(2020/11/10) Added Photon OS 3.0 template; validated usage with Packer 1.6.5.

(2020/10/03) Reorganized the structure of the repository for an easier consumption (manual and through pipelines). I also validated usage with Packer 1.6.4.

(2020/04/27) Added support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fosssa).

(2020/02/18) I updated my template to leverage the vsphere-iso builder (instead of vmware-iso); The vsphere-iso builder, previously maintained by JetBrains, has been merged with the Packer core in Packer 1.5.2. It will be officially supported by the Packer team at HashiCorp moving forward.

I moved to the vsphere-iso builder for 2 main reasons:

• This builder uses the vSphere API and does neither require the SSH service running on the ESXi host nor ESXi host modification (GuestIPHack enabled).
• I can use a distributed port group to connect my template during the creation.

Note: Ubuntu 18.04.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) and Photon OS 3.0 are the only templates provided in this repository for now. Others coming soon, stay tuned!

Step 1 - Clone the git repository.

Step 2 - Edit the respective JSON files, e.g. ubuntu/ubuntu-18.04.json file or photon/photon-3.0.json

Step 3 - Adapt one of the cloud definition JSON file to your environment (you will find them in the clouds folder).

Step 4 - Build the template(s).

• Either manually by using the packer CLI: packer build -var-file=../clouds/var-infra-z57.json ubuntu-18.04.json
• Or by using a quick script, e.g.: ./ubuntu/build-ubuntu-18.04.sh

• Add support for additional OS (PhotonOS, Debian, CentOS, Windows)
• Zero the disk before export
• Use the Content Library to store the ISOs
• Export the result in the Content Library
• Migrate from JSON to HCL2