Create a vSphere Virtual Machine Template
Prerequisites
Users need to create a base OS image in vSphere before starting this procedure.
Build image with Konvoy Image Builder (KIB)
If using GPU, prepare an OS image for your NVIDIA GPU nodepool, using the Konvoy Image Builder instructions here: KIB for GPU
Create a vSphere Template for Your Cluster from a Base OS Image
Using the base OS image created in a previous procedure, DKP creates the new vSphere template directly on the vCenter server.
Set the following vSphere environment variables on the bastion VM host:
CODEexport VSPHERE_SERVER=your_vCenter_APIserver_URL export VSPHERE_USERNAME=your_vCenter_user_name export VSPHERE_PASSWORD=your_vCenter_password
Copy the base OS image file created in the vSphere Client to your desired location on the bastion VM host, and make a note of the path and file name.
Create an
image.yaml
file and add the following variables for vSphere. DKP uses this file and these variables as inputs in the next step.CODE--- download_images: true build_name: "rhel-79" packer_builder_type: "vsphere" guestinfo_datasource_slug: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vmware/cloud-init-vmware-guestinfo" guestinfo_datasource_ref: "v1.4.0" guestinfo_datasource_script: "{{guestinfo_datasource_slug}}/{{guestinfo_datasource_ref}}/install.sh" packer: cluster: "" datacenter: "" datastore: "" folder: "" insecure_connection: "false" network: "" resource_pool: "" template: "base-rhel-7.9" vsphere_guest_os_type: "rhel7_64Guest" guest_os_type: "rhel7-64" # goss params distribution: "RHEL" distribution_version: "7.9" # Use following overrides to select the authentication method that can be used with base template # ssh_username: "" # can be exported as environment variable 'SSH_USERNAME' # ssh_password: "" # can be exported as environment variable 'SSH_PASSWORD' # ssh_private_key_file = "" # can be exported as environment variable 'SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE' # ssh_agent_auth: false # if set to true, ssh_password and ssh_private_key will be ignored
Create a vSphere VM template with your variation of the following command:
CODEkonvoy-image build images/ova/<image.yaml>
The Konvoy Image Builder uses the values in
image.yaml
and the input base OS image to create a vSphere template that contains the required artifacts needed to create a Kubernetes cluster. Give the file a suitable name using this suggested naming convention:creator-ova-vsphere-OS-ver-k8sver-unique_identifier
. As an example, the filename you create might resembledkp-ova-vsphere-rhel-79-1.24.6-1646938922
.
NOTE: To build an image in a GPU environment, use theoverrides/nvidia.yaml
and see the referenced link KIB for GPU.DKP creates the new vSphere template directly on the vCenter server.
Next steps are to deploy a DKP cluster using your vSphere template.