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hashicorp / packer-plugin-vsphere

Packer plugin for VMware vSphere Builder
https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/vsphere
Mozilla Public License 2.0
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VMs created with EFI missing the `chipset.motherboardLayout` setting #472

Open realroywalker opened 1 month ago

realroywalker commented 1 month ago

Overview of the Issue

When creating a VM (vCenter / ESX 8.0 Update 3) using the vSphere ISO method, the resulting VM works fine but does not contain the option 'chipset.motherboardLayout' when inspecting the VMX file for the VM. If a VM is created using the vSphere UI (with the same hardware configuration) this line IS present in the file (it is set to 'acpi').

The line being missing causes problems when exporting and then re-importing the VM from a vCenter, since when it's imported the missing line gets added - the result of this is that the PCI IDs for the VM change, so internal OS IDs for things like the network interfaces change. For example in my Linux VM 'ens192' becomes 'ens33'.

The issue of changing PCI IDs is detailed here; https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/313466/virtual-device-pci-slot-changes-upon-upg.html which led me to inspect that property - but even though my Packer built VM is being created on hardware version 21 it is not present. I also confirmed the workaround they list, which does solve the issue but requires manual intervention to the VMX. I tried to use the 'configuration_parameters' option of the Packer plugin to add this option and set it to 'acpi' so that my PCI IDs remain the same regardless of whether the VM has been exported / re-imported, but the option doesn't appear to get set.

Reproduction Steps

Deploy a VM using vSphere ISO (I'm using RHEL9 not that should matter) - configuration is simply setting basic CPU, RAM etc.. nothing to specify the hardware version, so it defaults to the latest (21 in my case) and use EFI.

Packer Version

Plugin Version and Builders

Please select the builder.

VMware vSphere Version

Guest Operating System

Simplified Packer Buildfile

Unfortunately I cannot access the buildfile - the build config is noted above, it is nothing special just a simple install from ISO.

Operating System and Environment Details

tenthirtyam commented 1 month ago

Can you confirm the same but without the export to OVF and reimport - does it occur with just using the template after being build and then cloned for a new VM?

tenthirtyam commented 1 month ago

Can you also confirm that if you build a VM manually (not using Packer) and perform the same operation steps that there is a different outcome?

tenthirtyam commented 1 month ago

Some additional reference:

https://williamlam.com/2023/01/acpi-motherboard-layout-requires-efi-considerations-for-switching-vm-firmware-in-vsphere-8.html

realroywalker commented 1 month ago

Can you confirm the same but without the export to OVF and reimport - does it occur with just using the template after being build and then cloned for a new VM?

I have tested this today - the behaviour is slightly different with no export.

Can you also confirm that if you build a VM manually (not using Packer) and perform the same operation steps that there is a different outcome?

I carried out the same tests as above, but this time using a manually built VM (via the vSphere UI).

So it seems that the first part of the issue is packer doesn't add the 'chipset.motherboardLayout' property for whatever reason - then because it's missing vCenter adds the property as 'acpi' (I guess it's default) when the VM is being imported. This triggers the PCI ID changes, since the board layout is different.

Quite how it manages to realise the original layout is actually i440bx when doing a clone inside vCenter I don't know.. but in that case because it's the same as the original layout the IDs don't change.

I've spun up an environment where I can test this issue easily now so feel free to let me know if you need any further things checked.

tenthirtyam commented 1 month ago

Curious, if you create a VM with govc, what is the default?

govc vm.create -m 2048 -c 2 -g otherGuest64 -net "your-network" -ds "your-datastore" -folder "/path/to/your/folder" -pool "your-resource-pool" your-vm-name

Reason I'm asking is I want to rule out if this is an govmomi SDK issue first.

realroywalker commented 1 month ago

Curious, if you create a VM with govc, what is the default?

govc vm.create -m 2048 -c 2 -g otherGuest64 -net "your-network" -ds "your-datastore" -folder "/path/to/your/folder" -pool "your-resource-pool" your-vm-name

Reason I'm asking is I want to rule out if this is an govmomi SDK issue first.

I just tried with the latest github release of govc (0.44.1) and the command as you suggested does not add the 'chipset.motherboardLayout' option to the VMX of the new VM. However - if I supply the option "-firmware efi", then it does create with the chipset.motherboardLayout option (set to acpi). I also tried with "-firmware bios" but this oddly didn't result in the option appearing with 'i440bx' as the setting.. it was still absent entirely.

To be clear, in my packer tests my hcl also defines the firmware as efi - so in that case I'd have expected the packer VM to have the chipset option set to acpi.

tenthirtyam commented 1 month ago

Thanks for confirming.

I'll take a look at this for the v1.5.0 milestone.

v1.4.1 is locked in.

tenthirtyam commented 1 week ago

Could you try the following as a workaround?

configuration_parameters = {
    "chipset.motherboardLayout" = "acpi"
}
realroywalker commented 1 week ago

Could you try the following as a workaround?

configuration_parameters = {
    "chipset.motherboardLayout" = "acpi"
}

Already tried that and no difference I'm afraid 😣