Please create cloud-init image for ESXi

[Nurlan199206]

Please create cloud-init image for ESXi

[LKHN]

Hi Nurlan,

Unfortunately, we do not have access to a VMware ESXi environment to build and test cloud images for this hypervisor.

[codyro]

Unfortunately, we do not have access to a VMware ESXi environment to build and test cloud images for this hypervisor.

Should we try to solicit people in the MatterMost & Mailing List to see if anyone has an ESXi environment they can donate to or let us use for this?

[LKHN]

Unfortunately, we do not have access to a VMware ESXi environment to build and test cloud images for this hypervisor.

Should we try to solicit people in the MatterMost & Mailing List to see if anyone has an ESXi environment they can donate to or let us use for this?

Sounds like a perfect plan to me. Thank you!

[Nurlan199206]

someone know how to setup network interface via terraform cloud-init template???

hostname: almalinux
fqdn: almalinux.test

users:
  - name: almalinux
    sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
    lock_passwd: false
    ssh-authorized-keys:
      - ssh-rsa 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 nurlan@WIN-3DJ38HKQ65I
    shell: /bin/bash

chpasswd:
  list: |
    almalinux:password
    root:password
  expire: false

package_update: true
package_upgrade: true
packages:
  - curl
  - net-tools
  - htop
  - mc

write_files:
  - path: /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/ens160.nmconnection
    permissions: '0600'
    content: |
      [connection]
      id=ens160
      type=ethernet
      autoconnect-priority=-999
      interface-name=ens160

      [ethernet]

      [ipv4]
      method=manual
      addresses=192.168.200.164/24,192.168.200.1
      dns=8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4;

      [ipv6]
      method=ignore

runcmd:
  - setenforce 0
  - sed -i 's/^SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=permissive/' /etc/selinux/config
  - nmcli connection reload
  - nmcli connection up ens160
  - sed -i 's/^#PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  - sed -i 's/^#\?PasswordAuthentication .*/PasswordAuthentication yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  - systemctl restart sshd
  - passwd -u root

From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=61 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=62 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=63 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=64 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=65 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=66 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=67 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=68 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=69 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=70 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=71 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=72 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=73 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.200.145 icmp_seq=74 Destination Host Unreachable

[yuravk]

Hello @Nurlan199206

While our CI/CD pipeline currently publishes the Vagrant .box artifacts for VMware, these are essentially just compressed Workstation-style VMs. You can convert them into .ova templates compatible with vSphere/ESXi using VMware's official ovftool.

Here is a complete, step-by-step guide on how to perform this conversion natively on an AlmaLinux 9.x system.

1. Install Prerequisites & ovftool

Install the libnsl package:

sudo dnf install libnsl -y

Next, download the Linux .zip version of the OVF Tool from the Broadcom Developer Portal:
https://developer.broadcom.com/tools/open-virtualization-format-ovf-tool/latest

Once downloaded, unpack it to the /opt/ directory and create a symlink to your system's PATH so it can be executed easily:

sudo unzip VMware-ovftool-*-lin.x86_64.zip -d /opt/
sudo ln -s /opt/ovftool/ovftool /usr/local/bin/ovftool

2. Download the Vagrant .box Files

Download the specific Vagrant VMware box version you need from our AWS S3 buckets:

AlmaLinux 8.10:

wget https://almalinux-cloud.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/images/8/8.10/vagrant/20260318152121/AlmaLinux-8-Vagrant-8.10-20260318.x86_64.vmware.box

AlmaLinux 9.7:

wget https://almalinux-cloud.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/images/9/9.7/vagrant/20260318154209/AlmaLinux-9-Vagrant-vmware-9.7-20260318.x86_64.box

AlmaLinux 10.1:

wget https://almalinux-cloud.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/images/10/10.1/vagrant/20260318180058/AlmaLinux-10-Vagrant-vmware-10.1-20260318.0.x86_64.box

AlmaLinux Kitten 10:

wget https://almalinux-cloud.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/images/kitten/10/vagrant/20260318133226/AlmaLinux-Kitten-Vagrant-vmware-10-20260318.0.x86_64.box

3. Create the Conversion Script

To make the extraction and conversion process seamless (and to lock the hardware version to ensure broad ESXi compatibility if needed), create a new bash script called box2ova.sh:

cat << 'EOF' > box2ova.sh
#!/bin/bash
set -e

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <path-to-box-file.box>"
    exit 1
fi

BOX_FILE="$1"
HW_VERSION="20" # ESXi 8.0 U1 compatible

BASE_NAME=$(basename "$BOX_FILE" .box)
OUTPUT_OVA="${BASE_NAME}.ova"
TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d)

echo "📦 Extracting '$BOX_FILE'..."
tar -xf "$BOX_FILE" -C "$TMP_DIR"

VMX_FILE=$(find "$TMP_DIR" -name "*.vmx" | head -n 1)

echo "⚙️  Converting to OVA (Hardware Version $HW_VERSION)..."
ovftool --maxVirtualHardwareVersion="$HW_VERSION" "$VMX_FILE" "$OUTPUT_OVA"

echo "🧹 Cleaning up..."
rm -rf "$TMP_DIR"

echo "✅ Success! Saved as: $OUTPUT_OVA"
EOF
chmod +x box2ova.sh

4. Execute the Script

Run the script against the .box file you downloaded. For example, to convert the AlmaLinux 10 image:

./box2ova.sh AlmaLinux-10-Vagrant-vmware-10.1-20260318.0.x86_64.box

This will extract the contents, downgrade the hardware version to vmx-20 for maximum compatibility, and output a ready-to-use .ova file right in your current directory.

5. Deploy to vSphere

Once the .ova is generated, you can deploy it directly to your cluster:

Log into your vSphere Client or ESXi Web GUI.

Right-click your target Host or Cluster and select Deploy OVF Template...

Select Local file, upload your new .ova, and follow the prompts to provision the network and storage.

⚠️ Important Note on Networking: > Please be aware that network configuration via cloud-init is disabled in these images. If your vSphere provisioning pipeline relies on cloud-init to inject IP addresses, you will need to re-enable the network module within the guest OS, or manage your networking natively through NetworkManager.

[yuravk]

Hello,

Following up on my previous message, we have put together an improved the script. If you want to convert the .box to an .ova while automatically re-enabling cloud-init networking.

This script temporarily extracts the virtual disk, safely removes the network: {config: disabled} restriction from the 99_vagrant.cfg file, and repackages it with clean name.

1. Install Additional Prerequisites

In addition to ovftool, you will need the libguestfs utilities to modify the disk image offline safely:

sudo dnf install libguestfs guestfs-tools -y

2. The Conversion Script

Create a file named box2ova.sh and paste the following code:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <path-to-box-file.box>"
    exit 1
fi

if ! command -v virt-customize &> /dev/null || ! command -v qemu-img &> /dev/null; then
    echo "Error: 'virt-customize' or 'qemu-img' not found."
    echo "Please run: sudo dnf install libguestfs-tools qemu-img -y"
    exit 1
fi

BOX_FILE="$1"
HW_VERSION="20" # ESXi 8.0 U1 compatible

# Sanitize the output file name
BASE_NAME=$(basename "$BOX_FILE" .box)
CLEAN_NAME=$(echo "$BASE_NAME" | sed -e 's/-[Vv]agrant//g' -e 's/[Vv]agrant-//g')
OUTPUT_OVA="${CLEAN_NAME}.ova"

TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d)

# Ensure cleanup on exit
trap 'echo "🧹 Cleaning up..."; rm -rf "$TMP_DIR"' EXIT

echo "📦 Extracting '$BOX_FILE'..."
tar -xf "$BOX_FILE" -C "$TMP_DIR"

VMX_FILE=$(find "$TMP_DIR" -name "*.vmx" ! -name "._*" | head -n 1)
VMDK_FILE=$(find "$TMP_DIR" -name "*.vmdk" ! -name "*-s[0-9]*.vmdk" ! -name "*-flat.vmdk" ! -name "._*" | head -n 1)

if [ -z "$VMDK_FILE" ]; then
    echo "Error: Could not find the main .vmdk file!"
    exit 1
fi

echo "🔄 Step 1: Converting VMDK to RAW format for safe editing..."
qemu-img convert -O raw "$VMDK_FILE" "${VMDK_FILE}.raw"

echo "🛠️  Step 2: Modifying virtual disk internally to re-enable cloud-init..."
export LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND=direct

virt-customize -a "${VMDK_FILE}.raw" --run-command '
    CFG="/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99_vagrant.cfg"
    if [ -f "$CFG" ]; then
        sed -i "/network: {config: disabled}/d" "$CFG"
        echo "✅ Network config restriction successfully removed."
    else
        echo "⚠️  File $CFG not found. Skipping."
    fi
'

echo "🔄 Step 3: Re-packing RAW format back to VMware VMDK..."
qemu-img convert -f raw -O vmdk -o subformat=monolithicSparse "${VMDK_FILE}.raw" "$VMDK_FILE"
rm -f "${VMDK_FILE}.raw"

echo "⚙️  Step 4: Converting to OVA (Hardware Version $HW_VERSION)..."
ovftool --maxVirtualHardwareVersion="$HW_VERSION" \
        --name="$CLEAN_NAME" \
        --annotation="AlmaLinux OS Enterprise Template" \
        "$VMX_FILE" "$OUTPUT_OVA"

echo "✅ Success! Enterprise template saved as: $OUTPUT_OVA"

3. Run the Script

Make it executable and run it against your downloaded .box file:

chmod +x box2ova.sh
./box2ova.sh AlmaLinux-10-Vagrant-vmware-10.1-20260318.0.x86_64.box

The resulting .ova file will have a clean display name (e.g., AlmaLinux-10-vmware-10.1...) in your vCenter inventory, and cloud-init should attempt to configure your networking on the first boot.

[yuravk]

Please check it out at https://github.com/AlmaLinux/cloud-images/blob/main/VMWARE_OVA.md