Packer Templates mainly for the Vagrant libvirt and VirtualBox

⚠️ Outdated repository

This GitHub repository is outdated and no longer actively maintained. Feel free to fork it if needed.

Things which may still be handy:

• The packer template build process is using Ansible to configure the Linux/Windows VMs.
• Packer build process is using GitHub Action + MacOS runners to build the images which are uploaded to Vagrant Cloud.

Anyway - I recommend to use some other alternatives...

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Customized+Clean/Minimal boxes for libvirt and VirtualBox

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GitHub repository for bug reports or feature requests

• https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/

Vagrant Cloud repository for the images build by these templates

• https://app.vagrantup.com/peru

Requirements

• QEMU-KVM
• Vagrant
• Vagrant Libvirt Plugin
• VirtualBox (Version 6.1 or later)
• Packer (Version 1.8.0 or later)

Login Credentials

root / Administrator password is vagrant or is not set.

Default login credentials:

• Username: vagrant
• Password: vagrant

VM Specifications

Drivers / Devices added for the VMs for specific providers.

Libvirt

• VirtIO dynamic Hard Disk (up to 50 GiB)
• VirtIO Network Interface
• QXL Video Card (SPICE display)
• Channel Device (com.redhat.spice.0)

VirtualBox

• SATA Disk

Configuration

Minimal Linux installation

• en_US.UTF-8
• keymap for standard US keyboard
• UTC timezone
• NTP enabled (default configuration)
• full-upgrade
• unattended-upgrades
• /dev/vda1 mounted on / using ext4/xfs filesystem (all files in one partition)
• no swap

Customized Linux installation

Some of the images/templates begins with "my_" - they are preconfigured with Ansible role:

• there are usually many customization depends on distribution - all are described in Ansible playbook.
• added packages: see the Common list and Debian list or CentOS list
• mouse disabled in Midnight Commander + other MC customizations
• preconfigured snmpd, vim, screen
• logrotate using xz instead of gzip
• logwatch is running once per week instead of once per day
• sshd is using only the strong algorithms
• sysstat (sar) is running every minute instead of every 5 minutes

Minimal Windows installation

• UTC timezone
• IEHarden disabled
• Home Page set to "about:blank"
• First Run Wizard disabled
• Firewall allows Remote Desktop connections
• AutoActivation skipped
• DoNotOpenInitialConfigurationTasksAtLogon set to true
• WinRM (SSL) enabled
• OpenSSH installed and enabled
• New Network Window turned off
• Administrator account enabled
• EnableLUA
• Windows image was finalized using sysprep: unattended.xml

Customized Windows 10 installation

• added packages: see the common_windows_packages
• Additional configuration done via Ansible playbook Win32NT-common.yml

Additional Drivers installed for libvirt boxes - VirtIO

Installed during installation:

• NetKVM: VirtIO Network driver
• qxldod: QXL graphics driver
• viostor: VirtIO Block driver (VirtIO SCSI controller driver)

Installed components via Ansible playbook win-simple.yml for Windows:

• vioscsi: Support for VirtIO SCSI pass-through controller
• Balloon: VirtIO Memory Balloon driver
• viorng: VirtIO RNG Device driver
• vioser: VirtIO Serial Driver
• vioinput: VirtIO Input Driver - support for new QEMU input devices virtio-keyboard-pci, virtio-mouse-pci, virtio-tablet-pci, virtio-input-host-pci
• pvpanic: QEMU pvpanic device driver
• qemu-ga: Qemu Guest Agent

Additional Drivers installed for VirtualBox boxes

• VirtualBox Guest Additions

How to build images

If you have necessary software installed+configured on your local machine you can use the following commands to build the images. You can build the images using the build script build.sh or directly with Packer.

• Ubuntu requirements:

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install -y ansible curl dnsmasq freerdp2-x11 git jq libc6-dev libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-dev python3-winrm qemu-kvm qemu-utils sshpass xorriso unzip virtualbox
  
  PACKER_LATEST_VERSION="$(curl -s https://checkpoint-api.hashicorp.com/v1/check/packer | jq -r -M '.current_version')"
  curl "https://releases.hashicorp.com/packer/${PACKER_LATEST_VERSION}/packer_${PACKER_LATEST_VERSION}_linux_amd64.zip" --output /tmp/packer_linux_amd64.zip
  sudo unzip /tmp/packer_linux_amd64.zip -d /usr/local/bin/
  rm /tmp/packer_linux_amd64.zip
  
  VAGRANT_LATEST_VERSION=$(curl -s https://checkpoint-api.hashicorp.com/v1/check/vagrant | jq -r -M '.current_version')
  curl "https://releases.hashicorp.com/vagrant/${VAGRANT_LATEST_VERSION}/vagrant_${VAGRANT_LATEST_VERSION}_x86_64.deb" --output /tmp/vagrant_x86_64.deb
  sudo apt install --no-install-recommends -y /tmp/vagrant_x86_64.deb
  rm /tmp/vagrant_x86_64.deb
  
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" kvm
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" libvirt
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" vboxusers
  
  vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt

• Debian 10+ requirements:

  VirtualBox is not in Debian 10 or later. If you need it, you will need to figure out a way to install it.

  echo 'deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bullseye.list
  sudo sed --regexp-extended 's/^([^#].+\s+main)$/\1 contrib non-free/;' --in-place /etc/apt/sources.list ## Ensure required apt components are enabled.
  cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/bullseye.pref
  Explanation: Just install packages from bullseye if they are not in buster or buster-backports. Do not upgrade. Delete this file when you want to upgrade to bullseye.
  Package: *
  Pin: release o=Debian,n=bullseye
  Pin-Priority: 50
  EOF
  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install -y ansible curl dnsmasq freerdp2-x11 git jq libc6-dev libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-dev python3-winrm qemu-kvm qemu-utils sshpass xorriso unzip packer/bullseye vagrant vagrant-libvirt
  
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" kvm
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" libvirt
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" vboxusers ## If you have VirtualBox installed.

• Fedora requirements:

  sudo dnf install "https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm"
  sudo dnf install -y ansible curl freerdp git jq libvirt libvirt-devel qemu-kvm ruby-devel xorriso unzip VirtualBox
  
  PACKER_LATEST_VERSION="$(curl -s https://checkpoint-api.hashicorp.com/v1/check/packer | jq -r -M '.current_version')"
  curl "https://releases.hashicorp.com/packer/${PACKER_LATEST_VERSION}/packer_${PACKER_LATEST_VERSION}_linux_amd64.zip" --output /tmp/packer_linux_amd64.zip
  sudo unzip /tmp/packer_linux_amd64.zip -d /usr/local/bin/
  rm /tmp/packer_linux_amd64.zip
  
  VAGRANT_LATEST_VERSION=$(curl -s https://checkpoint-api.hashicorp.com/v1/check/vagrant | jq -r -M '.current_version')
  sudo dnf install -y "https://releases.hashicorp.com/vagrant/${VAGRANT_LATEST_VERSION}/vagrant-${VAGRANT_LATEST_VERSION}-1.x86_64.rpm"
  CONFIGURE_ARGS="with-ldflags=-L/opt/vagrant/embedded/lib with-libvirt-include=/usr/include/libvirt with-libvirt-lib=/usr/lib64/libvirt" vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt
  
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" kvm
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" libvirt
  sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" vboxusers
  systemctl start libvirtd

Build process with the build.sh script

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates.git
cd packer-templates || exit

• Ubuntu:

  # Ubuntu Server
  ./build.sh ubuntu-{20.04,18.04,16.04}-server-amd64-{libvirt,virtualbox}
  
  # Ubuntu Desktop
  ./build.sh ubuntu-{20.04,18.04}-desktop-amd64-{libvirt,virtualbox}
  
  # Ubuntu Server - customized
  ./build.sh my_ubuntu-{20.04,18.04,16.04}-server-amd64-{libvirt,virtualbox}

• Windows:

  # Windows Server
  ./build.sh windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval-{libvirt,virtualbox}
  ./build.sh windows-server-2019-standard-x64-eval-{libvirt,virtualbox}
  ./build.sh windows-server-2022-standard-x64-eval-{libvirt,virtualbox}
  
  # Windows 10
  ./build.sh windows-10-enterprise-x64-eval-{libvirt,virtualbox}
  
  # Windows 10 - customized
  ./build.sh my_windows-10-enterprise-x64-eval-{libvirt,virtualbox}

Build process with the Packer

• Ubuntu:

  export PACKER_IMAGES_OUTPUT_DIR="/var/tmp/"
  export LOGDIR="/tmp/"
  
  # Ubuntu Server
  export NAME="ubuntu-20.04-server-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="server"
  packer build -only="qemu" ubuntu-server.json
  
  export NAME="ubuntu-18.04-server-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="server"
  packer build -only="qemu" ubuntu-server.json
  
  export NAME="ubuntu-16.04-server-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="server"
  packer build -only="qemu" ubuntu-server.json
  
  # Ubuntu Desktop
  export NAME="ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="desktop"
  packer build -only="qemu" ubuntu-desktop.json
  
  # Ubuntu Server - customized
  export NAME="my_ubuntu-20.04-server-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="server"
  packer build -only="qemu" my_ubuntu-server.json
  
  export NAME="my_ubuntu-18.04-server-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="server"
  packer build -only="qemu" my_ubuntu-server.json
  
  export NAME="my_ubuntu-16.04-server-amd64"
  export UBUNTU_IMAGES_URL="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/"
  export UBUNTU_TYPE="server"
  packer build -only="qemu" my_ubuntu-server.json

• Windows:

  export PACKER_IMAGES_OUTPUT_DIR="/var/tmp/"
  export TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
  export LOGDIR="/tmp/"
  export VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_DIR="/var/tmp/virtio-win"
  
  curl -L -o "${TMPDIR}/virtio-win.iso" https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/latest-virtio/virtio-win.iso
  xorriso -report_about WARNING -osirrox on -indev "${TMPDIR}/virtio-win.iso" -extract / "${VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_DIR}"
  find "${VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_DIR}" -type d -exec chmod u+rwx {} \;
  
  # Windows Server
  ## Windows Server 2022
  export NAME="windows-server-2022-standard-x64-eval"
  export WINDOWS_VERSION="2022"
  export ISO_URL="https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/sg/download/888969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66749/SERVER_EVAL_x64FRE_en-us.iso"
  packer build -only="qemu" windows.json
  
  ## Windows Server 2019
  export NAME="windows-server-2019-standard-x64-eval"
  export WINDOWS_VERSION="2019"
  export ISO_URL="https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/988969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66749/17763.3650.221105-1748.rs5_release_svc_refresh_SERVER_EVAL_x64FRE_en-us.iso"
  packer build -only="qemu" windows.json
  
  ## Windows Server 2016
  export NAME="windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval"
  export WINDOWS_VERSION="2016"
  export ISO_URL="https://software-download.microsoft.com/download/pr/Windows_Server_2016_Datacenter_EVAL_en-us_14393_refresh.ISO"
  packer build -only="qemu" windows.json
  
  # Windows 10
  export NAME="windows-10-enterprise-x64-eval"
  export WINDOWS_VERSION="10"
  export VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_DIR="/var/tmp/virtio-win"
  export ISO_URL="https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/988969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66750/19045.2006.220908-0225.22h2_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTENTERPRISEEVAL_OEMRET_x64FRE_en-us.iso"
  export PACKER_IMAGES_OUTPUT_DIR="/var/tmp/"
  packer build -only="qemu" windows.json
  
  # Windows 10 - customized
  export NAME="my_windows-10-enterprise-x64-eval"
  export WINDOWS_VERSION="10"
  export VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_DIR="/var/tmp/virtio-win"
  export ISO_URL="https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/988969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66750/19045.2006.220908-0225.22h2_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTENTERPRISEEVAL_OEMRET_x64FRE_en-us.iso"
  export PACKER_IMAGES_OUTPUT_DIR="/var/tmp/"
  packer build -only="qemu" my_windows.json

Helper scripts

• build.sh - build single image specified on command-line
• build_all.sh - builds all images
• build_all_remote_ssh.sh - connects to remote Ubuntu server, install the necessary packages for building images and execute build_all.sh
• vagrant_init_destroy_boxes.sh - tests all *.box images in the current directory using vagrant add/up/ssh/winrm/destroy

GitLab CI configuration (obsolete) can be found here: GitLab_CI_configuration.md