an array only to improve readability within the template.

There are a set of special keys available. If these are in your boot command, they will be replaced by the proper key:

• <bs> - Backspace

• <del> - Delete

• <enter> <return> - Simulates an actual "enter" or "return" keypress.

• <esc> - Simulates pressing the escape key.

• <tab> - Simulates pressing the tab key.

• <f1> - <f12> - Simulates pressing a function key.

• <up> <down> <left> <right> - Simulates pressing an arrow key.

• <spacebar> - Simulates pressing the spacebar.

• <insert> - Simulates pressing the insert key.

• <home> <end> - Simulates pressing the home and end keys.

• <pageUp> <pageDown> - Simulates pressing the page up and page down keys.

• <menu> - Simulates pressing the Menu key.

• <leftAlt> <rightAlt> - Simulates pressing the alt key.

• <leftCtrl> <rightCtrl> - Simulates pressing the ctrl key.

• <leftShift> <rightShift> - Simulates pressing the shift key.

• <leftSuper> <rightSuper> - Simulates pressing the ⌘ or Windows key.

• <wait> <wait5> <wait10> - Adds a 1, 5 or 10 second pause before sending any additional keys. This is useful if you have to generally wait for the UI to update before typing more.

• <waitXX> - Add an arbitrary pause before sending any additional keys. The format of XX is a sequence of positive decimal numbers, each with optional fraction and a unit suffix, such as 300ms, 1.5h or 2h45m. Valid time units are ns, us (or µs), ms, s, m, h. For example <wait10m> or <wait1m20s>.

• <XXXOn> <XXXOff> - Any printable keyboard character, and of these "special" expressions, with the exception of the <wait> types, can also be toggled on or off. For example, to simulate ctrl+c, use <leftCtrlOn>c<leftCtrlOff>. Be sure to release them, otherwise they will be held down until the machine reboots. To hold the c key down, you would use <cOn>. Likewise, <cOff> to release.

• {{ .HTTPIP }} {{ .HTTPPort }} - The IP and port, respectively of an HTTP server that is started serving the directory specified by the http_directory configuration parameter. If http_directory isn't specified, these will be blank!

• {{ .Name }} - The name of the VM.

Example boot command. This is actually a working boot command used to start an CentOS 6.4 installer:

In JSON:

"boot_command": [

       "<tab><wait>",
       " ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/centos6-ks.cfg<enter>"
    ]

In HCL2:

boot_command = [

       "<tab><wait>",
       " ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/centos6-ks.cfg<enter>"
    ]

The example shown below is a working boot command used to start an Ubuntu 12.04 installer:

In JSON:

"boot_command": [

    "<esc><esc><enter><wait>",
    "/install/vmlinuz noapic ",
    "preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg ",
    "debian-installer=en_US auto locale=en_US kbd-chooser/method=us ",
    "hostname={{ .Name }} ",
    "fb=false debconf/frontend=noninteractive ",
    "keyboard-configuration/modelcode=SKIP keyboard-configuration/layout=USA ",
    "keyboard-configuration/variant=USA console-setup/ask_detect=false ",
    "initrd=/install/initrd.gz -- <enter>"

]

In HCL2:

boot_command = [

    "<esc><esc><enter><wait>",
    "/install/vmlinuz noapic ",
    "preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg ",
    "debian-installer=en_US auto locale=en_US kbd-chooser/method=us ",
    "hostname={{ .Name }} ",
    "fb=false debconf/frontend=noninteractive ",
    "keyboard-configuration/modelcode=SKIP keyboard-configuration/layout=USA ",
    "keyboard-configuration/variant=USA console-setup/ask_detect=false ",
    "initrd=/install/initrd.gz -- <enter>"

]

For more examples of various boot commands, see the sample projects from our community templates page.

The boot command "typed" character for character over a VNC connection to the machine, simulating a human actually typing the keyboard.

Keystrokes are typed as separate key up/down events over VNC with a default 100ms delay. The delay alleviates issues with latency and CPU contention. You can tune this delay on a per-builder basis by specifying "boot_key_interval" in your Packer template.

Optional:

• boot_keygroup_interval (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - Time to wait after sending a group of key pressses. The value of this should be a duration. Examples are 5s and 1m30s which will cause Packer to wait five seconds and one minute 30 seconds, respectively. If this isn't specified, a sensible default value is picked depending on the builder type.

• boot_wait (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The time to wait after booting the initial virtual machine before typing the boot_command. The value of this should be a duration. Examples are 5s and 1m30s which will cause Packer to wait five seconds and one minute 30 seconds, respectively. If this isn't specified, the default is 10s or 10 seconds. To set boot_wait to 0s, use a negative number, such as "-1s"

• boot_command ([]string) - This is an array of commands to type when the virtual machine is first booted. The goal of these commands should be to type just enough to initialize the operating system installer. Special keys can be typed as well, and are covered in the section below on the boot command. If this is not specified, it is assumed the installer will start itself.

• disable_vnc (bool) - Whether to create a VNC connection or not. A boot_command cannot be used when this is true. Defaults to false.

• boot_key_interval (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - Time in ms to wait between each key press

• headless (bool) - The plugin defaults to building virtual machines by launching the desktop hypervisor's graphical user interface (GUI) to display the console of the virtual machine being built. When this value is set to true, the virtual machine will start without a console; however, the plugin will output VNC connection information in case you need to connect to the console to debug the build process. Defaults to false.

  Note: Some users have experienced issues where Packer cannot properly connect to a virtual machine when using headless. This is often attributed to the use of an evaluation license for VMware desktop hypervisors. It is recommended to launch the product and accept the evaluation license to resolve this if you encounter an issue with this option.

• vnc_bind_address (string) - The IP address to use for VNC access to the virtual machine. Defaults to 127.0.0.1.

  Note: To bind to all interfaces use 0.0.0.0.

• vnc_port_min (int) - The minimum port number to use for VNC access to the virtual machine. The plugin uses VNC to type the boot_command. Defaults to 5900.

• vnc_port_max (int) - The maximum port number to use for VNC access to the virtual machine. The plugin uses VNC to type the boot_command. Defaults to 6000.

  Note: The plugin randomly selects port within the inclusive range specified by vnc_port_min and vnc_port_max.

• vnc_disable_password (bool) - Disables the auto-generation of a VNC password that is used to secure the VNC communication with the virtual machine. Defaults to false.

  Important: Must be set to true for remote hypervisor builds with VNC enabled.

• vnc_over_websocket (bool) - Connect to VNC over a websocket connection. Defaults to false.

  Note: When set to true, any other VNC configuration options will be ignored.

  Important: Must be set to true for remote hypervisor builds with VNC enabled.

• insecure_connection (bool) - Do not validate TLS certificate when connecting to VNC over a websocket connection. Defaults to false.

Communicator Configuration

Optional:

Common

• communicator (string) - Packer currently supports three kinds of communicators:

  • none - No communicator will be used. If this is set, most provisioners also can't be used.

  • ssh - An SSH connection will be established to the machine. This is usually the default.

  • winrm - A WinRM connection will be established.

  In addition to the above, some builders have custom communicators they can use. For example, the Docker builder has a "docker" communicator that uses docker exec and docker cp to execute scripts and copy files.

• pause_before_connecting (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - We recommend that you enable SSH or WinRM as the very last step in your guest's bootstrap script, but sometimes you may have a race condition where you need Packer to wait before attempting to connect to your guest.

  If you end up in this situation, you can use the template option pause_before_connecting. By default, there is no pause. For example if you set pause_before_connecting to 10m Packer will check whether it can connect, as normal. But once a connection attempt is successful, it will disconnect and then wait 10 minutes before connecting to the guest and beginning provisioning.

SSH

• ssh_host (string) - The address to SSH to. This usually is automatically configured by the builder.

• ssh_port (int) - The port to connect to SSH. This defaults to 22.

• ssh_username (string) - The username to connect to SSH with. Required if using SSH.

• ssh_password (string) - A plaintext password to use to authenticate with SSH.

• ssh_ciphers ([]string) - This overrides the value of ciphers supported by default by Golang. The default value is [ "aes128-gcm@openssh.com", "chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com", "aes128-ctr", "aes192-ctr", "aes256-ctr", ]

  Valid options for ciphers include: "aes128-ctr", "aes192-ctr", "aes256-ctr", "aes128-gcm@openssh.com", "chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com", "arcfour256", "arcfour128", "arcfour", "aes128-cbc", "3des-cbc",

• ssh_clear_authorized_keys (bool) - If true, Packer will attempt to remove its temporary key from ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and /root/.ssh/authorized_keys. This is a mostly cosmetic option, since Packer will delete the temporary private key from the host system regardless of whether this is set to true (unless the user has set the -debug flag). Defaults to "false"; currently only works on guests with sed installed.

• ssh_key_exchange_algorithms ([]string) - If set, Packer will override the value of key exchange (kex) algorithms supported by default by Golang. Acceptable values include: "curve25519-sha256@libssh.org", "ecdh-sha2-nistp256", "ecdh-sha2-nistp384", "ecdh-sha2-nistp521", "diffie-hellman-group14-sha1", and "diffie-hellman-group1-sha1".

• ssh_certificate_file (string) - Path to user certificate used to authenticate with SSH. The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the home directory of current user.

• ssh_pty (bool) - If true, a PTY will be requested for the SSH connection. This defaults to false.

• ssh_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The time to wait for SSH to become available. Packer uses this to determine when the machine has booted so this is usually quite long. Example value: 10m. This defaults to 5m, unless ssh_handshake_attempts is set.

• ssh_disable_agent_forwarding (bool) - If true, SSH agent forwarding will be disabled. Defaults to false.

• ssh_handshake_attempts (int) - The number of handshakes to attempt with SSH once it can connect. This defaults to 10, unless a ssh_timeout is set.

• ssh_bastion_host (string) - A bastion host to use for the actual SSH connection.

• ssh_bastion_port (int) - The port of the bastion host. Defaults to 22.

• ssh_bastion_agent_auth (bool) - If true, the local SSH agent will be used to authenticate with the bastion host. Defaults to false.

• ssh_bastion_username (string) - The username to connect to the bastion host.

• ssh_bastion_password (string) - The password to use to authenticate with the bastion host.

• ssh_bastion_interactive (bool) - If true, the keyboard-interactive used to authenticate with bastion host.

• ssh_bastion_private_key_file (string) - Path to a PEM encoded private key file to use to authenticate with the bastion host. The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the home directory of current user.

• ssh_bastion_certificate_file (string) - Path to user certificate used to authenticate with bastion host. The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the home directory of current user.

• ssh_file_transfer_method (string) - scp or sftp - How to transfer files, Secure copy (default) or SSH File Transfer Protocol.

  NOTE: Guests using Windows with Win32-OpenSSH v9.1.0.0p1-Beta, scp (the default protocol for copying data) returns a a non-zero error code since the MOTW cannot be set, which cause any file transfer to fail. As a workaround you can override the transfer protocol with SFTP instead ssh_file_transfer_method = "sftp".

• ssh_proxy_host (string) - A SOCKS proxy host to use for SSH connection

• ssh_proxy_port (int) - A port of the SOCKS proxy. Defaults to 1080.

• ssh_proxy_username (string) - The optional username to authenticate with the proxy server.

• ssh_proxy_password (string) - The optional password to use to authenticate with the proxy server.

• ssh_keep_alive_interval (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - How often to send "keep alive" messages to the server. Set to a negative value (-1s) to disable. Example value: 10s. Defaults to 5s.

• ssh_read_write_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The amount of time to wait for a remote command to end. This might be useful if, for example, packer hangs on a connection after a reboot. Example: 5m. Disabled by default.

• ssh_remote_tunnels ([]string) -

• ssh_local_tunnels ([]string) -

• temporary_key_pair_type (string) - dsa | ecdsa | ed25519 | rsa ( the default )

  Specifies the type of key to create. The possible values are 'dsa', 'ecdsa', 'ed25519', or 'rsa'.

  NOTE: DSA is deprecated and no longer recognized as secure, please consider other alternatives like RSA or ED25519.

• temporary_key_pair_bits (int) - Specifies the number of bits in the key to create. For RSA keys, the minimum size is 1024 bits and the default is 4096 bits. Generally, 3072 bits is considered sufficient. DSA keys must be exactly 1024 bits as specified by FIPS 186-2. For ECDSA keys, bits determines the key length by selecting from one of three elliptic curve sizes: 256, 384 or 521 bits. Attempting to use bit lengths other than these three values for ECDSA keys will fail. Ed25519 keys have a fixed length and bits will be ignored.

  NOTE: DSA is deprecated and no longer recognized as secure as specified by FIPS 186-5, please consider other alternatives like RSA or ED25519.

Windows Remote Management (WinRM)

• winrm_username (string) - The username to use to connect to WinRM.

• winrm_password (string) - The password to use to connect to WinRM.

• winrm_host (string) - The address for WinRM to connect to.

  NOTE: If using an Amazon EBS builder, you can specify the interface WinRM connects to via ssh_interface

• winrm_no_proxy (bool) - Setting this to true adds the remote host:port to the NO_PROXY environment variable. This has the effect of bypassing any configured proxies when connecting to the remote host. Default to false.

• winrm_port (int) - The WinRM port to connect to. This defaults to 5985 for plain unencrypted connection and 5986 for SSL when winrm_use_ssl is set to true.

• winrm_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The amount of time to wait for WinRM to become available. This defaults to 30m since setting up a Windows machine generally takes a long time.

• winrm_use_ssl (bool) - If true, use HTTPS for WinRM.

• winrm_insecure (bool) - If true, do not check server certificate chain and host name.

• winrm_use_ntlm (bool) - If true, NTLMv2 authentication (with session security) will be used for WinRM, rather than default (basic authentication), removing the requirement for basic authentication to be enabled within the target guest. Further reading for remote connection authentication can be found here.

Building on VMware vSphere Hypervisor

In addition to using the desktop virtualization products to build virtual machines, this plugin can use a VMware vSphere Hypervisor to build the virtual machine.

Before using a vSphere Hypervisor, you need to enable GuestIPHack by running the following command:

$ esxcli system settings advanced set -o /Net/GuestIPHack -i 1

When using the vSphere Hypervisor, the builder still downloads the ISO and various files locally, and uploads these to the remote hypervisore. This plugin uses SSH to communicate to the ESXi host rather than the vSphere API. ²

This plugin also requires VNC to issue boot commands during a build. Please refer to the VMware vSphere documentation on how to update the hypervisor's firewall to allow these connections. VNC can be disabled by not setting a boot_command and setting disable_vnc to true.

Please note that you should disable vMotion for the host you intend to run builds on; a vMotion event will cause the build to fail.

To run a remote build for your virtual machine image, use the following configurations:

Required:

• remote_type
• remote_host

Optional:

• remote_port
• remote_datastore
• remote_cache_datastore
• remote_cache_directory
• remote_username
• remote_password
• remote_private_key_file
• format
• vnc_disable_password

SSH Key Pair Automation

The builders can inject the current SSH key pair's public key into the template using the SSHPublicKey template engine. This is the SSH public key as a line in OpenSSH authorized_keys format.

When a private key is provided using ssh_private_key_file, the key's corresponding public key can be accessed using the above engine.

• ssh_private_key_file (string) - Path to a PEM encoded private key file to use to authenticate with SSH. The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the home directory of current user.

If ssh_password and ssh_private_key_file are not specified, Packer will automatically generate en ephemeral key pair. The key pair's public key can be accessed using the template engine.

For example, the public key can be provided in the boot command as a URL encoded string by appending | urlquery to the variable:

HCL Example:

boot_command = [
  "<up><wait><tab> text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks.cfg PACKER_USER={{ user `username` }} PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY={{ .SSHPublicKey | urlquery }}<enter>"
]

JSON Example

"boot_command": [
  "<up><wait><tab> text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks.cfg PACKER_USER={{ user `username` }} PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY={{ .SSHPublicKey | urlquery }}<enter>"
]

A kickstart can use those fields from the kernel command line by decoding the URL-encoded public key:

%post

# Newly created users need the file/folder framework for SSH key authentication.
umask 0077
mkdir /etc/skel/.ssh
touch /etc/skel/.ssh/authorized_keys

# Loop over the command line. Set interesting variables.
for x in $(cat /proc/cmdline)
do
  case $x in
    PACKER_USER=*)
      PACKER_USER="${x#*=}"
      ;;
    PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY=*)
      # URL decode $encoded into $PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY
      encoded=$(echo "${x#*=}" | tr '+' ' ')
      printf -v PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY '%b' "${encoded//%/\\x}"
      ;;
  esac
done

# Create/configure packer user, if any.
if [ -n "$PACKER_USER" ]
then
  useradd $PACKER_USER
  echo "%$PACKER_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers.d/$PACKER_USER
  [ -n "$PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY" ] && echo $PACKER_AUTHORIZED_KEY >> $(eval echo ~"$PACKER_USER")/.ssh/authorized_keys
fi

%end