Alt Cloud

The datasource altcloud will be used to pick up user data on RHEVm and vSphere.

RHEVm

For RHEVm v3.0 the userdata is injected into the VM using floppy injection via the RHEVm dashboard “Custom Properties”.

The format of the Custom Properties entry must be:

floppyinject=user-data.txt:<base64 encoded data>

For example to pass a simple bash script:

% cat simple_script.bash
#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello Joe!" >> /tmp/JJV_Joe_out.txt

% base64 < simple_script.bash
IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyAiSGVsbG8gSm9lISIgPj4gL3RtcC9KSlZfSm9lX291dC50eHQK

To pass this example script to cloud-init running in a RHEVm v3.0 VM set the “Custom Properties” when creating the RHEMv v3.0 VM to:

floppyinject=user-data.txt:IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyAiSGVsbG8gSm9lISIgPj4gL3RtcC9KSlZfSm9lX291dC50eHQK

NOTE: The prefix with file name must be: floppyinject=user-data.txt:

It is also possible to launch a RHEVm v3.0 VM and pass optional user data to it using the Delta Cloud.

For more information on Delta Cloud see: http://deltacloud.apache.org

vSphere

For VMWare’s vSphere the userdata is injected into the VM as an ISO via the cdrom. This can be done using the vSphere dashboard by connecting an ISO image to the CD/DVD drive.

To pass this example script to cloud-init running in a vSphere VM set the CD/DVD drive when creating the vSphere VM to point to an ISO on the data store.

Note: The ISO must contain the user data.

For example, to pass the same simple_script.bash to vSphere:

Create the ISO

% mkdir my-iso

NOTE: The file name on the ISO must be: user-data.txt

% cp simple_script.bash my-iso/user-data.txt
% genisoimage -o user-data.iso -r my-iso

Verify the ISO

% sudo mkdir /media/vsphere_iso
% sudo mount -o loop user-data.iso /media/vsphere_iso
% cat /media/vsphere_iso/user-data.txt
% sudo umount /media/vsphere_iso

Then, launch the vSphere VM the ISO user-data.iso attached as a CDROM.

It is also possible to launch a vSphere VM and pass optional user data to it using the Delta Cloud.

For more information on Delta Cloud see: http://deltacloud.apache.org