This builds an up-to-date Vagrant Debian Base Box.

Currently this targets Debian 12 (Bookworm).

Usage

Install Packer 1.9+ and Vagrant 2.3+.

Ubuntu Host

On a Ubuntu host, install the dependencies by running the file at:

https://github.com/rgl/xfce-desktop-vagrant/blob/master/provision-virtualization-tools.sh

And you should also install and configure the NFS server. E.g.:

# install the nfs server.
sudo apt-get install -y nfs-kernel-server

# enable password-less configuration of the nfs server exports.
sudo bash -c 'cat >/etc/sudoers.d/vagrant-synced-folders' <<'EOF'
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_CHOWN = /bin/chown 0\:0 /tmp/*
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_MV = /bin/mv -f /tmp/* /etc/exports
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK = /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server status
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_START = /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY = /usr/sbin/exportfs -ar
%sudo ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: VAGRANT_EXPORTS_CHOWN, VAGRANT_EXPORTS_MV, VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK, VAGRANT_NFSD_START, VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY
EOF

For more information see the Vagrant NFS documentation.

Windows Host

On a Windows host, install Chocolatey, then execute the following PowerShell commands in a Administrator PowerShell window:

choco install -y packer vagrant jq msys2

Then open a bash shell by starting C:\tools\msys64\mingw64.exe and install the remaining dependencies:

pacman --noconfirm -Sy make zip unzip tar dos2unix netcat procps xorriso mingw-w64-x86_64-libcdio
for n in /*.ini; do
    sed -i -E 's,^#?(MSYS2_PATH_TYPE)=.+,\1=inherit,g' $n
done
exit

NB The commands described in this README should be executed in a mingw64 bash shell.

qemu-kvm usage

Install qemu-kvm:

apt-get install -y qemu-kvm
apt-get install -y sysfsutils
systool -m kvm_intel -v

Type make build-libvirt and follow the instructions.

Try the example guest:

cd example
apt-get install -y virt-manager libvirt-dev
vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt # see https://github.com/vagrant-libvirt/vagrant-libvirt
vagrant up --provider=libvirt --no-destroy-on-error
vagrant ssh
exit
vagrant destroy -f

proxmox usage

Install proxmox.

NB This assumes proxmox was installed alike rgl/proxmox-ve.

Set your proxmox details:

cat >secrets-proxmox.sh <<EOF
export PROXMOX_URL='https://192.168.1.21:8006/api2/json'
export PROXMOX_USERNAME='root@pam'
export PROXMOX_PASSWORD='vagrant'
export PROXMOX_NODE='pve'
EOF
source secrets-proxmox.sh

Create the template:

make build-proxmox

NB There is no way to use the created template with vagrant (the vagrant-proxmox plugin is no longer compatible with recent vagrant versions). Instead, use packer (e.g. see this repository) or terraform (e.g. see rgl/terraform-proxmox-debian-example).

Hyper-V usage

Install Hyper-V and also install the Windows Sandbox feature (for some reason, installing this makes DHCP work properly in the vEthernet Default Switch).

Make sure your user is in the Hyper-V Administrators group or you run with Administrative privileges.

Make sure your Virtual Switch (its vEthernet network adapter) is excluded from the Windows Firewall protected network connections by executing the following commands in a bash shell with Administrative privileges:

PowerShell -Command 'Get-NetFirewallProfile | Select-Object -Property Name,DisabledInterfaceAliases'
PowerShell -Command 'Set-NetFirewallProfile -DisabledInterfaceAliases (Get-NetAdapter -name "vEthernet*" | Where-Object {$_.ifIndex}).InterfaceAlias'

Create the base image in a bash shell with Administrative privileges:

cat >secrets-hyperv.sh <<'EOF'
# set this value when you need to set the VM Switch Name.
export HYPERV_SWITCH_NAME='Default Switch'
# set this environment variable when you need to set the VM VLAN ID.
#export HYPERV_VLAN_ID=''
# set the credentials that the guest will use
# to connect to this host smb share.
# NB you should create a new local user named _vagrant_share
#    and use that one here instead of your user credentials.
# NB it would be nice for this user to have its credentials
#    automatically rotated, if you implement that feature,
#    let me known!
export VAGRANT_SMB_USERNAME='_vagrant_share'
export VAGRANT_SMB_PASSWORD=''
# remove the virtual switch from the windows firewall.
# NB execute if the VM fails to obtain an IP address from DHCP.
PowerShell -Command 'Set-NetFirewallProfile -DisabledInterfaceAliases (Get-NetAdapter -name "vEthernet*" | Where-Object {$_.ifIndex}).InterfaceAlias'
EOF
source secrets-hyperv.sh
make build-hyperv

Try the example guest:

NB You will need Administrative privileges to create the SMB share.

cd example
# grant $VAGRANT_SMB_USERNAME full permissions to the
# current directory.
# NB you must first install the Carbon PowerShell module
#    with choco install -y carbon.
# TODO set VM screen resolution.
PowerShell -Command 'Import-Module Carbon; Grant-Permission . $env:VAGRANT_SMB_USERNAME FullControl'
vagrant up --provider=hyperv --no-destroy-on-error
vagrant ssh
exit
vagrant destroy -f

VMware vSphere usage

Download govc and place it inside your /usr/local/bin directory.

Set your vSphere details, and test the connection to vSphere:

sudo apt-get install build-essential patch ruby-dev zlib1g-dev liblzma-dev
vagrant plugin install vagrant-vsphere
cat >secrets-vsphere.sh <<EOF
export GOVC_INSECURE='1'
export GOVC_HOST='vsphere.local'
export GOVC_URL="https://$GOVC_HOST/sdk"
export GOVC_USERNAME='administrator@vsphere.local'
export GOVC_PASSWORD='password'
export GOVC_DATACENTER='Datacenter'
export GOVC_CLUSTER='Cluster'
export GOVC_DATASTORE='Datastore'
export VSPHERE_OS_ISO="[$GOVC_DATASTORE] iso/debian-12.8.0-amd64-netinst.iso"
export VSPHERE_ESXI_HOST='esxi.local'
export VSPHERE_TEMPLATE_FOLDER='test/templates'
export VSPHERE_TEMPLATE_NAME="$VSPHERE_TEMPLATE_FOLDER/debian-12-amd64"
export VSPHERE_VM_FOLDER='test'
export VSPHERE_VM_NAME='debian-vagrant-example'
export VSPHERE_VLAN='packer'
# set the credentials that the guest will use
# to connect to this host smb share.
# NB you should create a new local user named _vagrant_share
#    and use that one here instead of your user credentials.
# NB it would be nice for this user to have its credentials
#    automatically rotated, if you implement that feature,
#    let me known!
export VAGRANT_SMB_USERNAME='_vagrant_share'
export VAGRANT_SMB_PASSWORD=''
EOF
source secrets-vsphere.sh
# see https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/blob/master/govc/USAGE.md
govc version
govc about
govc datacenter.info # list datacenters
govc find # find all managed objects

Download the Debian ISO (you can find the full iso URL in the debian.pkr.hcl file) and place it inside the datastore as defined by the vsphere_iso_url user variable that is inside the packer template.

See the example Vagrantfile to see how you could use a cloud-init configuration to configure the VM.

Create the base image:

source secrets-vsphere.sh
make build-vsphere

Try the example guest:

cd example
vagrant up --provider=vsphere --no-destroy-on-error
vagrant ssh
exit
vagrant destroy -f

Preseed

The debian installation iso uses the debian installer (aka d-i) to install debian. During the installation it will ask you some questions and it will also store your answers in the debconf database. After the installation is complete, you can see its contents with the following commands:

sudo su -l
apt-get install debconf-utils
debconf-get-selections --installer
less /var/log/installer/syslog
ls -la /var/log/installer/cdebconf

In reality, before d-i asks a question, it will first look for the answer in its database, if its there, it will automatically continue the installation without asking the question at all.

To automate the installation, the database is populated from a preseed.txt text file. d-i will get its location from the kernel command line url argument. Which will be a http address served by packer during the machine provisioning.

Reference

• Debian Bookworm Appendix B. Automating the installation using preseeding
• Debian Bookworm example-preseed.txt