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balajivedagiri
balajivedagiri

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Using cloud-init to customize a VM while provisioning with terraform on vSphere

We are going to perform below steps on a newly installed ubuntu VM and convert it to a template

1) Check if VMware tools is installed,

 root@linux:~# dpkg -l | grep open-vm-tools ii open-vm-tools 2:11.3.0-2ubuntu0~ubuntu20.04.4 amd64 Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware (CLI) root@linux:~#
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2) Update VMware tools,

 root@linux:~# apt install open-vm-tools Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done open-vm-tools is already the newest version (2:11.3.0-2ubuntu0~ubuntu20.04.4). The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: linux-headers-5.15.0-46-generic linux-headers-5.4.0-137 linux-headers-5.4.0-137-generic linux-hwe-5.15-headers-5.15.0-46 linux-image-5.15.0-46-generic linux-image-5.4.0-137-generic linux-modules-5.15.0-46-generic linux-modules-5.4.0-137-generic linux-modules-extra-5.15.0-46-generic linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-137-generic Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. root@linux:~#
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3) Check the version installed,

 root@linux:~# vmtoolsd -v VMware Tools daemon, version 11.3.0.29534 (build-18090558) root@linux:~#
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4) Ensure the open-vm-tools service is enabled and started,

 root@linux:~# systemctl enable open-vm-tools.service Synchronizing state of open-vm-tools.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install. Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable open-vm-tools root@linux:~# root@linux:~# systemctl start open-vm-tools.service root@linux:~# root@linux:~# systemctl is-enabled open-vm-tools.service enabled root@linux:~# root@linux:~# systemctl status open-vm-tools.service ● open-vm-tools.service - Service for virtual machines hosted on VMware Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: active (running) since Thu 2023-03-02 06:08:57 +04; 9min ago Docs: http://open-vm-tools.sourceforge.net/about.php Main PID: 710 (vmtoolsd) Tasks: 3 (limit: 9350) Memory: 4.3M CGroup: /system.slice/open-vm-tools.service └─710 /usr/bin/vmtoolsd Mar 02 06:08:57 linux systemd[1]: Started Service for virtual machines hosted on VMware. root@linux:~#
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5) Install cloud-init package,

 root@linux:~# dpkg -l | grep -w cloud-init root@linux:~# root@linux:~# apt install cloud-init Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: linux-headers-5.15.0-46-generic linux-headers-5.4.0-137 linux-headers-5.4.0-137-generic linux-hwe-5.15-headers-5.15.0-46 linux-image-5.15.0-46-generic linux-image-5.4.0-137-generic linux-modules-5.15.0-46-generic linux-modules-5.4.0-137-generic linux-modules-extra-5.15.0-46-generic linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-137-generic Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them. The following additional packages will be installed: eatmydata libeatmydata1 python3-distutils python3-importlib-metadata python3-json-pointer python3-jsonpatch python3-jsonschema python3-lib2to3 python3-more-itertools python3-pyrsistent python3-setuptools python3-zipp Suggested packages: python-jsonschema-doc python-setuptools-doc The following NEW packages will be installed: cloud-init eatmydata libeatmydata1 python3-distutils python3-importlib-metadata python3-json-pointer python3-jsonpatch python3-jsonschema python3-lib2to3 python3-more-itertools python3-pyrsistent python3-setuptools python3-zipp 0 upgraded, 13 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 1,260 kB of archives. After this operation, 7,347 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y root@linux:~# dpkg -l | grep -w cloud-init ii cloud-init 22.4.2-0ubuntu0~20.04.2 all initialization and customization tool for cloud instances root@linux:~#
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6) enable the cloud-init service,
it doesn't need to be started, but ensure it is enabled,

 root@linux:~# systemctl status cloud-init.service ● cloud-init.service - Initial cloud-init job (metadata service crawler) Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cloud-init.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: inactive (dead) root@linux:~# root@linux:~# systemctl enable cloud-init.service root@linux:~# root@linux:~# sudo systemctl is-enabled cloud-init.service enabled root@linux:~#
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7) Ensure no datasources are enabled in /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg like below,

 root@linux:~# cat /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg | grep datasource # If you use datasource_list array, keep array items in a single line. # Example datasource config # datasource: root@linux:~#
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8) Check the current activated datasources,

 root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# cat /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/90_dpkg.cfg # to update this file, run dpkg-reconfigure cloud-init datasource_list: [ NoCloud, ConfigDrive, OpenNebula, DigitalOcean, Azure, AltCloud, OVF, MAAS, GCE, OpenStack, CloudSigma, SmartOS, Bigstep, Scaleway, AliYun, Ec2, CloudStack, Hetzner, IBMCloud, Oracle, Exoscale, RbxCloud, UpCloud, VMware, Vultr, LXD, NWCS, None ] root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d#
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9) Run the command "dpkg-reconfigure cloud-init" and select only VMware (this is not mandatory , but deselecting other datasources will reduce our boot time, so cloud-init doesn't need to look for the userdata/metadata from all the datasources in the list)

 root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# dpkg-reconfigure cloud-init root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# cat /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/90_dpkg.cfg # to update this file, run dpkg-reconfigure cloud-init datasource_list: [ VMware ] root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d#
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Image description

10) ensure /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d has only below files,

 root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# ls 05_logging.cfg 90_dpkg.cfg README root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d#
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11) disable network, so cloud-init doesn't configure networking,

 root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# vi /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d# cat /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg network: {config: disabled} root@linux:/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d#
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12) As a final step, run the clean command to ensure that cloud-init will all the modules in the userdata and metadata.

 root@linux:/# cloud-init clean --logs root@linux:/#
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13) below we are verifying that niginx/apache2 are not installed on the vm before converting it to a template,

 root@linux:~# dpkg -l | grep nginx root@linux:~# root@linux:~# dpkg -l | grep apache2 root@linux:~#
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14) Convert the VM to a template from vCenter

15) Provision a VM using terraform code which can be obtained from below repo,

https://github.com/balajivedagiri/terraform_cloud-init.git

userdata we defined it,

cloud-config

runcmd:

  • [ sh, -c, echo "=========Hello There from Terraform and Cloud-init automation=========" > /root/testing-01] packages:
    • nginx
    • apache2

16) Once VM is provisioned, login to the new VM and verify if cloud-init ran successfully.

 root@cloud-init-testing02:~# cloud-init status status: running root@cloud-init-testing02:~# # Above it is still running, wait for sometime and check # Below it completed successfully root@cloud-init-testing02:~# cloud-init status status: done root@cloud-init-testing02:~#
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17) Check if packages are installed successfully,

 root@cloud-init-testing02:~# dpkg -l | grep nginx ii libnginx-mod-http-image-filter 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 amd64 HTTP image filter module for Nginx ii libnginx-mod-http-xslt-filter 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 amd64 XSLT Transformation module for Nginx ii libnginx-mod-mail 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 amd64 Mail module for Nginx ii libnginx-mod-stream 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 amd64 Stream module for Nginx ii nginx 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 all small, powerful, scalable web/proxy server ii nginx-common 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 all small, powerful, scalable web/proxy server - common files ii nginx-core 1.18.0-0ubuntu1.4 amd64 nginx web/proxy server (standard version) root@cloud-init-testing02:~# root@cloud-init-testing02:~# dpkg -l | grep apache2 ii apache2 2.4.41-4ubuntu3.13 amd64 Apache HTTP Server ii apache2-bin 2.4.41-4ubuntu3.13 amd64 Apache HTTP Server (modules and other binary files) ii apache2-data 2.4.41-4ubuntu3.13 all Apache HTTP Server (common files) ii apache2-utils 2.4.41-4ubuntu3.13 amd64 Apache HTTP Server (utility programs for web servers) root@cloud-init-testing02:~# root@cloud-init-testing02:~# cat /root/testing-01 =========Hello There from Terraform and Cloud-init automation========= root@cloud-init-testing02:~# root@cloud-init-testing02:~# ls -ltr /root/testing-01 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 71 Mar 2 07:15 /root/testing-01 root@cloud-init-testing02:~#
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18) to check what userdata we have passed,

 root@cloud-init-testing02:~# cloud-init query userdata #cloud-config runcmd: - [ sh, -c, echo "=========Hello There from Terraform and Cloud-init automation=========" > /root/testing-01] packages: - nginx - apache2 root@cloud-init-testing02:~# root@cloud-init-testing02:~# vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.userdata" | base64 -d #cloud-config runcmd: - [ sh, -c, echo "=========Hello There from Terraform and Cloud-init automation=========" > /root/testing-01] packages: - nginx - apache2 root@cloud-init-testing02:~#
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