Packer Templates Revisited

After many years of maintaining my original Packer-Templates project. I've decided to bring my Packer templates into an even more consumable format. Hence this project.

Distros

The following table represents all distros including versions and builders supported.

Distro	Version	Server/Desktop	Template	Builder
Arch	Latest	Server	Arch/arch.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf
CentOS	7	Server	CentOS/centos7.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
CentOS	7	Desktop	CentOS/centos7-desktop.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
CentOS	8	Server	CentOS/centos8.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Debian	Buster	Server	Debian/debian-buster64.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Debian	Stretch	Server	Debian/debian-stretch64.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Fedora	31	Server	Fedora/fedora31.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Fedora	32	Server	Fedora/fedora32.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Ubuntu	Bionic	Server	Ubuntu/ubuntu-bionic64.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Ubuntu	Bionic	Desktop	Ubuntu/ubuntu-bionic64-desktop.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Ubuntu	Focal	Server	Ubuntu/ubuntu-focal64.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Ubuntu	Focal	Desktop	Ubuntu/ubuntu-focal64-desktop.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso
Ubuntu	Xenial	Server	Ubuntu/ubuntu-xenial64.json	proxmox, qemu, vagrant, virtualbox-iso, virtualbox-ovf, vmware-iso, vmware-vmx, vsphere-iso

NOTE: All distros are built with username: packer and password: packer. And for Vagrant builds, they will also have the normal username: vagrant and password: vagrant.

Usage

Using the table from above:

1. Find the Distro
2. Find the Version
3. Find the Template
4. Find the Builder

Once you've chosen the information from above, you can then build the respective image.

We will use Ubuntu Bionic for the example using the virtualbox-iso builder.

cd Ubuntu
packer build -only virtualbox-iso ubuntu-bionic64.json

Builders

proxmox

In order to build Proxmox images, do the following:

NOTE: Replace values which represent your environment.

export PROXMOX_NODE=pve-02
export PROXMOX_PASSWORD=packer
export PROXMOX_URL=https://192.168.2.22:8006/api2/json
export PROXMOX_USER=root@pam

NOTE: All Proxmox builds have cloud-init installed and ready for usage.

qemu

In order to leverage the proper acceleration for QEMU builds, do the following:

Linux hosts:

export QEMU_ACCEL=kvm

macOS hosts:

export QEMU_ACCEL=hvf

vagrant

NOTE: The vagrant builder is currently only used for testing. So, this builder is excluded from Vagrant and Vagrant Cloud post-processors. The default provider is set as virtualbox as well.

The Vagrant builder is useful for testing an existing Vagrant box that has already been published (you may want to change this).

virtualbox-iso

virtualbox-ovf

NOTE: The virtualbox-ovf builder is currently only used for testing. So, this builder is excluded from Vagrant and Vagrant Cloud post-processors.

To properly use the virtualbox-ovf builder, you must first build a virtualbox-iso image.

Example usage:

packer build -only virtualbox-iso distro-version.json

Once you have built a virtualbox-iso, there will be a symlink created to the latest version built. This is the source_path used for the virtualbox-ovf builder.

Example usage of virtualbox-ovf:

packer build -only virtualbox-ovf distro-version.json

vmware-iso

vmware-vmx

NOTE: The vmware-vmx builder is currently only used for testing. So, this builder is excluded from Vagrant and Vagrant Cloud post-processors.

To properly use the vmware-vmx builder, you must first build a vmware-iso image.

Example usage:

packer build -only vmware-iso distro-version.json

Once you have built a vmware-iso, there will be a symlink created to the latest version built. This is the source_path used for the vmware-vmx builder.

Example usage of vmware-vmx:

packer build -only vmware-vmx distro-version.json

vsphere-iso

In order to build vSphere images, do the following:

NOTE: Replace values which represent your environment.

export VSPHERE_CLUSTER=Compute
export VSPHERE_DATACENTER=ATL
export VSPHERE_DATASTORE=Datastore
export VSPHERE_FOLDER=Templates
export VSPHERE_NETWORK=Default
export VSPHERE_PASSWORD=VMw@re!
export VSPHERE_USERNAME=administrator@vsphere.local
export VSPHERE_VCENTER_SERVER=vcenter.local

Provisioners

Ansible will be used for all provisioning of these Packer templates. Whereas, previously it was a mixture of Shell and PowerShell scripts.

Post-Processors

Vagrant

Vagrant Cloud

To properly upload to Vagrant cloud, do the following:

export VAGRANT_CLOUD_TOKEN=yourapitoken
export VAGRANT_CLOUD_USER=yourusername

Manifest

License

MIT

Author Information

Larry Smith Jr.

• @mrlesmithjr
• mrlesmithjr@gmail.com
• http://everythingshouldbevirtual.com