Find solution
How do I boot ubuntu?

How do I boot Ubuntu Cloud images in vmware?

  • I want to run an Ubuntu cloud image on on VMWare. I just need to know how to set the OVF properties in a way that VMWare understands in order to pass parameters to cloud-init. What I've done Install VMWare Player 4.0.4, using the http://weltall.heliohost.org/wordpress/2012/01/26/vmware-workstation-8-0-2-player-4-0-2-fix-for-linux-kernel-3-2-and-3-3/ to get around the compilation failure for virtual ethernet module. Download http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/precise/current/precise-server-cloudimg-amd64.ovf, and also the precise-server-cloudimg-amd64.img file (compressed QCOW2 format, 220MB) Convert the image from QCOW2 to VMDK: qemu-img convert -O vmdk precise-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk1.img disk.vmdk Edit the OVF <File> element to change the ovf:href and ovf:size to match the output of qemu-img: <File ovf:href="disk.vmdk" ovf:id="file1" ovf:size="689569792"/> Edit the <Disk> element to set sparse VMDK format and desired capacity in bytes (8GB here): <Disk ovf:capacity="8589934592" ovf:diskId="vmdisk1" ovf:fileRef="file1" ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#sparse"/> Remove all the <Property> elements because vmplayer does not recognise them. Configure the VirtualHardwareSection section to set CPU and RAM to taste. Either run the OVF in vmplayer, or convert to vmx and run the vmx: ovftools custom.ovf mymachine.vmx vmplayer mymachine.vmx Unfortunately I can't log in as "ubuntu" at the prompt because the OVF properties haven't been provided to cloud-init. How should I do this?

  • Answer:

    This answer is based on the http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~cloud-init-dev/cloud-init/trunk/view/head:/doc/nocloud/README and gives you cloud-init on VMWare player. Create the file "meta-data", using "localhost" as a guaranteed-to-resolve hostname to avoid DNS timeouts that make sudo take ages in a local hypervisor environment: local-hostname: localhost Create the file "user-data" file for https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CloudInit info. This one sets password to ubuntu, and asks me to change it on first login: #cloud-config password: ubuntu Generate seed.iso from these files: genisoimage -output seed.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data Attach "seed.iso" to the VM before first boot (set it to connect on start), and when grub appears, also add this kernel parameter for the first boot: ds=nocloud-net The machine will boot and configure itself. For future boots, we need to edit edit /etc/default/grub and run "sudo grub-update" to tell it we are not in EC2 (no cloud metadata service): GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=ttyS0 ds=nocloud"

Graham at Ask Ubuntu Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

I have found a way to make the Ubuntu Cloud Images bootable, and put http://askubuntu.com/questions/62688/how-to-set-up-cloud-image-in-virtualbox/155408#155408 Here's the gist of it: mount -o loop cloud-image.img /mnt/image extlinux --install /mnt/image/ echo "DEFAULT /vmlinuz" > /mnt/image/extlinux.conf echo "APPEND root=/dev/sda init=/usr/lib/cloud-init/uncloud-init" \ "ubuntu-pass=ubuntu ds=nocloud" >> /mnt/image/extlinux.conf umount /mnt/image The result is basically a bootable harddisk. You can convert this using whatever tools you have available to suit your virtualization, and (as you can see of the APPEND root=/dev/sda) things might need tweaking depending on what your virtual hardware is (scsi or ide or sata)...

mogsie

This answer relates to precise pangolin, and describes a way to solve this problem without resorting to a CD image (which I couldn't get to work using VMware ESX). It seems the Ubuntu Cloud Images now contain a boot sector (something I can't recall they did earlier). If you do convert the image to vmdk using qemu-img and clean up the OVF as described, you can in fact boot it up into grub without further ado. Grub has a default 5 seconds timeout, so you should be able to edit the boot parameters on the first boot to include: init=/usr/lib/cloud-init/uncloud-init ubuntu-pass=ubuntu ds=nocloud-net console=tty0 This will print everything out to tty0, set the ubuntu password to something known, and force the "uncloud" initialization. and will allow you log in with the credentials provided. Note that the command line is visible for anyone who logs in (cat /proc/cmdline), so you should change the grub configuration after first boot (see below) and reboot. I've had success with this technique using VMware ESX with only vncviewer installed locally; no VMware tools other than ovftool used to upload the ovf to ESX. Presumably the same technique will work with a VMware Player. To make things more permanent modify /etc/default/grub and set add ds=nocloud-net to the command line again to avoid cloud-init making any further changes to your image. Run update-grub to then make it stick and reboot.

mogsie

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.