Debian Stretch unattended VM guest installer
While Debian Stretch is not released yet, script uses daily-images.
If you want to use Debian Jessie (e.g. current stable) please check out
release v8.0 or update DIST_URL
Simple script that uses virt-install and configures Debian installer for unattended installation and custom configuration using preseed config in order to create freshly installed Debian KVM guest.
Usage: ./install.sh <GUEST_NAME> [MAC_ADDRESS]
GUEST_NAME used as guest hostname, name of the VM and image file name
MAC_ADDRESS allows to use specific MAC on the network, this is helpful
when DHCP server expects your guest to have predefined MAC
Guest OS is minimal no-GUI Debian installation configured with serial console
for ability to virsh console <GUEST_NAME>, and OpenSSH server with your SSH
key or/and password pre-configured.
It is easy to change the script to add any extra packages and configuration files during unattended installation.
Actually, the main point of sharing this script is to provide an example of unattended Debian VM creation or a base for your own script.
Prerequisites
- virt-install:
apt-get install virtinst - KVM/qemu:
apt-get install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon # something else?
Things to check before the first use
- Set your login name and full name in
preseed.cfg, update your GitHub name ininstall.shin order to install your SSH key for authentication by guest. If you want to use different SSH key, not the one from GitHub, just putauthorized_keystopreseeddirectory and removewgetcommand that fetches key from GitHub. Update your login name inpostinst.sh, where SSH key is installed. - It's worth considering to enable password authentication in
preseed.cfgat least during first run so you couldvirsh console <GUEST_NAME>in case network connection in guest does not comes up with DHCP or IP of the guest is unclear. - Check RAM size and disk size for the guest in arguments to
virst-installininstall.shand modify them if needed. - Add
apt-get install <your_favorite>or whatever you want topostinst.shand any configuration files you want to add to the guest intopostinstdirectory.
Network configuration
Script works best with bridged network, when guests are able to use DHCP
server. In case you want something else, replace br0 in arguments to
virt-install in install.sh.
Example of network configuration in /etc/network/interfaces:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0 # replace eth0 with your actual interface name
iface eth0 inet manual
auto br0
iface br0 inet dhcp
bridge_ports eth0
bridge_stp off
bridge_fd 0
bridge_maxwait 0