Elastic Compute Service:Create and import an on-premises image with Packer

Build and import the image

The following software versions are used in this example. Operations may vary with your software version.

• On-premises server OS: Ubuntu 16.04

• Target image OS: CentOS 6.9

Step 1: Install KVM

1. Check whether the on-premises server supports KVM:

   egrep "(svm|vmx)" /proc/cpuinfo

   If the output contains vmx or svm, the server supports KVM.

   pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch epb intel_pt tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
   flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov

2. If the server supports KVM, install KVM and related tools:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install qemu-kvm qemu virt-manager virt-viewer  libvirt-bin bridge-utils

3. Verify that KVM is installed.

   1. Verify that the KVM kernel modules are loaded:

      sudo lsmod | grep kvm

      If the modules are loaded, the output contains kvm and kvm_intel or kvm_amd.

   2. Verify that libvirt is installed:

      sudo dpkg -l libvirt-bin

      If installed, the output contains libvirt-bin.

   3. Verify that QEMU is installed:

      sudo dpkg -l qemu-kvm

      If installed, the output contains qemu-kvm.

   If any output is unexpected, reinstall KVM.

Step 2: Install Packer

Install Packer on the on-premises server. See the "Step 1: Install Packer" section in Create a custom image with Packer.

Step 3: Define a Packer template

This example creates a CentOS 6.9 image. To create images for other operating systems, modify the centos.json template. See Create a Packer template.

1. Change the working directory to /usr/local:

   cd /usr/local

2. Download the centos.json template:

   sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-alicloud/main/builder/examples/local/centos.json

3. Download the ks.cfg kickstart file:

   sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-alicloud/main/builder/examples/local/http/centos-6.8/ks.cfg

4. Create the http/centos-6.9 directory:

   sudo mkdir -p http/centos-6.9

5. Move the ks.cfg configuration file to the http/centos-6.9 directory.

   sudo mv ks.cfg http/centos-6.9/

Step 4: Create and import the image

1. Export your AccessKey ID:

   export ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY=<AccessKey ID>

   Replace <AccessKey ID> with your actual AccessKey ID.

2. Export your AccessKey secret:

   export ALICLOUD_SECRET_KEY=<AccessKey Secret>

   Replace <AccessKey Secret> with your actual AccessKey secret.

3. Build the on-premises image and import it to Alibaba Cloud:

   sudo packer build centos.json

   The following output indicates that the image is imported as a custom image to the China (Beijing) region.

   qemu output will be in this color.
    ==> qemu: Downloading or copying ISO
        qemu: Downloading or copying: http://mirrors.aliyun.com/centos/6.9/isos/x86_64/CentOS-6.9-x86_64-minimal.iso
    ................................................
    ==> qemu: Running post-processor: alicloud-import
        qemu (alicloud-import): Deleting import source https://oss-cn-beijing.aliyuncs.com/packer/centos_x86_64
    Build 'qemu' finished.
    ==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are:
    --> qemu: Alicloud images were created:
    cn-beijing: XXXXXXXX

4. Go to ECS console - Images.

5. Select the region specified in centos.json. In this example, select China (Beijing).

6. On the Custom Images tab, verify that the CentOS 6.9 image appears.

Packer template reference

{"variables": {
        "box_basename": "centos-6.9",
        "build_timestamp": "{{isotime \"20060102150405\"}}",
        "cpus": "1",
        "disk_size": "4096",
        "git_revision": "__unknown_git_revision__",
        "headless": "",
        "http_proxy": "{{env `http_proxy`}}",
        "https_proxy": "{{env `https_proxy`}}",
        "iso_checksum_type": "md5",
        "iso_checksum": "af4axxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx192a2",
        "iso_name": "CentOS-6.9-x86_64-minimal.iso",
        "ks_path": "centos-6.9/ks.cfg",
        "memory": "512",
        "metadata": "floppy/dummy_metadata.json",
        "mirror": "http://mirrors.aliyun.com/centos",
        "mirror_directory": "6.9/isos/x86_64",
        "name": "centos-6.9",
        "no_proxy": "{{env `no_proxy`}}",
        "template": "centos-6.9-x86_64",
        "version": "2.1.TIMESTAMP"
      },
    "builders":[
        {
          "boot_command": [
            "<tab> text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/{{user `ks_path`}}<enter><wait>"
          ],
          "boot_wait": "10s",
          "disk_size": "{{user `disk_size`}}",
          "headless": "{{ user `headless` }}",
          "http_directory": "http",
          "iso_checksum": "{{user `iso_checksum`}}",
          "iso_checksum_type": "{{user `iso_checksum_type`}}",
          "iso_url": "{{user `mirror`}}/{{user `mirror_directory`}}/{{user `iso_name`}}",
          "output_directory": "packer-{{user `template`}}-qemu",
          "shutdown_command": "echo 'vagrant'|sudo -S /sbin/halt -h -p",
          "ssh_password": "vagrant",
          "ssh_port": 22,
          "ssh_username": "root",
          "ssh_wait_timeout": "10000s",
          "type": "qemu",
          "vm_name": "{{ user `template` }}.raw",
          "net_device": "virtio-net",
          "disk_interface": "virtio",
          "format": "raw"
        }
      ],
    "provisioners": [{
          "type": "shell",
          "inline": [
                "sleep 30",
                "yum install cloud-util cloud-init -y"
              ]
        }],
      "post-processors":[
        {
          "type":"alicloud-import",
          "oss_bucket_name": "packer",
          "image_name": "packer_import",
          "image_os_type": "linux",
          "image_platform": "CentOS",
          "image_architecture": "x86_64",
          "image_system_size": "40",
          "region":"cn-beijing"
        }
      ]
}

QEMU builder parameters

Packer post-processor parameters