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Build Kubernetes VM Image

In this section we will build a VM image using Hashicorp Packer Automation.

stateDiagram
    direction LR
    BuildVMImage --> CreateManagementCluster
    state BuildVMImage{
        direction LR
        Sucessful? --> UploadtoPC
    }

This image will be uploaded to Prism Central which will then be used by clusterctl utility to build VMs upon which Kubernetes will be deployed.

Since the image needs quite a bit of packages to be installed it makes sense for this process to be automated. It is a good idea to have this image immutable so production workloads are not disturbed by OS or software upgrades.

Packages include the following (not limited to):

  • Kubernetes binaries (version determined by logic in this image-builder/images/capi/hack/image-new-kube.py script - you will download as you follow steps in this lab)
  • CSI drivers
  • Containerd binaries

Step to Build a Workstation

Follow the steps here to build a workstation

Steps to Building Image

Note

All steps to build the VM image are from Nutanix section of the Open Source Image Builder Book

  1. Login to your workstation

  2. Ensure you have git installed

    git version

  3. Clone this repository

    git clone https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/image-builder.git

  4. Run the command to install Ansible and Packer

    cd image-builder/images/capi/
make deps-nutanix

  5. Change to the following directory and provide your Nutanix Prism Central information. This is where you will build and store the image

    cd packer/nutanix/
vi nutanix.json

    {
 "force_deregister": "true",
 "nutanix_cluster_name": "Name of PE Cluster",
 "nutanix_endpoint": "Prism Central IP / FQDN",
 "nutanix_insecure": "true",
 "nutanix_password": "PrismCentral_Password",
 "nutanix_port": "9440",
 "nutanix_subnet_name": "Name of Subnet",
 "nutanix_username": "PrismCentral_Username",
 "scp_extra_vars": ""
}

    {
 "force_deregister": "true",
 "nutanix_cluster_name": "pe.example.com",
 "nutanix_endpoint": "pc.example.com",
 "nutanix_insecure": "true",
 "nutanix_password": "XXXXXX",
 "nutanix_port": "9440",
 "nutanix_subnet_name": "MY-PE-SUBNET-VLAN-0",
 "nutanix_username": "admin",
 "scp_extra_vars": ""
}

  6. Once this file is saved with your Nutanix cluster specific information. Run the following command to intialise and build the ubuntu-2204 image.

    make build-nutanix-ubuntu-2204

    Tip

    You can also logon to Prism Central UI to check the Tasks to see the Image build activities.

    Feel free to build other OS images as well and use them as OS in your kubernetes clusters.

    Command output - This will take about 13 minutes
    < output snipped　>
==> nutanix: Creating image(s) from virtual machine ubuntu-2204-kube-v1.24.11...
 nutanix: Found disk to copy: SCSI:0
 nutanix: Image successfully created: ubuntu-2204-kube-v1.24.11 (ec76c3ce-57c9-4f4f-b9fb-1e3f92157280)
==> nutanix: Deleting virtual machine...
    nutanix: Virtual machine successfully deleted
==> nutanix: Running post-processor: custom-post-processor (type shell-local)
==> nutanix (shell-local): Running local shell script: /var/folders/fn/40xgq_sx74s6qbr42534mbwc0000gn/T/packer-shell2304847137
Build 'nutanix' finished after 13 minutes 23 seconds.

==> Wait completed after 13 minutes 23 seconds

==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are:
--> nutanix: ubuntu-2204-kube-v1.24.11
--> nutanix: ubuntu-2204-kube-v1.24.11  # <<< note this down

You can use the ubuntu-2204-kube-v1.24.11 image name in the next section to create VMs on which you will install Kubernetes.