vSphere Post-Processor

Type: vsphere Artifact BuilderId: packer.post-processor.vsphere

The Packer vSphere post-processor takes an artifact and uploads it to a vSphere endpoint. The artifact must have a vmx/ova/ovf image.

Configuration

There are many configuration options available for the post-processor. They are segmented below into two categories: required and optional parameters. Within each category, the available configuration keys are alphabetized.

Required:

• cluster (string) - The vSphere cluster or ESXi host to upload the VM. This can be either the name of the vSphere cluster or the FQDN/IP address of an ESXi host.

• datacenter (string) - The name of the datacenter within the vSphere environemnt to add the VM.

• datastore (string) - The name of the datastore to place the VM. This is not required if resource_pool is specified.

• host (string) - The vSphere endpoint that will be contacted to perform the VM upload.

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

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

• vm_name (string) - The name of the VM after upload.

Optional:

• esxi_host (string) - Target ESXi host. Used to assign specific ESXi host to upload the resulting VM, when a vCenter Server is used as host. Can be either an FQDN (e.g., "esxi-01.example.com", requires proper DNS setup and/or correct DNS search domain setting) or an IPv4 address.

• disk_mode (string) - Target disk format. See ovftool manual for available options. Default: thick.

• insecure (boolean) - Whether or not the connection can be done over an insecure connection. Default: false

• keep_input_artifact (boolean) - When true, preserve the local VM files, even after importing them to the vSphere endpoint. Default: false.

• resource_pool (string) - The resource pool in which to upload the VM.

• vm_folder (string) - The folder within the datastore to place the VM.

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

• overwrite (boolean) - If true, force the system to overwrite the existing files instead create new ones. Default: false

• hardware_version (string) - The virtual hardware version that the VM should be deployed with. Use when deploying to vSphere / ESXi host whose version is different than the the one used to create the artifact. See VMware KB 1003746 for more information on the virtual hardware versions supported by each vSphere / ESXi version.

• options (array of strings) - Custom options to add in ovftool. See ovftool --help to list all the options

Example

The following is an example of the vSphere post-processor being used in conjunction with the null builder and artifice post-processor to upload a vmx to a vSphere cluster.

You can also use this post-processor with the vmx artifact from a VMware build.

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

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

    post-processors{
      post-processor "artifice"{
          files = ["output-vmware-iso/packer-vmware-iso.vmx"]
      }

      post-processor "vsphere"{
          vm_name             = "packer"
          host                = "vcenter.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
      }
    }
}

source "null" "example" {
    communicator = "none"
}
 
build {
    sources = [
        "source.null.example"
    ]
 
    post-processors{
      post-processor "artifice"{
          files = ["output-vmware-iso/packer-vmware-iso.vmx"]
      }
 
      post-processor "vsphere"{
          vm_name             = "packer"
          host                = "vcenter.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
      }
    }
}

Privileges

The post-processor uses ovftool and therefore needs the same privileges as ovftool. Rather than giving full administrator access, you can create a role to give the post-processor the permissions necessary to run. Below is an example role. Please note that this is a user-supplied list so there may be a few extraneous permissions 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

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

And this role must be authorized on the:

Cluster of the host
The destination folder (not on Datastore, on the vSphere logical view)
The network to be assigned
The destination datastore.

Cluster of the host
The destination folder (not on Datastore, on the vSphere logical view)
The network to be assigned
The destination datastore.