Packer MAAS

Packer templates, associated scripts, and configuration for creating deployable OS images for MAAS.

See README.md in each directory for documentation on how to customize, build, and upload images.

Read more about how custom images work.

Existing templates

OS	Maturity Level	Architecture	MAAS Version
Azure Local (HCI)	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
AlmaLinux 8	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.5
AlmaLinux 9	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.5
AzureLinux 2.0	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
CentOS 6	EOL	x86_64	>= 1.6
CentOS 7	Stable	x86_64	>= 2.3
CentOS 8	EOL	x86_64	>= 2.7
CentOS 8 Stream	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.2
CentOS 9 Stream	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.2
Debian 10	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.2
Debian 11	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.2
Debian 12	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.2
OL8	Alpha	x86_64	>= 3.5
OL9	Alpha	x86_64	>= 3.5
RHEL 7	EOL	x86_64	>= 2.3
RHEL 8	Stable	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 2.7
RHEL 9	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.3
RHEL 10	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.3
Rocky 8	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.3
Rocky 9	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.3
SLES 12	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.4
SLES 15	Beta	x86_64 / aarch64	>= 3.3
Ubuntu	Stable	x86_64	>= 3.0
VMWare ESXi 6	EOL	x86_64	>= 3.0
VMWare ESXi 7	Stable	x86_64	>= 3.0
VMWare ESXi 8	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.0
Windows 2016	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
Windows 2019	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
Windows 2022	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
Windows 2025	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
Windows 10	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
Windows 11	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
XenServer 8	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3
XCP-ng 8.x	Beta	x86_64	>= 3.3

Maturity level

• Templates marked as EOL are OSes that are no longer supported by the upstream maintainer, and are not recommended for new deployments. These systems don't receive security updates and mirrors can become permanently offline at any moment.
• Alpha templates require packages that are not yet generally available, e.g. an unreleased MAAS or Curtin version. These should not be used in production environments.
• Beta templates should work but we still don't have enough successful deployment reports to regard it as Stable.

Output

All templates are configured to output to serial. Packer does not officially support serial output(GH:5). To see output run with PACKER_LOG=1.

If you wish to use a GUI modify each template as follows:

• Remove any boot_command line that contains "console" or "com1_Port"
• Remove ""-serial", "stdio"" from qemuargs. qemuargs may be removed as well if empty.

If you wish to use QEMU's UI also remove "headless": true

If you keep "headless": true you can connect using VNC. Packer will output the IP and port to connect to when run.

Contributing new templates

We welcome contributions of new templates.

The following is a set of guidelines for contributing to Packer MAAS. These are mostly guidelines, not rules. Use your best judgment, and feel free to propose changes to this document in a pull request.

Project structure

Each OS has it's own directory in the repository. The typical contents is:

• one or more HCL2 templates
• a scripts directory with auxiliary scripts required by provisioner and post-processor blocks
• a http directory with auto-configuration files used by the OS installer
• a README.md file describing
  • what is the target OS
  • host requirements for building this template
  • MAAS requirements for deploying the generated image
  • description of each template (HCL2) file, including the use of all parameters defined by them
  • step by step instruction to build it
  • default login credentials for the image (if any)
  • instructions for uploading this image to MAAS
• a Makefile to build the template

How to submit a new template

1. Fork the project to your own GH account
2. Create a local branch
3. If you are contributing a new OS, create a new directory following the guidelines above
4. If you are creating a new template for an already supported OS, just create a HCL2 file and add auxiliary files it requires to the appropriate directories
5. Run packer validate . in the directory to check your template
6. Commit your changes and push the branch to your repository
7. Open a Merge Request to packer-maas
8. Wait for review