Generate OVA for with Packer

esxi-firewalling

ESX Configuration for VNC during Packer configuration

[root@esxi:/etc/vmware/firewall] more vnc.xml
<ConfigRoot>
<service id='0200'>
<id>VNC</id>
<rule id='0000'>
<direction>inbound</direction>
<protocol>tcp</protocol>
<porttype>dst</porttype>
<port>
<begin>5900</begin>
<end>6199</end>
</port>
</rule>
</service>
</ConfigRoot>

[root@esxi:/etc/vmware/firewall] esxcli network firewall refresh
[root@esxi:/etc/vmware/firewall] esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e -a=false -r VNC
[root@esxi:/etc/vmware/firewall] esxcli network firewall ruleset allowedip add -r VNC -i 154.137.157.140

packer-esxi.json

{
  "variables": {
    "assets_root": "{{env `ASSETS_URL`}}",

    "esx_version": "{{env `ESX_VERSION`}}",
    "esx_host": "{{env `ESX_HOST`}}",
    "esx_datastore": "{{env `ESX_DATASTORE`}}",
    "esx_network": "{{env `ESX_NETWORK`}}",
    "esx_username": "{{env `ESX_USERNAME`}}",
    "esx_password": "{{env `ESX_PASSWORD`}}",

    "iso_name": "{{env `ISO_NAME`}}",
    "iso_checksumtype": "{{env `ISO_CHECKSUM_TYPE`}}",
    "iso_checksum": "{{env `ISO_CHECKSUM`}}",

    "username": "{{env `SSH_USERNAME`}}",
    "password": "{{env `SSH_PASSWORD`}}",
    "build_id": "{{ env `BUILD_ID`}}",
    "build_suffix": "{{env `BUILD_SUFFIX`}}",
    "ssh_filepath": "{{env `SSH_FILEPATH`}}",
    "keep_register": "{{env `KEEP_REGISTER`}}"
  },

  "builders": [
  {
    "type": "vmware-iso",
    "remote_type": "{{user `esx_version`}}",
    "remote_host": "{{user `esx_host`}}",
    "remote_datastore": "{{user `esx_datastore`}}",
    "remote_username": "{{user `esx_username`}}",
    "remote_password": "{{user `esx_password`}}",
    "disk_size": 204800,
    "disk_type_id": "thin",
    "skip_compaction": true,

    "http_directory": "data/http",

    "headless": true,
    "format": "ova",
    "boot_wait": "10s",

    "guest_os_type": "ubuntu-64",

    "boot_command": [
      "<enter><wait>",
      "<f6><esc>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>",
      "<bs><bs><bs>",
      "/install/vmlinuz ",
      "initrd=/install/initrd.gz ",
      "netcfg/choose_interface=eth0 ",
      "net.ifnames=0 ",
      "auto-install/enable=true ",
      "debconf/priority=critical ",
      "debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated_ssl=true ",
      "preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/app-vm.cfg ",
      "automatic-ubiquity ",
      "<enter>"
    ],

    "iso_urls": [
      "{{user `assets_root`}}/isos/{{user `iso_name`}}"
    ],
    "iso_checksum": "{{user `iso_checksum`}}",

    "ssh_username": "{{user `username`}}",
    "ssh_password": "{{user `password`}}",
    "ssh_port": 22,
    "ssh_wait_timeout": "10000s",

    "vnc_bind_address": "0.0.0.0",
    "vnc_disable_password": "true",

    "keep_registered": "{{user `keep_register`}}",
    "ovftool_options": ["--allowExtraConfig",
      "--shaAlgorithm=sha256"],
    "vmx_data": {
      "memsize": "8192",
      "numvcpus": "4",
      "ethernet0.networkName": "{{user `esx_network`}}",
      "ethernet0.present": "TRUE"
    },
    "vmx_data_post": {
      "memsize": "65536",
      "numvcpus": "8",
      "ethernet0.networkName": "CHANGE ME",
      "ethernet0.present": "TRUE"
    },
    "shutdown_command": "echo '{{user `password`}}'|sudo -S /sbin/halt -h -p",
    "vm_name": "{{user `build_suffix`}}",
    "output_directory": "output"
  }],

  "provisioners": [
  {
      "type": "shell",
      "execute_command": "{{ .Vars }} sudo -E sh '{{ .Path }}'",
      "inline": [
        "mkdir /srv/tmp",
        "chmod 777 /srv/tmp"
      ],
      "inline_shebang": "/bin/sh -x",
      "skip_clean": true
  },
  {
      "type": "file",
      "source": "data/ansible_install",
      "destination": "/srv/tmp"
  },
  {
      "type": "shell",
      "execute_command": "chmod +x {{ .Path }}; {{ .Vars }} sudo -E -S sh '{{ .Path }}'",
      "script": "data/bootstrap.sh",
      "skip_clean": true
  }]
}