Chapter 17. Preparing and uploading VMDK custom images to vSphere

Procedure

1. In the RHEL image builder dashboard, click the Blueprint tab.
2. On the blueprint table, find the blueprint you want to build an image.
3. On the right side of the chosen blueprint, click Create Image. The Create image dialog wizard opens.

4. On the Image output page, complete the following steps:

   1. From the Select a blueprint list, select the image type you want.
   2. From the Image output type list, select the image output type you want.
   3. Optional: Check Upload to VMware checkbox to upload the image directly to VMware.
   4. Enter a size for the image.
   5. Click Next.

5. On the Upload to VMware page, enter the following information:

   1. Image name: Enter the image name.
   2. Host: Enter the VMware vSphere instance URL where the image file will be uploaded.
   3. Cluster: Enter the cluster name page to which the image will be uploaded.
   4. Datacenter: The data center name to which the image will be uploaded.
   5. Datastore: The data store name to which the image will be uploaded.
   6. Folder: Folder name to which the image will be uploaded.
   7. Click Next.

6. On the Review page, review the details about the image creation and click Create.

   The image creation starts, showing the progress of this image creation and the subsequent upload to the VMware vSphere client.

Procedure

1. Configure the following values in the user environment with the GOVC environment variables:

   GOVC_URL
   GOVC_DATACENTER
   GOVC_FOLDER
   GOVC_DATASTORE
   GOVC_RESOURCE_POOL
   GOVC_NETWORK

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2. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded your VMware vSphere image.

3. Launch the VMware vSphere image on vSphere by following the steps:

   1. Import the VMware vSphere image into vSphere:

      $ govc import.vmdk ./api.vmdk <folder-name>

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      • For the .ova format:

        $ govc import.ova ./api.ova <folder-name>

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   2. Create the VM in vSphere without powering it on:

      govc vm.create \
      -net.adapter=vmxnet3 \
      -m=4096 -c=2 -g=rhel8_64Guest \
      -firmware=efi -disk="<folder-name>/api.vmdk” \
      -disk.controller=scsi -on=false \
       vmname

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      For the .ova format, replace the line -firmware=efi -disk="folder_name/api.vmdk” with -firmware=efi -disk=”<folder-name>/api.ova”

   3. Power-on the VM:

      $ govc vm.power -on <vm-name>

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   4. Retrieve the VM IP address:

      $ govc vm.ip <vm-name>

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   5. Use SSH to log in to the VM, using the username and password you specified in your blueprint:

      $ ssh admin@ <vm-ip-address>

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      Note

      If you copied the .vmdk image from your local host to the destination using the govc datastore.upload command, using the resulting image is not supported. There is no option to use the import.vmdk command in the vSphere GUI and as a result, the vSphere GUI does not support the direct upload. The .vmdk image is not usable from the vSphere GUI.

Procedure

1. For the blueprint you created, click the Images tab .

2. Click Create Image to create your customized image.

   The Image type window opens.

3. In the Image type window:

   1. From the dropdown menu, select the Type: VMware vSphere (.vmdk).
   2. Check the Upload to VMware checkbox to upload your image to vSphere.
   3. Optional: Set the size of the image you want to instantiate. The minimal default size is 2 GB.
   4. Click Next.

4. In the Upload to VMware window, under Authentication, enter the following details:

   1. Username: username of the vSphere account.
   2. Password: password of the vSphere account.

5. In the Upload to VMware window, under Destination, enter the following details about the image upload destination:

   1. Image name: a name for the image.
   2. Host: The URL of your VMware vSphere.
   3. Cluster: The name of the cluster.
   4. Data center: The name of the data center.
   5. Data store: The name of the Data store.
   6. Click Next.

6. In the Review window, review the details of the image creation and click Finish.

   You can click Back to modify any incorrect details.

   RHEL image builder adds the compose of a RHEL vSphere image to the queue, and creates and uploads the image to the Cluster on the vSphere instance you specified.

   After the process is complete, you can see the Image build complete status.

Verification

1. Create a Virtual Machine (VM) from the image you uploaded and log in to it.
2. Access VMware vSphere Client.
3. Search for the image in the Cluster on the vSphere instance you specified.
4. Select the image you uploaded.
5. Right-click the selected image.

6. Click New Virtual Machine.

   A New Virtual Machine window opens.

   In the New Virtual Machine window, provide the following details:

   1. Select New Virtual Machine.
   2. Select a name and a folder for your VM.
   3. Select a computer resource: choose a destination computer resource for this operation.
   4. Select storage: For example, select NFS-Node1
   5. Select compatibility: The image should be BIOS only.
   6. Select a guest operating system: For example, select Linux and Red Hat Fedora (64-bit).
   7. Customize hardware: When creating a VM, on the Device Configuration button on the upper right, delete the default New Hard Disk and use the drop-down to select an Existing Hard Disk disk image:
   8. Ready to complete: Review the details and click Finish to create the image.

7. Navigate to the VMs tab.

   1. From the list, select the VM you created.
   2. Click the Start button on the panel. A new window appears, showing the VM image loading.
   3. Log in with the credentials you created for the blueprint.

   4. You can verify if the packages you added to the blueprint are installed. For example:

      $ rpm -qa | grep firefox

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