vSphere¶

Type: vsphere

Artifact BuilderId: packer.post-processor.vsphere

This post-processor uploads an artifact to a vSphere endpoint.

The artifact must be a VMX, OVA, or OVF file.

Examples¶

• Examples are available in the examples directory of the GitHub repository.

Configuration Reference¶

The following configuration options are available for the post-processor.

Required:

• cluster (string) - The cluster or ESX host to upload the virtual machine. This can be either the name of the vSphere cluster or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of the ESX host.

• datacenter (string) - The name of the vSphere datacenter object to place the virtual machine. This is not required if resource_pool is specified.

• host (string) - The fully qualified domain name or IP address of the vCenter instance or ESX host.

• password (string) - The password to use to authenticate to the vSphere endpoint.
• username (string) - The username to use to authenticate to the vSphere endpoint.

Optional:

• datastore (string) - The name of the vSphere datastore to place the virtual machine. Mutually exclusive with datastore_cluster.

• datastore_cluster (string) - The name of the vSphere datastore cluster to place the virtual machine. When specified, Storage DRS will automatically select the optimal datastore. Mutually exclusive with datastore.

• disk_mode (string) - The disk format of the target virtual machine. One of thin or thick.

• esxi_host (string) - The fully qualified domain name or IP address of the ESX host to upload the virtual machine. This is not required if host is a vCenter instance.

• insecure (bool) - Skip the verification of the server certificate. Defaults to false.

• options ([]string) - Options to send to ovftool when uploading the virtual machine. Use ovftool --help to list all the options available.

• overwrite (bool) - Overwrite existing files. Defaults to false.

• resource_pool (string) - The name of the resource pool to place the virtual machine.

• vm_folder (string) - The name of the virtual machine folder path where the virtual machine will be placed.

• vm_name (string) - The name of the virtual machine to be created on the vSphere endpoint.

• vm_network (string) - The name of the network in which to place the virtual machine.

• hardware_version (string) - The maximum virtual hardware version for the deployed virtual machine. It does not upgrade the virtual hardware version of the source VM. Instead, it limits the virtual hardware version of the deployed virtual machine to the specified version. If the source virtual machine's hardware version is higher than the specified version, the deployed virtual machine's hardware version will be downgraded to the specified version. If the source virtual machine's hardware version is lower than or equal to the specified version, the deployed virtual machine's hardware version will be the same as the source virtual machine's. This option is useful when deploying to vCenter instance or an ESX host whose version is different from the one used to create the artifact. Refer to KB 315655 for more information on supported virtual hardware versions.

• max_retries (int) - The maximum number of times to retry the upload operation if it fails. Defaults to 5.

• keep_input_artifact (boolean) - Preserve the local virtual machines files, even after importing them to the vSphere endpoint. Defaults to false.

Optional:

Tags provide a flexible metadata system that allows you to attach key-value information to virtual machines and templates.

This plugin supports the following configuration formats:

• tags ([]string) - List of tag IDs to attach.
• tag ([]TagConfig) - List of tag configuration blocks.

Tags consist of the following parts::

• category (string) - The tag category name. Mutually exclusive with id.
• name (string) - The tag name within the category. Mutually exclusive with id.
• id (string) - The tag ID (URN). Mutually exclusive with category and name.

Both formats can be used together, and all tags will be merged and applied to the virtual machine.

Example Usage¶

The following is an example of the post-processor used in conjunction with the null builder to upload a VMX to a vSphere cluster. You can also use this post-processor with the VMX artifact from a build.

An example is shown below, showing only the post-processor configuration:

source "null" "example" {
    communicator = "none"
}

build {
    sources = [
        "source.null.example"
    ]

    post-processors {
      post-processor "vsphere"{
        vm_name             = "foo"
        host                = "vc01.example.com"
        username            = "administrator@vsphere.local"
        password            = "VMw@re1!"
        datacenter          = "dc-01"
        cluster             = "cluster-01"
        datastore           = "datastore-01"
        vm_network          = "VM Network"
        keep_input_artifact = true
        tags                = [
          "urn:vmomi:InventoryServiceTag:abcdefgh-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678:GLOBAL",
          "urn:vmomi:InventoryServiceTag:bcdefghj-2345-6789-01bc-def123456789:GLOBAL"
        ]
        tag {
          category = "build-date"
          name     = "{{ timestamp }}"
        }
        tag {
          category = "packer-version"
          name     = "{{ packer_version }}"
        }
      }
    }
}

{
  "builders": [
    {
      "type": "null",
      "communicator": "none"
    }
  ],
  "post-processors": [
    [
      {
        "type": "vsphere",
        "vm_name": "foo",
        "host": "vc01.example.com",
        "username": "administrator@vsphere.local",
        "password": "VMw@re1!",
        "datacenter": "dc-01",
        "cluster": "cluster-01",
        "datastore": "datastore-01",
        "vm_network": "VM Network",
        "keep_input_artifact": true,
        "tags": [
            "urn:vmomi:InventoryServiceTag:abcdefgh-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678:GLOBAL",
            "urn:vmomi:InventoryServiceTag:bcdefghj-2345-6789-01bc-def123456789:GLOBAL"
        ],
        "tag": [
          {
            "category": "build-date",
            "name": "{{ timestamp }}"
          },
          {
            "category": "packer-version",
            "name": "{{ packer_version }}"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  ]
}

Privileges¶

The post-processor uses ovftool and needs several privileges to be able to run ovftool.

Rather than giving Administrator access, you can create a role to give the post-processor the privileges necessary to run.

Below is an example role that will work. Please note that this is a user-supplied list so there may be a few extraneous privileges that are not strictly required.

For vSphere, the role needs the following privileges:

• Datastore.AllocateSpace
• Host.Config.AdvancedConfig
• Host.Config.NetService
• Host.Config.Network
• Network.Assign
• System.Anonymous
• System.Read
• System.View
• VApp.Import
• VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk
• VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig
• VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete

The role must be authorized on the:

• Cluster of the host.
• The destination folder.
• The destination datastore.
• The network to be assigned.

Additional Privileges for Tags¶

If using the tags configuration, the following additional privileges are required: