Packer Proxmox Templates

Create a Proxmox templates using Packer

Supported Builds

• Debian 12
• Debian 13
• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04

Build Image Template with Script

Validate Ubuntu 20.04

./packer.sh --os ubuntu -os-version '20.04'

Build Ubuntu 20.04

./packer.sh build --os ubuntu -os-version '20.04'

Build Ubuntu 20.04 and create log, force, and debug

./packer.sh build --os ubuntu --os-version '20.04' --log ./ubuntu.log --build-options '-force -debug'

Encrypted Secrets

The script, packer.sh uses SOPS and AGE to decrypt secrets. To use this functionality the following items need to be configured.

1. Install SOPS
2. Install AGE
3. Generate an AGE key
4. Set SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE environment variable equal to the AGE key path.

The script will look for secrets in proxmox.secrets.env, ${OS}.secrets.env ${OS}-${OS_VERSION}.secrets.env.

Variable substitution

The packer.sh script exports secret variables and uses envsubst to replace variables in those files. Files with the file extension .envsubst will have variables, (e.g. ${VARIABLE_NAME}) replaced. The new files will include the original file name without the .envsubst file extension.

Variables can be defined in multiple env files, but the OS version (e.g. ${OS}-${OS_VERSION}.secrets.env) will supercede entries also defined in OS secrets.

Variables

variable	default	required	description
proxmox_host	${PKR_VAR_PROXMOX_HOST}	Yes	Proxmox FQDN host name and port
proxmox_node	${PKR_VAR_PROXMOX_NODE}	Yes	Proxmox node name
proxmox_user	${PKR_VAR_PROXMOX_USER}	Yes	Proxmox user name
proxmox_password	${PKR_VAR_PROXMOX_PASSWORD}	No	Proxmox password
proxmox_token	${PKR_VAR_PROXMOX_TOKEN}	No	Proxmox api token
iso		Yes	URL to an ISO which will upload to Proxmox
iso_checksum		Yes	Checksum of the ISO
iso_storage_pool	local	No	Proxmox storage pool to upload the ISO
vmid		No	Proxmox virtual machine ID
template_name		Yes	Name of template in Proxmox
template_description		No	Proxmox notes field
os		Yes	Operating system type
memory	1024	No	Memory in MB
cores	1	No	Number of CPU cores
sockets	1	No	Number of CPU sockets
disk_size	20GB	No	The size of the disk including a unit suffix
disk_pool	local-lvm	No	Name of Proxmox storage pool
disk_pool_type	lvm-thin	No	Type of the pool
enable_cloud_init	False	No	Add Cloud init drive to disk_pool location
ssh_user	${PKR_VAR_SSH_USER}	No	SSH user
ssh_password	${PKR_VAR_SSH_PASSWORD}	Yes	SSH password
http_port_min	8305	No	Minimum port number for the Packer HTTP server
http_port_max	8309	No	Maximum port number for the Packer HTTP server
boot_wait	6s	No	Seconds to wait before entering the boot command
boot_command		Yes	Boot command to auto install Ubuntu
ansible_inventory		No	Path to existing Ansible inventory

Additional Variable Information

proxmox_user: Proxmox user account must be in the format user@domain!token_name. If a Proxmox password is used omit the token_name.

proxmox_password: Either the password or the token must be provided. The token is preferred. If both are given the token will take precedence. If a password is given the token name may be omitted from the proxmox_user.

proxmox_token: Either the token or the password must be provided. The token is preferred. If both are given the token will take precedence. If a token is given the token name must be included in the proxmox_user.

ssh_password: If PKR_VAR_SSH_PASSWORD is defined packer.sh will use python to generate a hashed password and store it in SSH_PASSWORD_HASH.

boot_wait: Depending on your hardware, adjust the boot wait time. Too short or too long, and the automated boot sequence will not execute.

Other Configuration

Ansible Provisioner

The Packer build uses the Ansible Provisioner to accomplish the following tasks:

• Update and clean up installed apt packages.
• Remove the machine-id.
• Update netplan for use with Cloud Init.
• Prepare and Cloud Init.

Cloud Init

The template, 99_pve.cfg.j2, defines Cloud Init configuration. The file accomplishes the following:

• Set time zone.
• Allow cloud init to define the default user.
• Upgrade installed packages.
• Grow the partition to fit the disk size assigned in Cloud Init.
• Apply netplan.
• Create a birth certificate when child machines are created.
• Update the hostname file.