infra4711-packer

creates a base image for Azure based on ubuntu 18.04 LTS utilising Packer in a Azure DevOps Pipeline.

status

ToDo

• more flexibel variables in .json
• instructions for MSI

prerequisites

• az cli enabled machine
• Fork / Clone the repository
• customize the ubuntu1804.json according to your needs.

Azure DevOps project

• Create a new project @ https://devops.azure.com
• Create a Service Connection (based on Service principal) in the Azure DevOps

Project settings > Service connections > New service connection  

Select Azure Resource Manager, Service Principal Authentication.
here make sure to select "use full version of the service connection". Keep this window open, please.

Creating an Service Principal

You will need to create a SP Client ID and principal key in parallel. using azure cli the can be done as followed:

get your subscription "id"

az account show

create the SP

az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "packer-4711" --role contributor --scopes /subscriptions/YOURSUBSCRIPTIONIDGOESHERE

create the SP

copy the app id into the "Service principal client ID" field and the key correspondingly into "Service principal key". Use "verify connection" ...

manual use / exploratory use (no pipeline)

• Azure Account set up.
• az cli tool installed.
• you can make use of the azure-setup.sh script below, to easily enable local packer development.
• for non-exploratory use make sure to used managed service identities. TODO LINK
• set up env vars see .packer_profile.sample TODO LINK
• customize the ubuntu1804.json according to your needs.
• packer validate ubuntu1804.json
• packer run ubuntu1804.json

helpful resources

changing region and/or location

lookup the corresponding azure source images in your region e.g.

#ubuntu
az vm image list --all -p Canonical -f UbuntuServer -s 18.04-LTS --location westeurope --all --output table

#windows
az vm image list --publisher MicrosoftWindowsServer --offer WindowsServer --location westeurope --all --output table

bootstrapping packer on azure

https://github.com/hashicorp/packer/blob/master/contrib/azure-setup.sh