Example Packer template and Vagrant box for VMware ESXi images

This repository contains a Packer template for building ESXi 5.5 machine images and a Vagrant box example.

Requirements

• MacOSX with VMware Fusion or Linux with VMware Workstation
• Packer
• Vagrant
• Vagrant plugin for Fusion or Workstation
• VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.5.0.update01-1623387.x86_64.iso
• VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0-2494585.x86_64.iso

Packer image builder

You'll need a copy of VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.5.0.update01-1623387.x86_64.iso and/or VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0-2494585.x86_64.iso in this directory, or add a valid url to iso_urls in esxi55.json and esxi60.json.

To build the image, run the following:

$ packer build esxi55.json
$ packer build esxi60.json

While ESXi is installing, the console can be accessed using noVNC. The port can also be changed with the RemoteDisplay.vnc.webSocket.port property in template.json.

Vagrant box example

Install the vagrant plugin for VMware ESXi guest support:

$ vagrant plugin install vagrant-esxi

The packer build created a Vagrant box named vmware_esxi55.box and/or vmware_esxi60.box in this directory. To bring up an instance of this box, run the following:

$ vagrant up esxi55 --provider=vmware_fusion
$ vagrant up esxi60 --provider=vmware_fusion

The provision.sh script is run within the ESXi VM and changes /etc/motd with the vagrant version sourced from this directory over NFS:

$ vagrant ssh
Welcome to VMware ESXi 5.5.0, up'd by Vagrant 1.6.3

The same noVNC url above can used to view the console: