Packer

This repository is a set of Packer files for creating Windows 2012 R2 templates on VMWare/vSphere and Hyper-V (via VirtualBox).

Pre-requisites

en_windows_server_2012_r2_with_update_x64_dvd_6052708.iso from MSDN/Technet
VirtualBox or VMWare Professional or both.

Conventions/folder structure

.json file - contains 4 Packer definitions. There are 2 definitions per VM:

Creates the base Windows hard drive image and installs 167+ Windows updates on it.
Takes the output from 1) and installs Windows features like IIS and software.

scripts folder - contains Powershell scripts for the two stages. Windows updates are done via the answer file, as WinRM can't run Windows updates. The rest is done via WinRM in Packer.
answerfiles - This contains the Windows answer file that Windows needs for automated setups. It contains a default user "packer/packer" and volume licence keys from Microsoft KMS.
vmtype_stageN_xxx.ps - These scripts run packer targetting the .json file and one of the named builders.

Stages

The build up of the images is done in stages:

Install Windows from the ISO, run Windows update, enable WinRM.
Enable the Windows feature roles like IIS, install software
Install our own applications (these scripts aren't part of this repository).
(Hyper-V and VirtualBox only) convert the disk to Hyper-V format.

Each stage feeds from the previous stage by launching VMWare/VirtualBox/AWS using the VM image or AMI from the previous stage. This means you can update an image quickly with new software by skipping the long-winded Windows install-and-update stage, and role installation.

Disks

Each definition has 120gb hard drive. This has two partitions - 80gb for Windows on C:, and 40gb for the D: drive which is best practice for website folders.

The AWS definition does this using two drives/volumes instead of one.

VMWare (vSphere)

The vSphere Packer builder section of the json file is for creating servers, usually web servers. This is done by creating VMWare .vmx files using Packer and VMWare Professional (it's about £100 a licence).

VirtualBox/Hyper-V

The VirtualBox Packer builder definition in the json file is for creating a developer desktop, it is converted from VirtualBox to HyperV for performance benefits (that are negligible according to some, massive according to others). This is done in the stage4 script.

AWS

The AWS builder definition in the JSON file creates an AMI based off the Amazon Windows 2012 r2 AMI. Like the VMWare builder, it installs various Windows Server features. As the Amazon AMI is already updated, it doesn't need to run Windows the update stage. It enables WinRM and partitions the disks as part of its AWS user date file (AWS's equivalent to the answer file).

Getting started

Make sure the MSDN Windows 2012 R2 ISO is in the /iso/ folder ("en_windows_server_2012_r2_with_update_x64_dvd_6052708.iso").
You will need VirtualBox or VMWare professional installed to run the scripts.

The story of the Packer journey

🔫 🔫 🔫 🔫 🔫

There have been quite a few hicups, learnings and annoyances on the way:

OVFtool.exe has some bad error messages
Vagrant's vSphere plugin is broken (see below)
VMWare tools doesn't appear to install when done via Packer, it hangs (Windows 10).
VMWare tools on the VMWare site only has the latest version, killing scripts relying on older-versions.
You only need to use Boxstarter for older Windows Servers (< 2012)
Sysprep, the SID gift that keeps on giving.
OpenSSH isn't necessary, plus there is a Microsoft implementation now (but it doesn't work with Vagrant).
You shall not get an updated (official) Win2012 Server ISO, you have to spend an hour in Windows Update every time.
WinRM needs a huge ceremony before you can connect to the VM (Packer does this for you).
You can't run Windows updates inside WinRM.

Resources/references

Most of this repository was built from a huge amount of open source examples/tools/hacks to get the bitty Windows automation tacked together.

Extra VMWare notes

Pushing the VMX file into vSphere and marking it as a template

And the tools to push the VMX file into vSphere:

OVF Tool

You need a very elaborate set of of roles to push to VSphere (see below) to run ovftool.

# If you get errors like 'Found no hosts in target cluster to deploy on. Cannot deploy to an empty cluster' make sure you have the correct permissions

$username = $env:USERNAME

ovftool --acceptAllEulas `
--overwrite=true `
--vCloudTemplate `
--X:logLevel=verbose `
--noSSLVerify=false `
--datastore={DATASTORE-NAME} `
--diskMode=thick `
"--name={TEMPLATE-NAME}" `
--network={NETWORK=NAME} `
"--vmFolder=Folder1/Folder2" `
output-vmware-iso\packer-vmware-iso.vmx `
"vi://$username%40DOMAIN.COM@{SERVER}/Path/To/Your/Template-Container"

VSphere Permissions

These are courtesy of this blog. You may also need read on ALL the data centers too.

#####Role settings

Datastore
Allocate space
Browse datastore
Remove file
Update virtual machine file
Global
Log event
Cancel task
Host
Create virtual machine
Delete virtual machine
Reconfigure virtual machine
Network
Assign network
Resource
Assign virtual machine to resource pool
Tasks
Create task
Update task
Virtual machine
Configuration
Add new disk
Add or remove device
Advanced
Change CPU count
Change resource
Configure ManagedBy
Memory
Modify device settings
Remove disk
Rename
Settings
Swap file placement
Guest operations
Guest Operations Modifications
Interaction
Power on
Power off
Reset
Suspend
VMware Tools install
Inventory
Create from existing
Create new
Move
Register
Remove
Unregister
Provisioning
Allow disk access
Clone template
Clone virtual machine
Customize
Deploy template
Mark as virtual machine
Read customization speceifications

Starting a new VM using the template

At this time (Feb 2016) there is a bug in the Vagrant vSphere plugin stopping it from communicating via WinRM to the new VM. However for our needs Vagrant is probably over kill anyway. We use the Hyper-V Powershell API (built into Windows 10) and the vSphere Powershel CLI:

VMWare/vSphere

function SleepAndNotify($message, $minutes)
{
    Write-host $message -ForegroundColor Green

    for ($i = 1;$i -le $minutes;$i++)
    {
        Sleep -Seconds 60

        $remaining = $minutes - $i
        Write-host "Waiting $remaining minutes..."
    }
}

#=====================================================================================
# Create and start a VMs and get its IP
#=====================================================================================
# To lookup names, use Get-Cluster, Get-Template, Get-folder etc - these return a list.
$templateName = "Win2012R2Standard"

$cluster = Get-Cluster -Name "YOUR_CLUSTER_NAME"
$template = Get-Template -Name $templateName
$datastore = Get-Datastore -Name "YOUR_DATASTORE"
$resourcePool = Get-ResourcePool -Name "YOUR_RESOURCE_POOL_NAME"
$folder = get-folder -Name "YOUR_FOLDER_NAME"

Write-host "Creating VM from the $templateName template..." -ForegroundColor Green
Connect-VIServer YOUR_VSPHERE_SERVER
$vm = New-VM -Name $vmName -Template $template -ResourcePool $resourcePool -Datastore $datastore -Location $folder

Write-host "Starting the VM..." -ForegroundColor Green
Start-VM $vm

SleepAndNotify "Waiting 3 minutes for an IP to appear..." 3

$vm = Get-VM $vmName
$ip = $vm.Guest.IPAddress[0]
if (!$ip)
{
	Write-host "No ip found for the VM, aborting." -ForegroundColor Yellow
	exit;
}

Write-Host "The IP of the VM is $ip"

#=====================================================================================
# Open up WinRM without encryption
#=====================================================================================
winrm quickconfig
winrm set winrm/config/client/auth '@{Basic="true"}'
winrm set winrm/config/client '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value "$ip" -Force

#=====================================================================================
# Connect to the server using WinRM
#=====================================================================================
$adminPassword = "changeme"
$securePassword = convertto-securestring -AsPlainText -Force -String $adminPassword
$cred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist "administrator", $securePassword
$session = new-pssession -computername $ip -credential $cred -Authentication Basic

Write-host "Sys-preping the server (and rebooting)..." -ForegroundColor Green
invoke-command -Session $session -ScriptBlock { C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /reboot /quiet /unattend:D:\Autounattend-sysprep.xml }

Hyper-V

# Create and start a new VM
new-vm -name "dev-desktop" -VHDPath "output-virtualbox-devdesktop\hyper-v-output\Virtual Hard Disks\disk.vhd"
start-vm dev-desktop

AWS

# Work in progress...

shizzlator / Packer