Packer Proxmox Templates

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

# create a SSH key for Packer
ssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/packer_id_ed25519 -C "Packer"

# clone the repo & cd into it
git clone https://github.com/trfore/packer-proxmox-templates.git
cd packer-proxmox-templates

# initialize packer
packer init common/.

# choose a distro
cd ubuntu

# create the PVE templates
packer 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: The default user is the distributions name, e.g. ubuntu, with the exception of CentOS being cloud-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 only accepts key based authentication. All images have cloud-init, openssh-server and qemu-guest-agent installed.

NOTE: All images are built using only the root user, no default users are created during the build. We suggest creating a temporary SSH key-pair for Packer to use, i.e. packer_id_ed25519. This key is removed from the root account 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"

Repo Layout

Common files are stored in common/, with each distribution folder containing symlinks to these files.
- iso-vars.pkr.hcl contains ISO URLs and boot commands for each distribution. This file is 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 the configs/ folder and are distribution-specific.
The template/ folder is useful for generating new build configurations, as it:
- Contains symlinks to the common files.
- An template.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 in template.pkr.hcl with multiple approaches.

Grant Packer Access to Proxmox

# create role
pveum 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 group
pveum group add packer-users

# add permissions
pveum acl modify / -group packer-users -role PackerUser

# create user 'packer'
pveum useradd packer@pve -groups packer-users

# generate a token
pveum 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 │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘

Packer Commands

Initialize Packer:

packer init common/.

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

cd ubuntu
packer 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 images
packer 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 image
packer 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 \
.

Important Variables

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.

Variable	Default	Description	Required	Plugin Variable Equivalent
`pve_api_url`		String, Proxmox URL	Yes	`proxmox_url`
`pve_node`	`pve`	String, Proxmox target node for ISOs and templates	Yes	`node`
`pve_username`		String, Proxmox username for Packer	Yes	`username`
`pve_token`		String, Proxmox token value for Packer	Yes	`token`
`iso_download_pve`	`true`	Boolean, All ISOs are downloaded to Proxmox	No
`cloud_init`	`true`	Boolean, Attach a cloud-init drive	No	`cloud_init`
`cloud_init_storage_pool`	`local-lvm`	String, Proxmox storage pool to use for cloud-init drive	No	`cloud_init_storage_pool`
`scsi_controller`	`virtio-scsi-pci`	String, SCSI controller model	No
`disk_type`	`scsi`	String, Storage bus/device	No	`type`
`disk_storage_pool`	`local-lvm`	String, Storage pool name	No	`storage_pool`
`disk_cache_mode`	`writeback`	String, Storage cache mode	No	`cache_mode`
`disk_discard`	`false`	Boolean, Enable Discard/TRIM support	No	`discard`
`disk_ssd`	`false`	Boolean, Enable SSD emulation	No	`ssd`
`net_bridge`	`vmbr0`	String, NIC name	No	`bridge`
`net_model`	`virtio`	String, NIC type	No	`model`
`net_vlan_tag`	`1`	String, NIC VLAN tag	No	`vlan_tag`

SSH

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 the root account prior to finishing the build. Alternatively, you can use a pre-existing key and set: ssh_keypair_name, ssh_private_key_file and ssh_public_key_file. Example key generation:

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

Variable	Default	Description	Required
`ssh_username`	`root`	String, SSH user for Packer build, used by SSH communicator	No
`ssh_password`	`password`	String, SSH user password for Packer build (Debian only)	No
`ssh_timeout`	`20m`	String, Packer SSH timeout	No
`ssh_clear_authorized_keys`	`true`	Boolean, Remove the Packer SSH key from `/root/.ssh/authorized_keys`	No
`ssh_keypair_name`	`packer_id_ed25519`	String, SSH key name for Packer to use	Yes
`ssh_private_key_file`	`~/.ssh/packer_id_ed25519`	String, Private SSH key for Packer	Yes
`ssh_public_key_file`	`~/.ssh/packer_id_ed25519.pub`	String, Public SSH key for Packer	Yes

VM IDs

VM IDs, vm_id, default to 0 and will use the next free value from Proxmox. If you would like to fix these values create a *.auto.pkrvars.hcl within each OS folder (HCL type: map(numeric)):

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

Other Variables

See iso-vars.pkr.hcl and pve-vars.pkr.hcl

Distro Configurations

CentOS

The default user is cloud-user, update the username, ssh key(s), and/or password using the Proxmox cloud-init GUI.
CentOS kickstart file (link)

Important: CentOS URLs and checksums are intentionally not provided, as bandwidth is limited and ISOs are not available from mirror.centos.org. To set a mirror create an auto vars file, centos/centos.auto.pkrvars.hcl, and add the closest geographic mirror from the list: CentOS 9 Stream Mirrors or Fedora 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 with `file:`	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.hcl
centos_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"
}

Fedora

The default user is fedora, update the username, ssh key(s), and/or password using the Proxmox cloud-init GUI.
Fedora kickstart file (link)
Note: Kickstart files are stored on the image at /root/*-ks.cfg
Installed packages are based on the group server-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 (in core), Thunderbolt, Marvell and Netronome NICs
  - headless-management: cockpit pkgs and openssh-server
```
$ dnf group info server-product-environment
Environment Group: Server
Description: An integrated, easy-to-manage server.
Mandatory Groups:
  Container Management
  Core
  Hardware Support
  Headless Management
  Server product core
  Standard
...
```

Debian

The default user is debian, update the username, ssh key(s), and/or password using the Proxmox cloud-init GUI.
Debian preseed file (link)

Ubuntu

The default user is ubuntu, update the username, ssh key(s), and/or password using the Proxmox cloud-init GUI.
Ubuntu cloud-config file (link)

Setting apt_proxy_http and/or apt_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 using Apt-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 setting apt_proxy_http="http://192.168.100.2:3142" and apt_proxy_https="DIRECT":

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

Maintainers & License

Taylor Fore (@trfore)

See LICENSE File

References

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

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README.md

README.md

Packer Proxmox Templates

Repo Layout

Grant Packer Access to Proxmox

Packer Commands

Important Variables

SSH

VM IDs

Other Variables

Distro Configurations

CentOS

Fedora

Debian

Ubuntu

Maintainers & License

References

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

Packer Proxmox Templates

Repo Layout

Grant Packer Access to Proxmox

Packer Commands

Important Variables

SSH

VM IDs

Other Variables

Distro Configurations

CentOS

Fedora

Debian

Ubuntu

Maintainers & License

References