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Cloud-init with Projects in Prism Central

  • November 24, 2020
  • 4 replies
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I created a Project in Prism Central and assigned a bunch of users to it, expecting them to be able to provision their own VMs with cloud-init configs customised to their liking.

I found this awesome example code https://www.nutanix.dev/code_samples/create-linux-vm-customised-with-cloud-init/ which shows it can be done with API calls, however, as a user in the Project, there does not seem to be any options in the PC UI that allow me to specify a custom script when creating a VM.

Are custom scripts deliberately hidden when using Projects? How are my users supposed to customise their VMs?

Best answer by waddles

Right, so in order to allow customisation for SSP consumers, they need to be cloning a Template VM, not deploying a new VM based on a disk image clone.

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=SSP-Admin-Guide-v5_18:ssp-catalog-management-c.html was what I needed.

The problem is I have only 2 options when adding a Template VM to the catalog:

  1. Allow consumers to use a “Guided Setup” to decide only these fields:
    • username and password
    • ssh key
    • locale
    • hostname
  2. Force consumers to use a predetermined cloud-init script that is created at the time of publishing the Template to the Catalog

There is still no way for consumers to perform their own cloud-init customisations at the time the VM is created (by cloning the Template VM).

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4 replies

Alona
Nutanix Employee
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  • AlonaNutanix Employee
  • Nutanix Employee
  • 432 replies
  • November 25, 2020

Hi waddles,

 

Are you using VM templates or images to create a VM?

Prism Self Service User Guide 5.18: Creating a VM indicates that if a VM is being deployed using a VM template then “Guest Customization (VM template only): If customizations were implemented when the VM template was added to the catalog, they appear here.”

CPU, memory size and network should be selectable at the stage of creating a VM. Let me know if that’s not what you see.

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  • waddles
  • Author
  • Trendsetter
  • 47 replies
  • Answer
  • November 25, 2020

Right, so in order to allow customisation for SSP consumers, they need to be cloning a Template VM, not deploying a new VM based on a disk image clone.

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=SSP-Admin-Guide-v5_18:ssp-catalog-management-c.html was what I needed.

The problem is I have only 2 options when adding a Template VM to the catalog:

  1. Allow consumers to use a “Guided Setup” to decide only these fields:
    • username and password
    • ssh key
    • locale
    • hostname
  2. Force consumers to use a predetermined cloud-init script that is created at the time of publishing the Template to the Catalog

There is still no way for consumers to perform their own cloud-init customisations at the time the VM is created (by cloning the Template VM).

Alona
Nutanix Employee
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  • AlonaNutanix Employee
  • Nutanix Employee
  • 432 replies
  • November 27, 2020

Hi waddles,

I’m glad the information proved to be useful. SSP allows for limited guest customisation. For more option consider using Calm

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  • waddles
  • Author
  • Trendsetter
  • 47 replies
  • November 27, 2020

Thanks but this is just a CE cluster so we won’t be paying for a Calm license.

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