Guest setup

Abiquo supports guest setup with cloud init or hypervisor tools and the Abiquo Chef integration now uses cloud-init.

Guest setup runs the first time you deploy a VM. The hypervisor tools guest setup also runs on Linux machines when you add a NIC.

Guest setup includes the functionality described in this table.

Functionality	Cloud-init	Hypervisor tools
Set fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
Generate a random password at deploy and send by email to owner
Inject network configuration if no DHCP server is available
Inject SSH keys into guest
Configuration drive with environment variables and user-data presented to guest OS on an ISO disk. See Automate first boot with Configuration drive and cloud-init

If the guest setup is not successful, the VM deploy will fail and roll back.

Prepare templates for guest setup

To prepare templates for guest setup

Load templates with support for cloud-init (configuration drive) support or hypervisor guest tools installed
In the Apps library, edit the template:
1. Select the appropriate guest setup option (Cloud-Init or Hypervisor tools)
2. Optionally select "Set initial guest password"

Click here to show/hide the screenshot

Windows guest tools configuration

Abiquo will use an unattend file with the variables $adminPassword, $domain and $hostName.

You can configure the path to your own Windows unattend file on the Abiquo Remote Services by setting the following property and placing the file at that location.

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

The default Abiquo unattend file is supplied here. You can create a custom unattend file on the Remote Services server (for use by Virtual Factory), and change attributes such as the time zone (TimeZone) and the workgroup name (JoinWorkgroup).

Click here to expand...

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
   <settings pass="generalize" wasPassProcessed="false">
      <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
         <PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
      </component>
   </settings>
   <settings pass="oobeSystem" wasPassProcessed="false">
      <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
         <OOBE>
            <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
            <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
            <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
            <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
         </OOBE>
         <TimeZone>W. Europe Standard Time</TimeZone>
         <UserAccounts>
            <AdministratorPassword>               
               <Value>$adminPassword</Value>
               <PlainText>true</PlainText>
            </AdministratorPassword>               
         </UserAccounts>
      </component>
   </settings>
   <settings pass="specialize" wasPassProcessed="false">
      <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
         <RegisteredOwner>Administrator</RegisteredOwner>
         <RegisteredOrganization>Organization</RegisteredOrganization>
         <ComputerName>$hostName</ComputerName>
      </component>
      <component name="Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Client" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
         <DNSDomain>$domain</DNSDomain>
      </component>
      <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
         <Identification>
            <JoinWorkgroup>WORKGROUP</JoinWorkgroup>
         </Identification>
      </component>
      <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
         <RunSynchronous>
            <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
               <Path>C:\sysprep\guestcustutil.exe cleanBootExecute</Path>
               <Order>1</Order>
            </RunSynchronousCommand>
            <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
               <Path>C:\sysprep\guestcustutil.exe flagComplete</Path>
               <Order>2</Order>
            </RunSynchronousCommand>
            <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
               <Path>C:\sysprep\guestcustutil.exe deleteContainingFolder</Path>
               <Order>3</Order>
            </RunSynchronousCommand>
         </RunSynchronous>
      </component>
   </settings>
</unattend>

Set initial guest password

Abiquo can generate a random password in the VM for the root user on Linux or the Administrator user on Windows, for the first time the VM is deployed. Before you deploy, you can edit the VM to change the template setting using the Guest initial password checkbox.

Abiquo will mail the password to the owner, so on the Abiquo Server, check that you have set the mail properties with the address of the mail server and mail user. See Abiquo Configuration Properties#mail

Also check that the owner has a valid email address.

To customize the email template, see Configure Email Templates

Abiquo does not save the initial password, so on Linux, before deploying an instance template, edit the instance's password to set it to the current VM password

Guest password for Windows

For Windows templates, edit the template and set the user to Administrator. You can configure Abiquo so that it will lock the VM while waiting for password configuration. To do this, set the following abiquo.properties on the Abiquo Remote Services

# Time to wait for guest tools to get up and running after power on
# This value is 15 minutes
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.customize.configure.timeoutms=900000 
# Polling interval for checking if guest tools is up and running after power on 
# This value is 10 seconds
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.customize.configure.periodms=30000

Virtual machine settings

When you create a VM using a guest setup template, Abiquo will detect the guestSetup support and configure the VM. Abiquo will also configure the value of the guestInitialPassword from the template. Before you deploy, you can change this value.

Click here to show/hide the screenshot

Set fully qualified domain name

Abiquo can set a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) before the VM is deployed, with one of the following options:

The FQDN that the user manually enters for the VM, which has the highest priority
A hostname based on the Abiquo database ID, plus VM network domain name (from VM NIC or VDC default VLAN), or localdomain (automatic)
A hostname that is the VM_uuid, plus VM network domain name, or localdomain (automatic)

To select the automatic hostname setting, use the following property on the Abiquo API server

// Generate VM name from database ID. If false use VM_uuid  
abiquo.api.experimental.hostname13charsFromVirtualMachineDatabaseId=true

The user can set the FQDN when creating the VM using the API. The user can edit the VM and change the FQDN when the VM is not deployed. In this case, the API will check that the FQDN is valid.

After the VM is deployed, the user can change the FQDN in the VM operating system. In this case, Abiquo will update the FQDN stored in the platform.

Chef templates

From Abiquo 4.0.2, in private cloud, the Abiquo Chef integration now works with cloud init. You will need a cloud-init or cloud-base-init compatible template.

From Abiquo 4.0.2 in all public cloud providers, Chef is always available and supported, even if you do not select the Guest setup option in the template.

Configure the Chef server for your enterprise as in previous versions.