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Exploring the Cloud-init Datasource for VMware GuestInfo using vSphere

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While exploring some upcoming capabilities and providing early feedback to Engineering, I came to learn about a new Cloud-init datasource called VMware GuestInfo that was recently merged into the project last August. The Cloud-init Datasource for VMware GuestInfo started out as an OSS project created by Andrew Kutz of VMware and it provides an easy way for a vSphere-based VM to leverage the popular Cloud-init tool for OS initialization and configuration. 

Unlike the recent vSphere Guest OS Customization with Cloud-init feature in vSphere 7.0 Update 3, the Cloud-init Datasource for VMware GuestInfo works by configuring specific guestinfo variables on a VM which are then transported into the guest operating system (GOS) using VMware Tools and is then processed by the cloud-init service that is running inside of the GOS. The nice thing about using this new Cloud-init datasource is that it is not tied to a specific release of vSphere and for those with Cloud-init experience, this is an easy way to incorporate your existing workflows. While I was somewhat familiar with Cloud-init and Linux GOS, I did not know that support for Microsoft Windows was also possible through the use of another project similiar to Cloud-Init called Cloudbase-Init.

It took me some time to figure out how to setup Cloudbase-init with Windows and I have to give a huge shoutout to Jay Vyas for pointing me over to one of his pet projects SIG Windows Development Environment that provided a clue to what the configuration file should look like. While learning about both Cloud-init Datasource for VMware GuestInfo and Cloudbase-init, I found that it was not trivial to get started and I wanted to document some concrete examples that can easily illustrate the power of this capability but also help anyone that might be interested in using this feature and how to quickly get started.

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Quick Tip - Prepare VMware Photon OS for use with vSphere Guest OS Customization and cloud-init

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After publishing my latest article on using the new vSphere 7.0 Update 3 feature vSphere Guest OS Customization  (GOSC) with cloud-init, I came to learn that my blog post was also shared with our Guest OS Customization Engineering team. They reached out sharing their excitement about the blog post and shared one additional nugget when working with VMware Photon OS.

It turns out that VMware Photon OS can also leverage the new vSphere GOSC with cloud-init feature, but a couple of settings must be updated for this to work.


Below are the instructions in preparing VMware Photon OS so that it can leverage the new vSphere GOSC with cloud-init feature.

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Using the new vSphere Guest OS Customization with cloud-init in vSphere 7.0 Update 3

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In vSphere 7.0 Update 3, the vSphere Guest Operating System (OS) Customization Engine has added native support for using cloud-init, which is an industry standard for customizing Linux-based operating systems. This additional GuestOS customization option is currently only available when using the vSphere API, either vSphere SOAP API or vSphere REST API and is not available for consumption when using the vSphere UI.

As part of a recent project, I was exploring some of the customization options and since I had not played with this specific API before, I figured this would be a good exercise. I quickly found that it was not very user intuitive in getting started, especially with the lack of end-to-end examples since this can only be consumed using the vSphere API. I also came across a number of different VMware KBs (here, here and here) that outlined various requirements and constraints when using cloud-init which also added to the confusion.

The high level requirements for using the new vSphere Guest OS Customization with cloud-init is the following:

  • vSphere 7.0. Update 3 or later (vCenter and ESXi)
  • VMware Tools running 11.3 or later
  • cloud-init running 21.1 or later

Note: Although VMware PhotonOS does support cloud-init natively, it is not a supported operating system when using the new vSphere GuestOS Customization with cloud-init due to how cloud-init has been integrated. For customers that require customization via cloud-init with PhotonOS, should continue using either the seed ISO option or the GuestInfo OVF option.

In this blog post, I will explore the complete end-to-end workflow from preparing a GuestOS for customization to applying the actual vSphere customization spec using the new cloud-init option. In addition, I have also created a simple PowerShell script which demonstrates the use of the vSphere REST API on constructing the required specification for using the new cloud-init option and this should hopefully help folks understand how the underlying API works with a working example.

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