vmware-samples/packer-examples-for-vsphere v21.08

on GitHub

Release v21.08

Release Date: 2021-08-18

• Moves vsphere.pkrvars.hcl and rhsm.pkrvars.hcl to the builds directory.
• Isolates variables to simplify updates to common settings with builds/common.pkrvars.hcl.
• Refactors all build definitions to use variables and reduce any hard-coded settings.
• All machine image build definitions use the the recommended firmware based on the guest operating system and the minimum vSphere release supported by the repository. EFI Secure Boot is enabled for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, CentoOS Linux/Stream 8, AlmaLinux 8, and Microsoft Windows Server 2019/2016. BIOS is enabled Rocky Linux 8.
• Adds the manifest post-provisioner to machine image build definitions.
• Moves public keys to variables.
• Adds a user for Ansible to Linux machine images with authorized_keys. Uses builds/ansible.pkrvars.hcl. Password is randomized.
• Updates the Packer block to all builds with required_versions >= "1.7.4" for Packer.
• Adds the required_plugins to the Packer block for all builds to use the vsphere plugin version = ">= v1.0.1".
• Updates the Packer block for Windows builds with required_plugins and version = "0.14.0" for the Windows-Update plugin.
• All builds automatically run packer init to initialize required plugins before running a build with build.sh.
• Updates Microsoft Windows autounattend.xml files to use the attached VMware Tools .iso for PVSCSI driver.
• Simplified and reduced the script files used by provisioners.
• Patches the script for VNware Photon OS 4 due to an issue performing updates with tdnf.
• Patches the script for Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS to remove cloud-init and remove all netplan configurations before GuestOS customization.
• Removes support for VMware Photon OS 3 machine image builds.
• Removes support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 machine image builds.
• Removes support for CentOS Linux 7 machine image builds.
• Deprecates CentOS Linux 8. Removing in a future update. The CentOS Project has shifted focus from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream. CentOS Linux 8 EOL: 2021-12-31.
• Deprecating Microsoft Windows Server 2016. Removing in a future update. Microsoft Windows Server 2016 EOL: 2022-01-22.
• Adds MAINTAINERS.md.
• Updates README.md.