Page MenuHomeSoftware Heritage
Files F9347935

README.md
No OneTemporary
Actions

README.md
View Options

Packer usage
============
packer[1] is used to generate the virtualbox[2] images used to locally simulate the different servers and to test the puppet configuration and the service deployments.
Setup
-----
Packer and virtualbox tools are needed to create the base image.
For the packer package, [hashicorp debian repository must be installed](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/packer/getting-started-install)
On debian(10) :
```
apt install packer virtualbox-6.0 # 2020-09-17 vagrant is not working with virtualbox 6.1
vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest
```
Generate a new virtualbox image
-------------------------------
### Configuration description
For the debian buster image, this files are used:
* `debian_buster.json`: the configuration entrypoint describing the tasks packer will execute to generate the image
* `http/buster-preseed.cfg`: The debian preseed file used by debian to manage the installation. Debian loads it through an http server started by packer during the build.
* `scripts/post-install.sh`: Post installation steps script so vms are ready for the puppet configuration step (install puppet, manage vagrant's user key, ...)
### Build the image
To build an image, use this command in the current directory:
```
packer build <json file>
```
For example, to build or rebuild the debian buster image:
```
packer build debian_buster.json
```
:WARNING: virtualbox open the vm's console during the build. Don't interact with it to avoid to interfere with the packer execution.
This command executes this process:
* Create a new VM in virtualbox and boot it with the iso image defines in the ``iso_image`` parameter.
* Simulate keyboard interactions to enter the ``boot_command`` which basically tells debian to start the installation based on the ``buster_preseed.cfg`` file
* Call one or several provisioners after the installation to fine tune the installation. For our needs, only the ``scripts/post-install.sh`` script is executed
* package the image into a vbox file directly usable by virtualbox and place it in the ``builds`` directory.
### Publish the image
The image must be published on the public annex site[3] to be usable.
The images are published in the ``/isos/virtualbox/debian``[4] directory.
The ``git-annex`` usage is documented on the intranet[5].
Once the new image is published, the ``Vagrantfile`` [4] file can be updated to declare it (``$global_debian10_box`` and ``$global_debian10_box_url`` properties[6]).
[1]: https://www.packer.io
[2]: https://www.virtualbox.org
[3]: https://annex.softwareheritage.org/public
[4]: https://forge.softwareheritage.org/source/annex-public/browse/master/isos/virtualbox/debian/
[5]: https://intranet.softwareheritage.org/wiki/Git_annex
[6]: https://forge.softwareheritage.org/source/puppet-environment/browse/master/Vagrantfile
Annex
-----
### Generate a preseed file
It can be useful to prepare the installation for a new debian version:
* install the new version on a vm
* execute the following commands:
```
apt update
apt install curl debconf debconf-utils
debconf-get-selections --installer > /tmp/preseed.cfg
debconf-get-selections >>/tmp/preseed.cfg
```
The preseed file must be adapted to specify the user passwords or the partitionning apparently not included in the preseed file.
For buster, the following lines were added:
```
d-i pkgsel/include string puppet openssh-server apt-transport-https
# Whether to upgrade packages after debootstrap.
# Allowed values: none, safe-upgrade, full-upgrade
d-i pkgsel/upgrade select full-upgrade
# Root password, either in clear text
d-i passwd/root-password password rootroot
d-i passwd/root-password-again password rootroot
# To create a normal user account.
d-i passwd/username string vagrant
# Normal user's password, either in clear text
d-i passwd/user-password password vagrant
d-i passwd/user-password-again password vagrant
d-i passwd/user-fullname string Vagrant
# Create the first user with the specified UID instead of the default.
d-i passwd/user-uid string 999
# The user account will be added to some standard initial groups. To
# override that, use this.
d-i passwd/user-default-groups string audio cdrom video sudo
### Partitioning
d-i partman-auto/init_automatically_partition select biggest_free
#d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/vda
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
# Keep some space on the lvm volume to play with snapshots
d-i partman-auto-lvm/guided_size string 90%
# If one of the disks that are going to be automatically partitioned
# contains an old LVM configuration, the user will normally receive a
# warning. This can be preseeded away...
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
# The same applies to pre-existing software RAID array:
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
# And the same goes for the confirmation to write the lvm partitions.
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman-auto-lvm/no_boot boolean true
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-first boolean false
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-next boolean false
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-failed boolean false
d-i mirror/country string manual
d-i mirror/http/hostname string http.fr.debian.org
d-i mirror/http/directory string /debian
d-i mirror/http/proxy string
d-i apt-setup/use_mirror boolean false
popularity-contest popularity-contest/participate boolean false
```
It's important that the vagrant user doesn't have an UID of 1000 as puppet will try to create a user with a uid/gid of 1000/1000.

File Metadata

Mime Type
text/plain
Expires
Jul 4 2025, 6:04 PM (4 w, 3 d ago)
Storage Engine
blob
Storage Format
Raw Data
Storage Handle
3236242

Event Timeline

About · Developer information · Legal