41 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
41 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
---
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description: |
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The VMware Packer builder is able to create VMware virtual machines for use
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with any VMware product.
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layout: docs
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page_title: VMware - Builders
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sidebar_title: VMware
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---
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# VMware Builder
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The VMware Packer builder is able to create VMware virtual machines for use
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with any VMware product.
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Packer actually comes with multiple builders able to create VMware machines,
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depending on the strategy you want to use to build the image. Packer supports
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the following VMware builders:
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- [vmware-iso](/docs/builders/vmware-iso) - Starts from an ISO file,
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creates a brand new VMware VM, installs an OS, provisions software within
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the OS, then exports that machine to create an image. This is best for
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people who want to start from scratch.
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- [vmware-vmx](/docs/builders/vmware-vmx) - This builder imports an
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existing VMware machine (from a VMX file), runs provisioners on top of that
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VM, and exports that machine to create an image. This is best if you have
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an existing VMware VM you want to use as the source. As an additional
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benefit, you can feed the artifact of this builder back into Packer to
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iterate on a machine.
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- [vsphere-iso](/docs/builders/vsphere-iso) - This builder starts from an
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ISO file, but utilizes the vSphere API rather than the esxcli to build on a
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remote esx instance. This allows you to build vms even if you do not have
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SSH access to your vSphere cluster.
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- [vsphere-clone](/docs/builders/vsphere-clone) - This builder clones a
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vm from an existing template, then modifies it and saves it as a new
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template. It uses the vSphere API rather than the esxcli to build on a
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remote esx instance. This allows you to build vms even if you do not have
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SSH access to your vSphere cluster.
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