Deploy Instance from Content Library

Content libraries (CLibs) are container objects for VM and vApp (OVF) templates and other types of files, such as ISO images, text files, and so on across multiple vCenter Server instances in the same or remote locations which ensures consistency and compliance when deploying virtual machine workloads.

The VSS Command Line Interface provides access to the Content Libraries available in the ITS Private Cloud via the VSS API allowing faster deployment compared to the from-image method.

There are currently three types of Content Library Items available:

OVF virtual machines.
VM Templates.
ISO Images.

Aforementioned items can be browsed with the following commands:

vss-cli compute contentlib --help

Usage: vss-cli compute contentlib [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Manage Manage Content Library Items.

  Virtual Machine templates, OVF, ISO and other items.

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  iso  Browse current ISO images
  ovf  Browse current OVF images
  vm   Browse Virtual Machine Templates

vApp (OVF) Template

This example describes the steps to deploy a virtual machine via the content library, specifically the image ubuntu-2004-focal-server-cloudimg-amd64 using the ClodInit package to customize the operating system by injecting the following cloud-init.yaml file as a NoCloud datasoource created and mounted by the VSS API.

#cloud-config
hostname: vm-from-clib
timezone: America/Toronto
fqdn: vm-from-clib.eis.utoronto.ca

ntp:
  enabled: true
  ntp_client: ntp
  servers:
    - 128.100.56.135
    - 128.100.100.128

# Add users to the system.
# Users are added after groups are added.
users:
  - name: root
    passwd: $6$....
    ssh_authorized_keys:
      - "ssh-rsa .... "
  - name: vss-admin
    gecos: VSS Admin
    sudo: ALL=(ALL) ALL
    groups: users, admin
    ssh_import_id: None
    lock_passwd: false
    shell: /bin/bash
    passwd: $6$....
    ssh_authorized_keys:
      - "ssh-rsa ..."

packages:
  - ntp
  - git
  - nginx
  - httpie
  - postfix
  - firewalld
  - mailutils
  - python3-venv
  - python3-dev
  - build-essential
  - inetutils-traceroute
  - docker-ce
  - docker-ce-cli
  - containerd.io

apt:
  sources:
    docker.list:
      source: deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $RELEASE stable
      keyid: 9DC858229FC7DD38854AE2D88D81803C0EBFCD88

write_files:
- path: /etc/update-motd.d/10-motd-vss
  permissions: '0755'
  content: |
    #!/bin/bash

    INSTANCE_ID=`vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.instance.id"`
    INSTANCE_NAME=`vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.instance.name"`
    printf "\n"
    printf "  University of Toronto ITS Private Cloud Instance\n"
    printf "\n"
    printf "  Name:     $INSTANCE_NAME\n"
    printf "  ID:       $INSTANCE_ID\n"
- path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/50-ut-eis-vss.conf
  owner: root
  content: |
    Port 2226
    PermitRootLogin without-password
    PasswordAuthentication yes
    PubkeyAuthentication yes
    X11Forwarding no
    UseDNS no
- path: /etc/firewalld/services/ssh_2226.xml
  content: |
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <service>
      <short>SSH-2226</short>
      <description>SSH service on port 2226</description>
      <port protocol="tcp" port="2226"/>
    </service>
- path: /etc/sysctl.d/60-disable-ipv6.conf
  owner: root
  content: |
    net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1
    net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6=1
- path: /etc/bash.bashrc
  append: true
  content: |
    # vim:ts=4:sw=4
    export HISTTIMEFORMAT="%F %T "
    export HISTFILESIZE=1000
    export HISTSIZE=1000


    PROMPT_COMMAND=$(history -a)
    typeset -r PROMPT_COMMAND

    trap 'logger -p local1.notice -t bash -i -- "$USER":"$BASH_COMMAND"' DEBUG

runcmd:
- chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/50-motd-news
- chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/10-help-text
- sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1
- sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6=1
- systemctl enable firewalld
- systemctl start --no-block firewalld
- firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=ssh_2226
- firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https
- firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
- firewall-cmd --reload
- systemctl start --no-block nginx
- touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled

package_update: true
package_upgrade: true
package_reboot_if_required: true
power_state:
  delay: now
  mode: reboot
  message: Rebooting the OS
  condition: if [ -e /var/run/reboot-required ]; then exit 0; else exit 1; fi

final_message: "The system is finally up, after $UPTIME seconds"

Once the cloud-init.yaml file is updated with your ssh-keys, hashed passwords, and packages to be installed, execute the following command:

vss-cli --wait compute vm mk from-clib \
--memory 4 --cpu 2 \
--source ubuntu-2004-focal-server-cloudimg-amd64 \
--disk 10 \
--description 'Content Library deployment + cloud config' \
--client EIS --os ubuntu64Guest --usage Prod \
--folder APIDemo --net VL-1584-VSS-PUBLIC \
--extra-config disk.EnableUUID=TRUE \
--user-data cloud-init.yaml \
--storage-type ssd \
--power-on \
vm-from-clib

id                  : 5501
status              : IN_PROGRESS
task_id             : 8b68bd8a-3293-4caf-988e-b9f0ac2b8efd
message             : Request has been accepted for processing
⏳ Waiting for request 5501 to complete...
🎉 Request 5501 completed successfully:
warnings            : Fault Domain: FD4 (domain-c66),
                      Created in: VSS > Sandbox > jm > APIDemo (group-v6736),
                      Network adapter 1 (vmxnet3): 00:50:56:92:bb:06: VL-1584-VSS-PUBLIC,
                      User data will be applied.,
                      Successfully allocated 00:50:56:92:bb:06 -> 142.1.217.xxx,
                      user-data iso vm-51385-ud.iso has been mounted
                      Successfully powered on.
errors              :

After a couple of minutes, a new virtual machine has been deployed and should be available via the public ip address assigned on port 2226 with everything in the cloud-init.yaml descriptor configured and installed:

Virtual Machine Template

We are working to get preconfigured virtual machine templates and will update the documentation when ready.