Using the templatefile function in the http get

[Fred2Tech]

I use the templatefile function to generate a preseed.cfg file, but it doesn't work with the packer-plugin-xenserver plugin, I usually do that with the vmware-iso plugin, which makes it difficult for me to modify the OS installation with a single configuration using a simple -var.

here is build script that i migrate from vmware-iso.

packer {
  required_version = ">= 1.9.4"
  required_plugins {
    xenserver = {
      version = ">= 0.7.4"
      source = "github.com/vatesfr/xenserver"
    }
  }
}

locals {
  build_os_environment_type = var.os_environment_type == "server" ? "Server" : "Desktop"
  data_source_content = {
    "ks.cfg" = templatefile("${path.root}/http/ks.pkrtpl.hcl", {
      os_username              = var.os_username
      os_password              = var.os_password
      os_language              = var.os_language
      os_keyboard              = var.os_keyboard
      os_timezone              = var.os_timezone
      os_ntp_server            = var.os_ntp_server
      http_mirror              = var.http_mirror
      common_data_source       = var.common_data_source
      environment_type_package = var.os_environment_type == "desktop" ? join(" ", var.type_desktop_package) : ""
      network = templatefile("${path.root}/http/network.pkrtpl.hcl", {
        nic     = var.vm_network_device
        ip      = var.vm_ip_address
        netmask = var.vm_ip_netmask
        gateway = var.vm_ip_gateway
        dns     = var.vm_dns_list
      })
      storage = templatefile("${path.root}/http/storage.pkrtpl.hcl", {
        disk       = var.vm_disk_device
        swap       = var.vm_disk_use_swap
        partitions = var.vm_disk_partitions
        lvm        = var.vm_disk_lvm
      })
      additional_packages = join(" ", var.additional_packages)
    })
  }
  data_source_command    = var.common_data_source == "http" ? "url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks.cfg" : "file=/media/ks.cfg"
  mount_cdrom_command    = "<leftAltOn><f2><leftAltOff> <enter><wait> mount /dev/sr1 /media<enter> <leftAltOn><f1><leftAltOff>"
  mount_cdrom            = var.common_data_source == "http" ? " " : local.mount_cdrom_command
  remove_sudoers_user    = var.sudoers_remove == "true" ? var.os_username : "no_user"
  vm_name                = "${var.os_system_name} ${var.os_system_version} ${local.build_os_environment_type}"
}

source "xenserver-iso" "debian" {
  iso_checksum           = var.iso_checksum
  iso_url                = var.iso_url
  sr_iso_name            = var.sr_iso_name
  sr_name                = var.sr_name
  tools_iso_name         = var.tools_iso_name
  remote_host            = var.remote_host
  remote_password        = var.remote_password
  remote_username        = var.remote_username
  http_directory         = var.http_directory
  ip_getter              = var.ip_getter
  boot_command           = [
    "<wait3s>c",
    "linux /install.amd/vmlinuz<spacebar>",
    "auto-install/enable=true<spacebar>",
    "debconf/priority=critical<spacebar>",
    "interface=${var.vm_network_device}<spacebar>",
    "${local.data_source_command}<spacebar>",
    "ipv6.disable=1<spacebar>",
    "noprompt --<enter>",
    "initrd /install.amd/initrd.gz<enter>",
    "boot<enter>",
    "<enter>",
    "<enter>",
    "${local.mount_cdrom}",
    "<down><down><down><down><enter>"
  ]
  firmware               = var.firmware
  boot_wait              = var.boot_wait
  clone_template         = var.clone_template
  vm_name                = local.vm_name
  vm_description         = var.vm_description
  vcpus_max	             = var.vcpus_max
  vcpus_atstartup        = var.vcpus_atstartup
  vm_memory              = var.vm_memory
  network_names          = var.network_names
  disk_size              = var.disk_size
  disk_name              = var.disk_name
  vm_tags                = var.vm_tags
  ssh_username           = var.ssh_username
  ssh_password           = var.ssh_password
  ssh_wait_timeout       = var.ssh_wait_timeout
  ssh_handshake_attempts = var.ssh_handshake_attempts
  output_directory       = "${var.output_directory}/${local.vm_name}"
  keep_vm                = var.keep_vm
  format                 = var.format
  #floppy_files          = []
}

build {
  sources = ["xenserver-iso.debian"]
}

Can you tell me if there is another way to do this?

[nathanael-h]

Hello,
I think you would need http_content instead of http_directory. It would allow you to serve files from variable or template. As of today this is not supported by this packer plugin.
We will probably add the feature soon. But in the meantime, maybe you can switch to use some shell_local commands to output the templated content to a file on disk.

provisioner "shell-local" {
  inline = [
    "cat >${path.root}/generated/preseed.cfg <<'STR'\n${locals.data_source_content}"
  ]
}

Then you could use the generated directory with http_directory

By the way, you should switch to pre-release v.0.9.0 which provides support for On and Off