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vsphere-iso: Support local web server like QEMU builder #108
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embedded HTTP server works great in desktop hypervisors. Will your issue be solved by dynamic creation of ISO images the same way as with floppies? |
Whether ISO creation would work depends on the installers themselves. All my packer builds are run on a VM in the same network as the target, so an embedded HTTP server would work. Currently I'm copying files into a non-embedded HTTP server as a workaround. |
Well, I agree with you here, a good feature request. |
We were already using the HTTP server in the vmware builder for our Windows VM's, since file transfers over WinRM tend to be much slower. Shall I take on this feature request? |
Implemented in #116. |
But I would still prefer floppy approach if possible. Our scenario is remote, and there are multiple issues:
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Some distributions of Linux* are dropping floppy disk support from the installer ISO.
However both debian-based and redhat-based distributions can load the preseed / kickstart file from a URL provided in the boot command.
The QEMU/KVM builder has a feature to serve a directory as HTTP and pass this to the boot command:
https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/qemu.html#http_directory
It would be useful to have this in vsphere-iso as well, so that the preseed files can be kept close to the packer files without a "deploy to a web server" step required before running "packer build"
(This feature could solve #93 for example.)
Another possible advantage is that vestigial references to the floppy device are left behind in config of the image being built, producing syslog messages on startup of some systems.
*Debian 8/9, Ubuntu 18.04 (though the "alternate" ISO retains floppy support in Ubuntu)
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