Reference for building PhotonOS Virtual Appliance (OVA) using Packer

Changes to the original version

• Packer.io builder from vmware-iso to vsphere-iso

Changed files:

• photon.json
• photon.xml.template
• photon.xml
• photon-kickstart.json
• photon-settings.sh
• unregister_vm.ps1
• add_ovf_properties.sh

Requirements

• MacOS or Linux Desktop
• vCenter Server or Standalone ESXi host 6.x or greater
• VMware OVFTool
• Packer

packer builds the OVA on a remote ESXi host via the vmware-iso builder. This builder requires the SSH service running on the ESXi host, as well as GuestIPHack enabled via the command below.

esxcli system settings advanced set -o /Net/GuestIPHack -i 1

Step 1 - Clone the git repository

git clone https://github.com/mdhemmi/photonos-appliance.git

Step 2 - Edit the photon-builder.json file to configure the vSphere endpoint for building the PhotonOS appliance

{
  "builder_host": "192.168.30.10",
  "builder_host_username": "root",
  "builder_host_password": "VMware1!",
  "builder_host_datastore": "vsanDatastore",
  "builder_host_portgroup": "VM Network"
}

Note: If you need to change the initial root password on the PhotonOS appliance, take a look at photon-version.json and http/photon-kickstart.json. When the OVA is produced, there is no default password, so this does not really matter other than for debugging purposes.

Step 3 - Start the build by running the build script which simply calls Packer and the respective build files

./build.sh

If you wish to automatically deploy the PhotonOS appliance after successfully building the OVA. You can edit the photon-dev.xml.template file and change the ovftool_deploy_* variables and run ./build.sh dev instead.