Nutanix plugin

This document is going to detail all Nutanix plugin parameters.

Principle

The Nutanix plugin will create a temporary VM as foundation of your Packer image, apply all providers you define to customize your image, then clone the VM disk image as your final Packer image.

Environment configuration

These parameters allow to define information about platform and temporary VM used to create the image.

Required

• nutanix_username (string) - User used for Prism Central login.
• nutanix_password (string) - Password of this user for Prism Central login.
• nutanix_endpoint (string) - Prism Central FQDN or IP.
• cluster_name or cluster_uuid (string) - Nutanix cluster name or uuid used to create and store image.
• os_type (string) - OS Type ("Linux" or "Windows").

Optional

• nutanix_port (number) - Port used for connection to Prism Central.
• nutanix_insecure (bool) - Authorize connection to Prism Central without valid certificate.
• vm_name (string) - Name of the temporary VM to create. If not specified a random packer-* name will be used.
• cpu (number) - Number of vCPU for temporary VM.
• memory_mb (number) - Size of vRAM for temporary VM (in megabytes).
• cd_files (array of strings) - A list of files to place onto a CD that is attached when the VM is booted. This can include either files or directories; any directories will be copied onto the CD recursively, preserving directory structure hierarchy.
• cd_label (string) - Label of this CD Drive.
• boot_type (string) - Type of boot used on the temporary VM ("legacy" or "uefi").
• ip_wait_timeout (duration string | ex: "0h42m0s") - Amount of time to wait for VM's IP, similar to 'ssh_timeout'. Defaults to 15m (15 minutes). See the Golang ParseDuration documentation for full details.
• vm_categories ([]Category) - Assign Categories to the vm.
• project (string) - Assign Project to the vm.
• gpu ([] GPU) - GPU in cluster name to be attached on temporary VM.

Output configuration

These parameters allow to configure everything around image creation, from the temporary VM connection to the final image definition.

All OS

• image_name (string) - Name of the output image.
• image_description (string) - Description for output image.
• image_categories ([]Category) - Assign Categories to the image.
• force_deregister (bool) - Allow output image override if already exists.
• image_delete (bool) - Delete image once build process is completed (default is false).
• image_export (bool) - Export raw image in the current folder (default is false).
• shutdown_command (string) - Command line to shutdown your temporary VM.
• shutdown_timeout (string) - Timeout for VM shutdown (format : 2m).
• vm_force_delete (bool) - Delete vm even if build is not succesful (default is false).
• communicator (string) - Protocol used for Packer connection (ex "winrm" or "ssh"). Default is : "ssh".

Dedicated to Linux

• user_data (string) - cloud-init content base64 encoded.
• ssh_username (string) - user for ssh connection initiated by Packer.
• ssh_password (string) - password for the ssh user.

Dedicated to Windows

• winrm_port (number) - Port for WinRM communication (default is 5986).
• winrm_insecure (bool) - Allow insecure connection to WinRM.
• winrm_use_ssl (bool) - Request SSL connection with WinRM.
• winrm_timeout (string) - Timeout for WinRM (format 45m).
• winrm_username (string) - User login for WinRM connection.
• winrm_password (string) - Password this User.

Disk configuration

Use vm_disks{} entry to configure disk to your VM image. If you want to configure several disks, use this entry multiple times.

All parameters of this vm_disks section are described below.

3 types of disk configurations can be used:

• disk (create an empty disk)
• disk image (create disk from Nutanix image library)
• ISO image (create disk from ISO image)

Disk

• image_type (string) - "DISK".
• disk_size_gb (number) - size of th disk (in gigabytes).

Sample:

  vm_disks {
      image_type = "DISK"
      disk_size_gb = 30
  }

Disk image

• image_type (string) - "DISK_IMAGE" (you must use one of the three following parameters to source the image).
• source_image_name (string) - Name of the image used as disk source.
• source_image_uuid (string) - UUID of the image used as disk source.
• source_image_uri (string) - URI of the image used as disk source (if image is not already on the cluster, it will download and store it before launching output image creation process).
• source_image_delete (bool) - Delete source image once build process is completed (default is false).
• source_image_force (bool) - Always download and replace source image even if already exist (default is false).
• disk_size_gb (number) - size of the disk (in gigabytes).

Sample:

  vm_disks {
      image_type = "DISK_IMAGE"
      source_image_name = "<myDiskImage>"
      disk_size_gb = 40
  }

ISO Image

• image_type (string) - "ISO_IMAGE".
• source_image_name (string) - Name of the ISO image to mount.
• source_image_uuid (string) - UUID of the ISO image to mount.
• source_image_delete (bool) - Delete source image once build process is completed (default is false).
• source_image_force (bool) - Always download and replace source image even if already exist (default is false).

Sample:

  vm_disks {
      image_type = "ISO_IMAGE"
      source_image_name = "<myISOimage>"
  }

Network Configuration

Use vm_nics{} entry to configure NICs in your image

In this section, you have to define network you will to connect with one of this keyword :

• subnet_name (string) - Name of the cluster subnet to use.
• subnet_uuid (string) - UUID of the cluster subnet to use.

Sample

  vm_nics {
    subnet_name = "<mySubnet>"
  }

Categories Configuration

Use image_categories{} and vm_categories{} to assign category to your image or vm. If you want to assign multiple categories , use the entry multiple times.

In this section, you have to define category you will to assign with the following parameters:

• key (string) - Name of the category to assign.
• value (string) - Value of the category to assign.

Sample

  image_categories {
    key = "OSType"
    value = "ubuntu-22.04"
  }

Note: Categories must already be present in Prism Central.

GPU Configuration

Use GPU to assign a GPU that is present on cluster-name on the temporary vm. Add the name of the GPU you wish to attach.

Sample

  gpu {
    name = "Ampere 40"
  }

Samples

You can find samples here for these instructions usage.