vSphere FIPS: Create an Image

Creating a base OS image from DVD ISO files is a one-time process. The base OS image file is created in the vSphere Client for use in the vSphere VM template. Therefore, the base OS image is used by Konvoy Image Builder (KIB) to create a VM template to configure Kubernetes nodes by the DKP vSphere provider.

Create the Base OS Image

For vSphere, a username is populated by SSH_USERNAME and the user can use authorization via SSH_PASSWORD or SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE environment variables and required by default by packer. This user should have administrator privileges. It is possible to configure a custom user and password when building the OS image, however, that requires the Konvoy Image Builder (KIB) configuration to be overridden.

While creating the base OS image, it is important to take into consideration the following elements:

• Storage configuration: D2iQ recommends customizing disk partitions and not configuring a SWAP partition.

• Network configuration: as KIB must download and install packages, activating the network is required.

• Connect to Red Hat: if using RHEL, registering with Red Hat is required to configure software repositories and install software packages.

• Software selection: D2iQ recommends choosing Minimal Install.

• DKP recommends to install with the packages provided by the operating system package managers. Use the version that corresponds to the major version of your operating system.

Next Step:

The next step is to vSphere FIPS: Create a CAPI VM Template Image. The image contains the CAPI and Kubernetes objects.