Anka VM Clone

Type: veertu-anka-vm-clone

The veertu-anka-vm-clone Packer builder is able to clone existing Anka VM Templates for use with the Anka Virtualization package and the Anka Build Cloud. The builder takes a source VM name, clones it, and then runs any provisioning necessary on the new VM Template before stopping or suspending it.

The builder does not manage templates. Once a template is created, it is up to you to use it or delete it.

Important Notes

In Anka 3.0 we now require a tagged source VM before cloning in order to share the underlying .ank image and optimize disk space. If your source VM is not tagged yet, we will assign one . We highly recommend pushing this VM Template/Tag to your registry so disk usage is optimized.

Interrupted or failed builds: With Packer's -on-error=ask, choosing [a] abort without cleanup leaves the cloned VM on disk for inspection (no anka delete). Choosing [c] clean up still removes it. See issue #94.

Configuration Reference

There are many configuration options available for the builder. They are segmented below into two categories: required and optional parameters.

Required Configuration

• source_vm_name (String) The VM to clone for provisioning, either stopped or suspended.

• type (String) Must be veertu-anka-vm-clone.

Optional Configuration

• vm_name (String) The name for the VM that is created.

  Generated using the source_vm_name if not provided: ({{ source_vm_name }}-{10RandomChars}).

• vcpu_count (String) The number of vCPU cores, defaults to 2.

• ram_size (String) The size in "[0-9]+G" format, defaults to 2G.

• disk_size (String) The size in "[0-9]+G" format, defaults to 25G.

  We will automatically resize the internal disk for you by executing diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0 inside of the VM. IMPORTANT: Changing the clone's disk size will break the layer sharing with the root and double disk space usage. Change the disk size of the source template, then clone from it instead.

• stop_vm (Boolean) Whether or not to stop the vm after it has been created, defaults to false.

• display_controller (string) The display controller to set (run anka modify VMNAME set display --help to see available options).

• always_fetch (Boolean) Always pull the source VM from the registry. Defaults to false.

• boot_delay (String) The time to wait before running packer provisioner commands, defaults to 7s.

• wait_for_networking (Boolean) When enabled (the default), after boot_delay the builder runs anka run with a short shell loop that pings 8.8.8.8 until one reply succeeds (up to 120 attempts, one second apart) so basic guest connectivity is up before Packer continues—for example before shell provisioners that curl the internet. Set to false to skip that step. The check runs after boot_delay and does not change boot_delay itself. If your environment blocks ICMP to 8.8.8.8, set this to false and use another strategy (such as a longer boot_delay or a provisioner that retries).

• cacert (String) Path to a CA Root certificate.

• cert (String) Path to your node's client certificate to use for registry communication (if certificate authorization is enabled).

• insecure (Boolean) Skip TLS verification.

• key (String) Path to your node's client certificate key, if the cert certificate doesn't contain one, to use for registry communication (if certificate authorization is enabled).

• hw_uuid (String) (Anka 2 only) The Hardware UUID you wish to set (usually generated with uuidgen).

• port_forwarding_rules (Struct)

  If port forwarding rules are already set and you want to not have them fail the packer build, use packer build --force.

  • port_forwarding_guest_port (Int)
  • port_forwarding_host_port (Int)
  • port_forwarding_rule_name (String)

• registry-path (String) The registry URL (will use your default configuration if not set).

• remote (String) The registry name (will use your default configuration if not set).

  This takes priority in Anka 3 and registry-path will be ignored.

• source_vm_tag (String) Specify the tag of the VM we want to clone instead of using the default. Also the tag to target when pulling from the registry (defaults to latest tag).

• update_addons (Boolean) (Anka 2 only) Update the vm addons. Defaults to false.

• use_anka_cp (Boolean) Use built in anka cp command. Defaults to false.

Example

Here is an example that uses the file and shell provisioners.

variable "source_vm_name" {
  type = string
  default = "anka-packer-base-macos"
}

variable "vm_name" {
  type = string
  default = "anka-packer-from-source"
}

source "veertu-anka-vm-clone" "clone" {
  vm_name = "${var.vm_name}"
  source_vm_name = "${var.source_vm_name}"
}

build {
  sources = [
    "source.veertu-anka-vm-clone.clone",
  ]
  provisioner "file" {
    destination = "/private/tmp/"
    source      = "./examples/ansible"
  }
  provisioner "shell" {
    inline = [
      "[[ ! -d /tmp/ansible ]] && exit 100",
      "touch /tmp/ansible/test1"
    ]
  }
  provisioner "file" {
    destination = "./"
    direction   = "download"
    source      = "/private/tmp/ansible/test1"
  }
  provisioner "shell-local" {
    inline = [
      "[[ ! -f ./test1 ]] && exit 200",
      "rm -f ./test1"
    ]
  }
}