Bring Your Own Image into OCI

Overview

This repository contains various Packer templates for spinning up images in VirtualBox that can be exported to OCI.

Prerequisites

• Packer (last tested with version 1.5.4)
• VirtualBox (last tested with version 6.1.16)
• In order to export your image into your OCI tenancy, you must link your VirtualBox installation with your OCI account. Those instructions can be found here.

Build the VirtualBox Image

Run the Packer build command using the (non Bare Metal) json templates.

## Usage
$> cd oci-byo-image
$> packer build <packer_template>

## Examples 
$> packer build debian-10.6-i386.json
$> packer build rhel-7.9.json

NOTE: This command will only work for the Red Hat image if you've downloaded the Redhat 7.9 ISO installation file. You must register for a Red Hat developer account to get access to it.

Export Virtual Image to OCI

Once complete, the image can be exported to an Object Storage bucket in your OCI account. The following command will export the image, create a custom image, and spin up an instance. You must create an Object Storage bucket and VCN with a public network in your tenancy as the command below refers to the name of the Object Storage bucket and the OCIDs of the networks.

## Export image to OCI
$> VBoxManage export debian-10.6-12997... \
      --output OCI:// \
      --cloud 0 \
      --vmname fedora_32_vb \
      --cloudprofile DEFAULT \
      --cloudbucket vbox-upload \
      --cloudlaunchmode PARAVIRTUALIZED \
      --cloudshape VM.Standard2.1 \
      --clouddomain IYfK:US-ASHBURN-AD-1 \
      --clouddisksize 120 \
      --cloudocivcn ocid1.vcn.oc1.iad.amaaa... \
      --cloudocisubnet ocid1.subnet.oc1.iad.aaaaa... \
      --cloudkeepobject true \
      --cloudlaunchinstance true \
      --cloudpublicip true

Now log into the instance using the credentials specified in the kickstart file (under the http directory). All the examples in this repository setup a opc user and a root user. The default password for both accounts is opc:

Bare Metal Images:

Build the Bare Metal VirtualBox Image

In order to create a Bare Metal instance OCI, we must perform a slightly altered workflow. The following example creates a Redhat 7.9 Bare Metal instance in OCI from the Red Hat 7.9 installation ISO media:

Run the Packer build command using the Bare Metal json template.

$> cd oci-byo-image
$> packer build rhel-7.9-BM.json

NOTE: This command will only work if you've downloaded the Redhat 7.9 ISO installation file. You must register for a Red Hat developer account to get access to it.

Export Bare Metal Image to OCI

Once complete, the image can be exported to an Object Storage bucket in your OCI account. The following command will export the image to your bucket and create a custom image in your tenancy. You must create an Object Storage bucket in your tenancy as the command below refers to it:

$> VBoxManage export rhel-7.9-BM-19970... \
      --output OCI:// \
      --cloud 0 \
      --vmname rhel-7.9-BM-19970... \
      --cloudprofile DEFAULT \
      --cloudbucket vbox-upload \
      --cloudlaunchmode PARAVIRTUALIZED

When the image is finished exporting, login into your tenancy and add BM.Standard2.52 to the list of compatible shapes.

Create an instance from the custom image:

SSH into into image:

 $> ssh opc@132.145.197
 [opc@instance-20210128-1610 ~]$ cat /etc/redhat-release 
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.9 (Maipo)