Create cloud-init templates in Proxmox

2022-07-11

Quickly deploy VMs in Proxmox VE with automated cloud-init templates. This guide covers creating, configuring, and using templates for fast, consistent provisioning.

Creating the template

Download an OpenStack compatible cloud image. For example Fedora Cloud Base 36.

wget https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/37/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-37-1.7.x86_64.qcow2

Set variables for STORAGE, IMAGE_FILE, TEMPLATE_ID, TEMPLATE_NAME, VM_ID, VM_NAME. Make sure these names and identifiers are unique.

STORAGE='local-lvm'
IMAGE_FILE='Fedora-Cloud-Base-37-1.7.x86_64.qcow2'
TEMPLATE_ID='1000'
TEMPLATE_NAME='fedora-template'
VM_ID='100'
VM_NAME='fedora-server'

Create a new VM to act as a template. Note: —ostype can be l26 for Linux kernel 2.6 or newer or win11 for Windows 11

qm create $TEMPLATE_ID --name $TEMPLATE_NAME --machine q35 --cpu cputype=host --core 2 --memory 2048 --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --bios ovmf --ostype l26

Add EFI disk.

qm set $TEMPLATE_ID -efidisk0 $STORAGE:0,format=raw,efitype=4m,pre-enrolled-keys=1

Add TPM Module (Only required for Windows 11.)

qm set $TEMPLATE_ID -tpmstate0 $STORAGE:1,version=v2.0

Import the downloaded image to local-lvm storage.

qm importdisk $TEMPLATE_ID $IMAGE_FILE $STORAGE

Attach our cloud-init image as a storage device.

qm set $TEMPLATE_ID --scsihw virtio-scsi-pci --scsi0 $STORAGE:vm-$TEMPLATE_ID-disk-1

Attach a drive for the cloud-init configuration.

qm set $TEMPLATE_ID --ide2 $STORAGE:cloudinit

Configure the VM to boot from our cloud-init image.

qm set $TEMPLATE_ID --boot c --bootdisk scsi0

Add a serial console for remote management with OpenStack.

qm set $TEMPLATE_ID --serial0 socket --vga serial0

Convert the VM into a VM template.

qm template $TEMPLATE_ID

Using the template

Clone the template into a new VM.

qm clone $TEMPLATE_ID $VM_ID --name $VM_NAME --full true

Resize the storage to your liking. New size can be new absolute size or prepend a + before the amount to add that amount storage in addition to current size.

qm resize $VM_ID scsi0 +20G

Add our public SSH key to the VM’s authorized_keys.

qm set $VM_ID --sshkey ~/.ssh/name_ed25519.pub

Configure the the username for the default user.

qm set $VM_ID --ciuser 'fedora'

Configure the the password for the default user.

qm set $VM_ID --cipassword 'SuperSecretPassword'

Start the newly created VM.

qm start $VM_ID