Add support for the VMware Workstation Pro API with the vmware-vmx builder

[niwamo]

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Description

Create a new "driver" for vmrest, the API that ships with VMWare Workstation Pro. Due to API limitations, only the vmware-vmx builder can be implemented.

Use Case(s)

Implement the vmware-vmx functionality using the API. Enables using Packer from a remote host or from a container.

Potential configuration

Already implemented and ready for a PR. See https://github.com/niwamo/packer-plugin-vmware.

I also updated /docs/builders/vmx.mdx and ran .web-docs/scripts/compile-to-webdocs.sh.

Opening an issue for discussion prior to making the PR, as directed in the README.

The code is reasonably well-commented, and I endeavored to limit changes outside of the new driver file to the greatest extent possible. Please take a look and lmk if/when you're ready for a PR.

Potential References

If you'd like to repeat my tests:

• Set the API credentials on the VMWare host
• Run the API
• Install the updated plugin in a WSL container
• Create a new VM using the "New Virtual Machine" menu in VMWare
  • Assign a Debian .iso for the installer, but don't run the VM
• Use the created .vmx filepath in a configuration like the following:

packer {
  required_plugins {
    vmware = {
      version = ">= 1.0"
      source = "github.com/niwamo/vmware"
    }
  }
}

source "vmware-vmx" "vmrest" {
  remote_type     = "vmrest"
  remote_host     = // the VMWare host's WSL interface IP
  remote_port     = 8697
  remote_username = // username you set for the API
  remote_password = // password you set for the API
  skip_export     = true

  source_path = // vmx filepath - make sure all backslashes are doubled/escaped, e.g. "C:\\Users\\test.vmx"

  vnc_bind_address  = "0.0.0.0"

  http_content = {
    "/preseed.cfg" = file("./preseed.cfg")
  }

  boot_wait    = "10s"
  boot_command = [
    "<esc><wait>",
    "auto url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg",
    "<enter>"
  ]

  ssh_username      = // user created by the preseed
  ssh_password      = // pwd for user created by the preseed
  ssh_timeout       = "30m"
  shutdown_command  = "shutdown -P now"
}

build {
  sources = ["sources.vmware-vmx.vmrest"]
  provisioner "shell" {
    script = "./scripts/test-1.sh"
  }
}

Note that this test config requires

• a valid "preseed.cfg" to be present
• a valid "./scripts/test-1.sh" to be present
• your Windows firewall to allow all inbound connections from your WSL distro

[niwamo]

Thought of a couple things to add --

First, if you want to follow my testing methodology as described above, you'll need to proxy incoming connections, as the VMRest API only listens on localhost (127.0.0.1). You can achieve this with a port proxy: netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=8697 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 connectport=8697 connectaddress=127.0.0.1.

Secondly, the WSL firewall rule I mentioned can be accomplished with: New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow all WSL inbound" -Direction Inbound -InterfaceAlias "vEthernet (WSL)" -Action Allow

Finally, I added more details to my documentation updates in https://github.com/niwamo/packer-plugin-vmware