Configure guest setup with DHCP

In private cloud datacenters, Abiquo supports guest setup with:

• cloud-init/cloudbase-init
• hypervisor tools, which are VMware guest tools, with the following options for VM IP addresses:
  
  • DHCP
  • static IP

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

• TimeZone with default W. Europe Standard Time
• JoinWorkgroup with default WORKGROUP

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:

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

The platform can set an initial password for a VM before it deploys. The administrator can configure this option in a VM template but the user may then edit the VM to change the option.

To configure guest initial passwords, do these steps.

1. To configure the length and characters, on the Abiquo API edit abiquo.properties and set the abiquo.guest.password.length property.
   See Abiquo Configuration Properties#guest

2. To customize messages, see the following pages.
   1. Customize emails for guest password
   2. Customize emails for guest password SMS
3. To enable guest initial passwords, in Abiquo, go to Configuration view → Security (see Configuration View#Security).
   1. To enable password emails, select this option
   2. To enable password SMS, enter SMS gateway address
4. In Abiquo, load and configure appropriate VM templates! See Edit VM templates for guest setup

In the Abiquo UI on the VM details panel, the key guest password button enables the user to check the initial guest password. See Display VM initial password

• The VM owner can display their own VM password
• To allow a user to display the initial guest passwords of all VMs they can access, assign the privilege to Display initial virtual machine password

Troubleshooting guest initial password

1. Check your mail server configurations
   1. On the Abiquo API Server in abiquo.properties, check the address of the mail server and the mail user See Abiquo Configuration Properties#mail. 
   2. If you have resellers, check in the reseller enterprise configuration
2. Check that all VM owners have a valid email address and phone number
   1. Check the documentation of your SMS gateway provider for format requirements

Abiquo can set a hostname and fully qualified domain name (FQDN) before the VM is deployed.

If the user does not enter an FQDN, Abiquo uses the following default:

• Abiquo database ID (on Windows) or the VM_uuid (on Linux, etc); and
• VM network domain name (from VM NIC or VDC default network) or localdomain

To change the default to always generate the automatic VM name from the database ID:

1. Login to the Abiquo API Server as administrator
2. Edit the abiquo.properties file and set the following property

# Generate VM name from database ID. If false use VM_uuid on Linux and VM_database ID on Windows  
abiquo.api.experimental.hostname13charsFromVirtualMachineDatabaseId=true

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

To edit VM templates and prepare them for guest setup

1. Load a VM template with support for cloud-init (configuration drive) support OR hypervisor guest tools installed. 
   
   • See Add VM Templates to the Apps Library
   • If you are using static IP address injection (without DHCP), see Prepare VM templates for guest setup to use static IP injection
2. In the Apps library, edit the template and go to Advanced
3. Select the appropriate Guest setup option (e.g. Cloud-Init or Hypervisor tools)
4. Select Set initial guest password
   1. For Windows this option is strongly recommended
5. To use the guest initial password, set the appropriate User for the template
   1. On Linux, enter "root"
   2. On Windows, enter "Administrator"
6. Select the correct Operating system and optionally enter the OS version

The user can edit a VM before they deploy it, and change the Guest initial password option.

The platform does not save the initial password or any subsequent passwords. On Linux, before deploying an instance template, edit the instance template's password to set it to the current VM password.