create a new vm using a iso setting cpu ram network via api

markxc

hi
i am struggling with the api.

can i do the following using api?:

Create a VM using ubuntu 22X. template

define the following:
-) CPU, Ram, bios, network interface and iso i want to use for install

then it should start vm creation and run my iso (its a autoinstall iso)

i was able to make it work using packer but packer plugin is quit old and not really mantained...

br

mark

olivierlambert

Hi,

Packer plugin is maintained. Which one you used?

markxc

@olivierlambert

Hi Oliver,

I’ve been experimenting with Terraform — I can create a VM and boot it using my autoinstall ISO, but unfortunately, most other things aren’t working as expected.

So I gave Packer a try instead.

With Packer, I can successfully create a VM, mount the ISO, and perform the installation.

At the moment, I’m stuck trying to reliably detect when the VM installation is actually finished — I’m currently working on a script to solve that.

Out of curiosity: how do you handle the Xen Orchestra appliance installation?

Here’s what I’m aiming for:

We want to generate a custom VM image for our clients to import into different hypervisors (VMware, Xen, XCP-ng, Hyper-V, VirtualBox).

My current workflow and progress:

Generate autoinstall ISO with custom config — DONE

Create VM, mount ISO, perform install, and detect when installation is complete — NOT WORKING YET

Shut down the VM — DONE

Export VM as an OVA template — DONE

Convert that export to other formats for common hypervisors — DONE

Upload final images to our storage for delivery to clients — DONE

The goal is to fully automate the process — like a CI/CD pipeline for VM images.

Right now, I’m able to do nearly everything except reliably detecting when the VM installation is finished.

br

mark

olivierlambert

That's a question for the DevOps Tools team

Ping @devops-team

nathanael-h

@markxc said in create a new vm using a iso setting cpu ram network via api:

Out of curiosity: how do you handle the Xen Orchestra appliance installation?

We use Packer, a Debian iso and an Ansible playbook in the ansible provisioner. See https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/integrations/hashicorp/ansible/latest/components/provisioner/ansible

With this setup, we achieve these tasks:

Create VM, mount ISO, perform install, and detect when installation is complete
Shut down the VM
Export VM as an OVA template

We also have a CI/CD pipeline doing this automatically.

markxc

@nathanael-h

thanks for info

i used https://github.com/ddelnano/packer-plugin-xenserver
but because of lack of ssh key support i changed the code a bit.
now i can use ssh keys. (not ready for a PR)

my problem is that inside the auto iso i use a shell script doing a reboot within the install.
the reason is that i use this iso also on bare metal installations, some software i cant install without doing a reboot.

i will now focus on the ansible integratian an fire the commands after the reboot using ansible.
this might work.

br

Mark