Added support for specifying the disk adapter type to the vmware builders. This was squashed from the vmware-diskAdapterType branch (#2968) as submitted by Rami Abughazaleh <icnocop@users.noreply.github.com>. This closes #5671 and possibly #4885.

arizvisa: Updated icnocop's documentation to include the possible disk adapter types that one can specify.
arizvisa: Tweaked icnocop's support for the `disk_adapter_type` option to the VMWare builder that caused conflicts due to version skew.
icnocop: Updated links to the Virtual Disk Manager User's Guide PDF to open in a new window and also added the Adobe PDF icon
icnocop: Added support for vmware to specify the disk adapter type, ide or scsi (lsilogic or buslogic)

builder/vmware/common/driver.go

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ type Driver interface {
 	CompactDisk(string) error
 
 	// CreateDisk creates a virtual disk with the given size.
-	CreateDisk(string, string, string) error
+	CreateDisk(string, string, string, string) error
 
 	// Checks if the VMX file at the given path is running.
 	IsRunning(string) (bool, error)

builder/vmware/common/driver_fusion5.go

@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ func (d *Fusion5Driver) CompactDisk(diskPath string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (d *Fusion5Driver) CreateDisk(output string, size string, type_id string) error {
-	cmd := exec.Command(d.vdiskManagerPath(), "-c", "-s", size, "-a", "lsilogic", "-t", type_id, output)
+func (d *Fusion5Driver) CreateDisk(output string, size string, adapter_type string, type_id string) error {
+	cmd := exec.Command(d.vdiskManagerPath(), "-c", "-s", size, "-a", adapter_type, "-t", type_id, output)
 	if _, _, err := runAndLog(cmd); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}

builder/vmware/common/driver_mock.go

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ type DriverMock struct {
 	CreateDiskCalled      bool
 	CreateDiskOutput      string
 	CreateDiskSize        string
+	CreateDiskAdapterType string
 	CreateDiskTypeId      string
 	CreateDiskErr         error
 
@@ -119,10 +120,11 @@ func (d *DriverMock) CompactDisk(path string) error {
 	return d.CompactDiskErr
 }
 
-func (d *DriverMock) CreateDisk(output string, size string, typeId string) error {
+func (d *DriverMock) CreateDisk(output string, size string, adapterType string, typeId string) error {
 	d.CreateDiskCalled = true
 	d.CreateDiskOutput = output
 	d.CreateDiskSize = size
+	d.CreateDiskAdapterType = adapterType
 	d.CreateDiskTypeId = typeId
 	return d.CreateDiskErr
 }

builder/vmware/common/driver_player5.go

@@ -64,12 +64,12 @@ func (d *Player5Driver) qemuCompactDisk(diskPath string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (d *Player5Driver) CreateDisk(output string, size string, type_id string) error {
+func (d *Player5Driver) CreateDisk(output string, size string, adapter_type string, type_id string) error {
 	var cmd *exec.Cmd
 	if d.QemuImgPath != "" {
 		cmd = exec.Command(d.QemuImgPath, "create", "-f", "vmdk", "-o", "compat6", output, size)
 	} else {
-		cmd = exec.Command(d.VdiskManagerPath, "-c", "-s", size, "-a", "lsilogic", "-t", type_id, output)
+		cmd = exec.Command(d.VdiskManagerPath, "-c", "-s", size, "-a", adapter_type, "-t", type_id, output)
 	}
 	if _, _, err := runAndLog(cmd); err != nil {
 		return err

builder/vmware/common/driver_workstation9.go

@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ func (d *Workstation9Driver) CompactDisk(diskPath string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (d *Workstation9Driver) CreateDisk(output string, size string, type_id string) error {
-	cmd := exec.Command(d.VdiskManagerPath, "-c", "-s", size, "-a", "lsilogic", "-t", type_id, output)
+func (d *Workstation9Driver) CreateDisk(output string, size string, adapter_type string, type_id string) error {
+	cmd := exec.Command(d.VdiskManagerPath, "-c", "-s", size, "-a", adapter_type, "-t", type_id, output)
 	if _, _, err := runAndLog(cmd); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}

builder/vmware/iso/builder.go

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ type Config struct {
 
 	// disk drives
 	AdditionalDiskSize []uint `mapstructure:"disk_additional_size"`
+	DiskAdapterType    string `mapstructure:"disk_adapter_type"`
 	DiskName           string `mapstructure:"vmdk_name"`
 	DiskSize           uint   `mapstructure:"disk_size"`
 	DiskTypeId         string `mapstructure:"disk_type_id"`
@@ -126,6 +127,11 @@ func (b *Builder) Prepare(raws ...interface{}) ([]string, error) {
 		b.config.DiskSize = 40000
 	}
 
+	if b.config.DiskAdapterType == "" {
+		// Default is lsilogic
+		b.config.DiskAdapterType = "lsilogic"
+	}
+
 	if b.config.DiskTypeId == "" {
 		// Default is growable virtual disk split in 2GB files.
 		b.config.DiskTypeId = "1"

builder/vmware/iso/driver_esx5.go

@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ func (d *ESX5Driver) CompactDisk(diskPathLocal string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (d *ESX5Driver) CreateDisk(diskPathLocal string, size string, typeId string) error {
+func (d *ESX5Driver) CreateDisk(diskPathLocal string, size string, adapter_type string, typeId string) error {
 	diskPath := d.datastorePath(diskPathLocal)
-	return d.sh("vmkfstools", "-c", size, "-d", typeId, "-a", "lsilogic", diskPath)
+	return d.sh("vmkfstools", "-c", size, "-d", typeId, "-a", adapter_type, diskPath)
 }
 
 func (d *ESX5Driver) IsRunning(string) (bool, error) {

builder/vmware/iso/step_create_disk.go

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func (stepCreateDisk) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multistep
 
 	ui.Say("Creating virtual machine disk")
 	full_disk_path := filepath.Join(config.OutputDir, config.DiskName+".vmdk")
-	if err := driver.CreateDisk(full_disk_path, fmt.Sprintf("%dM", config.DiskSize), config.DiskTypeId); err != nil {
+	if err := driver.CreateDisk(full_disk_path, fmt.Sprintf("%dM", config.DiskSize), config.DiskAdapterType, config.DiskTypeId); err != nil {
 		err := fmt.Errorf("Error creating disk: %s", err)
 		state.Put("error", err)
 		ui.Error(err.Error())
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func (stepCreateDisk) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multistep
 			additionalpath := filepath.Join(config.OutputDir, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%d.vmdk", config.DiskName, i+1))
 			size := fmt.Sprintf("%dM", uint64(additionalsize))
 
-			if err := driver.CreateDisk(additionalpath, size, config.DiskTypeId); err != nil {
+			if err := driver.CreateDisk(additionalpath, size, config.DiskAdapterType, config.DiskTypeId); err != nil {
 				err := fmt.Errorf("Error creating additional disk: %s", err)
 				state.Put("error", err)
 				ui.Error(err.Error())

builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go

@@ -18,10 +18,19 @@ import (
 type vmxTemplateData struct {
 	Name    string
 	GuestOS string
-	DiskName string
 	ISOPath string
 	Version string
 
+	SCSI_Present         string
+	SCSI_diskAdapterType string
+	SATA_Present         string
+	NVME_Present         string
+
+	DiskName              string
+	DiskType              string
+	CDROMType             string
+	CDROMType_MasterSlave string
+
 	Network_Type   string
 	Network_Device string
 
@@ -287,6 +296,11 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 	isoPath := state.Get("iso_path").(string)
 	ui := state.Get("ui").(packer.Ui)
 
+	// Convert the iso_path into a path relative to the .vmx file if possible
+	if relativeIsoPath, err := filepath.Rel(config.VMXTemplatePath, filepath.FromSlash(isoPath)); err == nil {
+		isoPath = relativeIsoPath
+	}
+
 	ui.Say("Building and writing VMX file")
 
 	vmxTemplate := DefaultVMXTemplate
@@ -361,6 +375,15 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 		Version:  config.Version,
 		ISOPath:  isoPath,
 
+		SCSI_Present:         "FALSE",
+		SCSI_diskAdapterType: "lsilogic",
+		SATA_Present:         "FALSE",
+		NVME_Present:         "FALSE",
+
+		DiskType:              "scsi",
+		CDROMType:             "ide",
+		CDROMType_MasterSlave: "0",
+
 		Sound_Present: map[bool]string{true: "TRUE", false: "FALSE"}[bool(config.Sound)],
 		Usb_Present:   map[bool]string{true: "TRUE", false: "FALSE"}[bool(config.USB)],
 
@@ -368,6 +391,36 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 		Parallel_Present: "FALSE",
 	}
 
+	/// Use the disk adapter type that the user specified to tweak the .vmx
+	//  Also sync the cdrom adapter type according to what's common for that disk type.
+	diskAdapterType := strings.ToLower(config.DiskAdapterType)
+	switch diskAdapterType {
+	case "ide":
+		templateData.DiskType = "ide"
+		templateData.CDROMType = "ide"
+		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "1"
+	case "sata":
+		templateData.SATA_Present = "TRUE"
+		templateData.DiskType = "sata"
+		templateData.CDROMType = "sata"
+		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "1"
+	case "nvme":
+		templateData.NVME_Present = "TRUE"
+		templateData.DiskType = "nvme"
+		templateData.SATA_Present = "TRUE"
+		templateData.CDROMType = "sata"
+		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "0"
+	case "scsi":
+		diskAdapterType = "lsilogic"
+		fallthrough
+	default:
+		templateData.SCSI_Present = "TRUE"
+		templateData.SCSI_diskAdapterType = diskAdapterType
+		templateData.DiskType = "scsi"
+		templateData.CDROMType = "ide"
+		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "0"
+	}
+
 	/// Check the network type that the user specified
 	network := config.Network
 	driver := state.Get("driver").(vmwcommon.Driver).GetVmwareDriver()
@@ -556,9 +609,21 @@ gui.fullScreenAtPowerOn = "FALSE"
 gui.viewModeAtPowerOn = "windowed"
 hgfs.linkRootShare = "TRUE"
 hgfs.mapRootShare = "TRUE"
-ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
-ide1:0.fileName = "{{ .ISOPath }}"
-ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
+
+scsi0.present = "{{ .SCSI_Present }}"
+scsi0.virtualDev = "{{ .SCSI_diskAdapterType }}"
+scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
+scsi0:0.redo = ""
+sata0.present = "{{ .SATA_Present }}"
+nvme0.present = "{{ .NVME_Present }}"
+
+{{ .DiskType }}0:0.present = "TRUE"
+{{ .DiskType }}0:0.fileName = "{{ .DiskName }}.vmdk"
+
+{{ .CDROMType }}0:{{ .CDROMType_MasterSlave }}.present = "TRUE"
+{{ .CDROMType }}0:{{ .CDROMType_MasterSlave }}.fileName = "{{ .ISOPath }}"
+{{ .CDROMType }}0:{{ .CDROMType_MasterSlave }}.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
+
 isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"
 memsize = "512"
 nvram = "{{ .Name }}.nvram"
@@ -587,12 +652,6 @@ powerType.suspend = "soft"
 proxyApps.publishToHost = "FALSE"
 replay.filename = ""
 replay.supported = "FALSE"
-scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
-scsi0.present = "TRUE"
-scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
-scsi0:0.fileName = "{{ .DiskName }}.vmdk"
-scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
-scsi0:0.redo = ""
 
 // Sound
 sound.startConnected = "{{ .Sound_Present }}"

website/source/docs/builders/vmware-iso.html.md

@@ -131,7 +131,16 @@ builder.
     Guide](https://www.vmware.com/pdf/VirtualDiskManager.pdf) for desktop
     VMware clients. For ESXi, refer to the proper ESXi documentation.
 
-*   `disable_vnc` (boolean) - Whether to create a VNC connection or not.
+-   `disk_adapter_type` (string) - The adapter type of the VMware virtual disk
+    to create. This option is for advanced usage, modify only if you know what
+    you're doing. Some of the options you can specify are "ide", "sata", "nvme"
+    or "scsi" (which uses the "lsilogic" scsi interface by default). If you
+    specify another option, Packer will assume that you're specifying a "scsi"
+    interface of that specified type. For more information, please consult the
+    <a href="http://www.vmware.com/pdf/VirtualDiskManager.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="../../assets/images/Adobe_PDF_file_icon_24x24.png"/> Virtual Disk Manager User's Guide</a> for desktop VMware clients.
+    For ESXi, refer to the proper ESXi documentation.
+
+-   `disable_vnc` (boolean) - Whether to create a VNC connection or not.
     A `boot_command` cannot be used when this is `false`. Defaults to `false`.
 
 -   `floppy_files` (array of strings) - A list of files to place onto a floppy