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Turnkey Packer templates for downloading Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu images on Proxmox (PVE) and creating PVE templates -see below for details onCentOS.

# create a SSH key for Packerssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519 -f~/.ssh/packer_id_ed25519 -C"Packer"# clone the repo & cd into itgit clone https://github.com/trfore/packer-proxmox-templates.gitcd packer-proxmox-templates# initialize packerpacker init common/.# choose a distrocd ubuntu# create the PVE templatespacker build \-var='pve_api_url=https://pve.example.com/api2/json' \-var='pve_node=pve' \-var='pve_username=packer@pve!token' \-var='pve_token=782a7700-4010-4802-8f4d-820f1b226850' \.

NOTE: Thedefault user is the distributions name, e.g.ubuntu, with the exception of CentOS beingcloud-user. Cloud-init will create a default user on all cloned VMs,must add SSH key(s) and/or password in the Proxmox GUI cloud-init settings to access the VM - SSH onlyaccepts key based authentication. All images havecloud-init,openssh-server andqemu-guest-agent installed.

NOTE: All images are built using only theroot user,no default users are created during the build. We suggestcreating a temporary SSH key-pair for Packer to use, i.e.packer_id_ed25519. This key is removed from therootaccount prior to finishing the build. After the build,root SSH access is disabled.

ssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519 -f~/.ssh/packer_id_ed25519 -C"Packer"

• Common files are stored incommon/, with each distribution folder containing symlinks to these files.

  • iso-vars.pkr.hcl contains ISO URLs and boot commands for each distribution. This fileis updated as new releases become available.
  • pve-image.pkr.hcl is the main source file.
  • pve-vars.pkr.hcl is used to store variables related to Proxmox.

• cloud-init, kickstart, and preseed configurations are stored within theconfigs/ folder and aredistribution-specific.

• Thetemplate/ folder is useful for generating new build configurations, as it:

  • Contains symlinks to the common files.
  • Antemplate.auto.pkrvars.hcl file for overwriting the default variable values.
    • Note: If you clone or fork this repo,.gitignore is set to ignore other.auto.pkrvars.hcl files.
  • An example build section intemplate.pkr.hcl with multiple approaches.

# create rolepveum role add PackerUser --privs"Datastore.AllocateSpace Datastore.AllocateTemplate Datastore.Audit Sys.Audit Sys.Modify VM.Allocate VM.Audit VM.Clone VM.Config.CDROM VM.Config.Cloudinit VM.Config.CPU VM.Config.Disk VM.Config.HWType VM.Config.Memory VM.Config.Network VM.Config.Options VM.Console VM.Monitor VM.PowerMgmt"# create grouppveum group add packer-users# add permissionspveum acl modify / -group packer-users -role PackerUser# create user 'packer'pveum useradd packer@pve -groups packer-users# generate a tokenpveum user token add packer@pve token -privsep 0

The last command will output a token value similar to the following:

┌──────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┐│ key          │ value                                │╞══════════════╪══════════════════════════════════════╡│ full-tokenid │ packer@pve!token                     │├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤│ info         │ {"privsep":"0"}                      │├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤│ value        │ 782a7700-4010-4802-8f4d-820f1b226850 │└──────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘

Initialize Packer:

packer init common/.

With the symlinked common files, Packer commands work within each linux folder:

cd ubuntupacker fmt.packer init.packer validate.

Distro folders typically contain multiple images, you can limit the build by adding the-except= or-only= flag.Example passing Proxmox credentials:

cd ubuntu# build all imagespacker build \-var='pve_api_url=https://pve.example.com/api2/json' \-var='pve_node=node01' \-var='pve_username=packer@pve!token' \-var='pve_token=782a7700-4010-4802-8f4d-820f1b226850' \.# build a single imagepacker build \-var='pve_api_url=https://pve.example.com/api2/json' \-var='pve_node=node01' \-var='pve_username=packer@pve!token' \-var='pve_token=782a7700-4010-4802-8f4d-820f1b226850' \-only=proxmox-iso.ubuntu20 \.

All variables can be redefined using a*.auto.pkrvars.hcl file, see example file:template.auto.pkrvars.hcl.Reminder:.gitignoreis set to ignore other.auto.pkrvars.hcl files, so storing your personal values in a new file,ubuntu.auto.pkrvars.hcl, inside each distribution's directory will be ignored by git.

NOTE: We suggest creating a temporary SSH key-pair for Packer to use during the build, i.e.packer_id_ed25519. This key is removed from theroot accountprior to finishing the build. Alternatively, you can use a pre-existing key and set:ssh_keypair_name,ssh_private_key_file andssh_public_key_file.Example key generation:

ssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519 -f~/.ssh/packer_id_ed25519 -C"Packer"

VM IDs,vm_id, default to0 and will use the next free value from Proxmox. If you would like to fix these valuescreate a*.auto.pkrvars.hcl within each OS folder (HCL type:map(numeric)):

// ubuntu.auto.pkrvars.hclvm_id={"ubuntu20"=9020"ubuntu22"=9022"ubuntu24"=9024}

Seeiso-vars.pkr.hcl andpve-vars.pkr.hcl

• Thedefault user iscloud-user, update theusername,ssh key(s), and/orpassword using the Proxmoxcloud-init GUI.

• CentOS kickstart file (link)

• Important: CentOS URLs and checksums are intentionally not provided, as bandwidth is limited and ISOs are notavailable frommirror.centos.org. To set a mirror create an auto vars file,centos/centos.auto.pkrvars.hcl, andadd the closest geographic mirror from the list:CentOS 9 Stream Mirrors orFedora Mirror Manager. Alternatively,create your own installation tree:CentOS Docs - Creating Installation Sources for Kickstart.

  Variable	Default	Description	Required
  iso_url	''	Map(string), URL	Yes
  iso_checksum	''	Map(string), prepend URL withfile:	Yes
  centos_install_url	''	Map(string), URL - single source, not a mirror list	Yes
  centos_mirror_appstream	''	Map(string), URL - mirror list, if set packages will be updated on install	No
  centos_mirror_baseos	''	Map(string), URL - mirror list, if set packages will be updated on install	No
  centos_mirror_extras	''	Map(string), URL - mirror list, if set packages will be updated on install	No

  // centos.auto.pkrvars.hclcentos_install_url={"centos8"="https://mirror.example.com/centos/8-stream/BaseOS/x86_64/os/""centos9"="https://mirror.example.com/centos-stream/9-stream/BaseOS/x86_64/os/"}iso_url={"centos8"="https://mirror.example.com/centos/8-stream/isos/x86_64/CentOS-Stream-8-x86_64-latest-boot.iso""centos9"="https://mirror.example.com/centos-stream/9-stream/BaseOS/x86_64/iso/CentOS-Stream-9-latest-x86_64-boot.iso"}iso_checksum={"centos8"="file:https://mirror.example.com/centos/8-stream/isos/x86_64/CHECKSUM""centos9"="file:https://mirror.example.com/centos-stream/9-stream/BaseOS/x86_64/iso/CentOS-Stream-9-latest-x86_64-boot.iso.MD5SUM"}

• Thedefault user isfedora, update theusername,ssh key(s), and/orpassword using the Proxmoxcloud-init GUI.

• Fedora kickstart file (link)

• Note: Kickstart files arestored on the image at/root/*-ks.cfg

• Installed packages are based on the groupserver-product-environment, consisting of:

  • Groups:core,server-product,standard
  • Packages:qemu-guest-agent
  • Excluding:
    • container-management: buildah, CNI and podman
    • hardware-support: Intel wireless cards (incore), Thunderbolt, Marvell and Netronome NICs
    • headless-management: cockpit pkgs and openssh-server

  $ dnf group info server-product-environmentEnvironment Group: ServerDescription: An integrated, easy-to-manage server.Mandatory Groups:  Container Management  Core  Hardware Support  Headless Management  Server product core  Standard...

• Thedefault user isdebian, update theusername,ssh key(s), and/orpassword using the Proxmoxcloud-init GUI.
• Debian preseed file (link)

• Thedefault user isubuntu, update theusername,ssh key(s), and/orpassword using the Proxmoxcloud-init GUI.

• Ubuntu cloud-config file (link)

• Settingapt_proxy_http and/orapt_proxy_https, creates a proxy file at/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/90curtin-aptproxy.Set using format:"https://[[user][:pass]@]host[:port]/", also possible to set value of"DIRECT" when usingApt-Cacher NG.

  Variable	Default	Description	Required
  apt_proxy_http	''	String, APT proxy URL for Ubuntu. Default value skips setting proxy	No
  apt_proxy_https	''	String, APT proxy URL for Ubuntu. Default value skips setting proxy	No

• Result of settingapt_proxy_http="http://192.168.100.2:3142" andapt_proxy_https="DIRECT":

  # /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/90curtin-aptproxyAcquire::http::proxy"http://192.168.100.2:3142";Acquire::https::proxy"DIRECT";

Taylor Fore(@trfore)

SeeLICENSE File

Blog Post:

• Golden Images and Proxmox Templates with Packer

Packer:

• Packer
• Packer Docs: Build Command
• Packer Plugin: Proxmox
• GitHub: hashicorp/packer-plugin-proxmox

CentOS:

• CentOS Docs - Creating Installation Sources for Kickstart
• CentOS 8 Stream Mirrors
• CentOS 9 Stream Mirrors
• Fedora Mirror Manager

Debian:

• Debian Release - Stable
• Debian Release - Archive
• Debian Preseed
• Debian Installation Guide - Preseeding
• Debian Preseed Example

Fedora:

• Fedora Server
• Fedora Mirror Manager
• Fedora Docs: Automating the Installation with Kickstart
• Fedora Docs: Kickstart Syntax Reference

Ubuntu:

• Ubuntu Releases
• Ubuntu Docs: Automated Server Installation