diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/vmware.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/vmware.html.markdown index 4850337f1..03f373a7c 100644 --- a/website/source/docs/builders/vmware.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/docs/builders/vmware.html.markdown @@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ supports building virtual machines on hosts running [VMware Fusion](http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/overview.html) for OS X, [VMware Workstation](http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation/overview.html) for Linux and Windows, and -[VMware Player](http://www.vmware.com/products/player/) on Linux. +[VMware Player](http://www.vmware.com/products/player/) on Linux. It can +also build machines directly on +[VMware vSphere Hypervisor](http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/) +using SSH as opposed to the vSphere API. The builder builds a virtual machine by creating a new virtual machine from scratch, booting it, installing an OS, provisioning software within @@ -278,3 +281,31 @@ these variables isn't required, however. * `GuestOS` - The VMware-valid guest OS type. * `DiskName` - The filename (without the suffix) of the main virtual disk. * `ISOPath` - The path to the ISO to use for the OS installation. + +## Building on a Remote vSphere Hypervisor + +In addition to using the desktop products of VMware locally to build +virtual machines, Packer can use a remote VMware Hypervisor to build +the virtual machine. + +When using a remote VMware Hypervisor, the builder still downloads the +ISO and various files locally, and uploads these to the remote machine. +Packer currently uses SSH to communicate to the ESXi machine rather than +the vSphere API. At some point, the vSphere API may be used. + +To use a remote VMware vSphere Hypervisor to build your virtual machine, +fill in the required `remote_*` configurations: + +* `remote_type` - This must be set to "esx5". + +* `remote_host` - The host of the remote machine. + +Additionally, there are some optional configurations that you'll likely +have to modify as well: + +* `remote_datastore` - The path to the datastore where the VM will be + stored on the ESXi machine. + +* `remote_user` - The SSH username used to access the remote machine. + +* `remote_password` - The SSH password for access to the remote machine.