Skip to content

Packer

Packer builds cloud-init-enabled VM templates on Proxmox.

Quick Start

# Build Ubuntu Server template
task packer:build-ubuntu ENV=wil

# Build Debian Bookworm template
task packer:build-debian ENV=wil

# Build Netboot VM template
task packer:build-netboot ENV=wil

# Clean up logs and ISOs
task packer:clean

Templates

Template File Description
Ubuntu Server ubuntu-server-base.pkr.hcl Ubuntu Server with Docker, Node Exporter, Lazydocker
Debian Bookworm debian-bookworm-base.pkr.hcl Debian base with Docker
Netboot — PXE boot template

Templates produce images named <template>-<env>-base (e.g., ubuntu-server-wil-base).

What Templates Include

The Ubuntu Server template (primary) installs:

  1. Cloud-init configuration for Proxmox
  2. Docker and Docker Compose
  3. Lazydocker (terminal UI for Docker)
  4. Node Exporter v1.9.1 (Prometheus metrics)
  5. Cleanup (remove SSH keys, machine ID, apt cache)

File Structure

packer/
├── templates/
│   ├── ubuntu-server-base.pkr.hcl      # Ubuntu template definition
│   └── debian-bookworm-base.pkr.hcl    # Debian template definition
└── environments/
    ├── wil/
    │   ├── ubuntu-variables.pkrvars.hcl     # Ubuntu build variables
    │   ├── debian-variables.pkrvars.hcl     # Debian build variables
    │   └── credentials.wil.pkrvars.hcl      # Proxmox API tokens (encrypted)
    └── ldn/

Key Variables

Variable Description
proxmox_api_url Proxmox API endpoint (e.g., https://proxmox:8006/api2/json)
proxmox_api_token_id API token ID (e.g., packer@pve!packer)
proxmox_api_token_secret API token secret (encrypted)
proxmox_node Target Proxmox node
environment Environment name (used in template naming)
template_prefix Template name prefix (e.g., ubuntu-server)
cores CPU cores for build VM
memory RAM for build VM
disk_size Disk size for template
iso_file ISO path on Proxmox storage

Credentials

Proxmox API credentials are stored in SOPS-encrypted files:

# Edit credentials
sops packer/environments/wil/credentials.wil.pkrvars.hcl

Troubleshooting

401 Unauthorized — The Proxmox API token is invalid or lacks permissions. Verify the token in credentials.<env>.pkrvars.hcl (decrypt with sops). The token needs VM.Allocate, VM.Clone, Datastore.AllocateSpace, and related permissions.

Template name conflict — A template with the same name already exists. Delete the old template from Proxmox first: qm destroy <vmid>.

ISO not found — The iso_file path must match an ISO uploaded to Proxmox storage. Check with pvesm list <storage> on the Proxmox host.

Build hangs at SSH — The VM can't reach the internet for package installation, or cloud-init hasn't configured networking. Check Proxmox network bridge and VLAN settings.