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Table of Contents

Info

This page describes how to configure guest setup that will use hypervisor tools on VMware vCenter and VCD.

We assume that you have already installed You must install hypervisor tools on your VM templates before you configure guest setup.

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Note

To inject a network configuration (static IP address) in Windows, you must use a custom specification. You cannot use an unattend file.

Info
  • Guest setup with hypervisor tools can run the first time you deploy a VM and when you add a NIC to a VM that is powered off.

  • On Linux VMs, the platform will configure a global DNS that will apply to all NICs on the VM

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For guest tools with Windows, the platform default is to use a Windows unattend file.

The default unattend file is Abiquo default Windows unattend file.

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Guest setup with a Windows unattend file runs the first time you deploy a VM.
If the guest setup is not successful, the VM deploy or reconfigure will fail and roll back.

Using the Windows unattend file, Abiquo sets:

  • Fully qualified domain name (FQDN)

  • Guest password at deploy time

The Abiquo default Windows unattend file also includes these static settings:

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To configure a custom Windows unattend file for a datacenter

  1. Log in to the Remote Services server as an administrator

  2. Create your own custom unattend file and make the tomcat user the owner of the file

    1. By default Abiquo will replace the following variables:

      • $adminPassword

      • $domain

      • $hostName

  3. Edit the abiquo.properties file and set the location of your custom unattend file. For example:

    Code Block
    // Path to Windows unattend file
    com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.customize.win.unattendfile=/root/windows_unattend.xml

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On VMware, to use a custom specification to configure Windows, set the unattend file unattendfile property to false.

Code Block
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.customize.win.unattendfile=false

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Edit a VM template for guest setup

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To prepare a VM template

Insert excerpt
Prepare for guest setup
:

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Go to Catalogue

with cloud-init or

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Go to Advanced

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For Guest setup, select Cloud-Init or Hypervisor tools.

  1. For Windows on AWS, you can select from: CLOUDBASE_INITEC2LAUNCH_V2, EC2LAUNCH, EC2CONFIG

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  1. For Windows systems we strongly recommend this option

  2. The platform will log in with the template User and Password (see below) and change the Password to the guest initial password.
    The platform will send the guest initial password to the user via mail or SMS, and users can display it with the VM key button

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  1. On Windows, enter Administrator

  2. On Linux, enter root or another user that can run chpassword, with sudo and by always entering the password

    1. If sudo is not available, please contact Abiquo Support to configure the nosudoerrequiredforuser property

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  1. The platform does not save VM passwords

    1. On Linux, before deploying an instance template, edit the instance template's password to set it to the current VM password.

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Select the Operating system. If required, enter the OS version. For more details see Set the guest operating system for VMware

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Optionally, go to Variables and set variables for the VM template. The platform will add these variables to the VM using metadata or user data. See VM variables

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TipAdd the SSH public key to your user before you deploy VMs. To connect to your VM, you will often require the SSH key pair, for example, to connect to Windows VMs in public cloud via RDP

similar
Prepare for guest setup with cloud-init or similar
nameEdit a VM template for guest setup
nopaneltrue

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Users can now automate their VMs with guest setup. See Automate first boot of a VM for guest setup

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