one_machine_chef_vcenter.tf

# Configure the VMware vSphere Provider
provider "vsphere" {
  user           = "${var.vsphere_user}"
  password       = "${var.vsphere_password}"
  vsphere_server = "${var.vsphere_server}"
  # if you have a self-signed cert
  allow_unverified_ssl = true
}

# Create a virtual machine within the folder
resource "vsphere_virtual_machine" "terraform_01" {
  # name of the machine inside vCenter
  name   = "terraform-1"
  # DNS inside the machine
  dns_suffixes = ["tirefi.re"]
  # Domain instead of default vsphere.local
  domain = "tirefi.re"
  # What datacenter to connect to
  datacenter = "Datacenter"
  # How many vCPUs
  vcpu   = 2
  # How much memory in MBs
  memory = 4096
  # Create it in this resource pool
  resource_pool = "terraform"
  # Linked clones are the best clones, don't forget to create the snapshot
  linked_clone = true

  network_interface {
    # What network you want to connect to
    label = "Internal Network 3208"
  }

  disk {
    # What template to clone
    template = "template-ubuntu1604"
    # What datastore to create it in
    datastore = "vsanDatastore"
  }

  # my template is broken, but as you can see here's some pre-chef work done :)
  provisioner "remote-exec" {
    inline = [
      "sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock",
      "sudo dpkg --configure -a",
      "sudo apt-get install -f",
      "sudo apt autoremove -y",
      # This was interesting here, i needed to add a host to /etc/hosts, this injects the sudo password, then tee's the /etc/hosts
      "echo admini | sudo -S echo '10.0.0.15 chef chef.tirefi.re' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts"
    ]
    connection {
      type          = "${var.connection_thingys.["connection_type"]}"
      user          = "${var.connection_thingys.["connection_user"]}"
      password      = "${var.connection_thingys.["connection_password"]}"
    }
  }

  provisioner "chef" {
    server_url              = "${var.chef_provision.["server_url"]}"
    user_name               = "${var.chef_provision.["user_name"]}"
    # I couldn't figure out how to put the userkey as a variable, so you'll need to change this for you
    user_key                = "${file("/Users/jjasghar/repo/vmware_playground/pems/admini.pem")}"
    node_name               = "${var.chef_provision.["node_name_default"]}"
    # Here's a inital run_list :)
    run_list                = ["recipe[base]"]
    recreate_client         = "${var.chef_provision.["recreate_client"]}"
    on_failure              = "continue"
    ssl_verify_mode         = "${var.chef_provision.["ssl_verify_mode_setting"]}"

    connection {
      type          = "${var.connection_thingys.["connection_type"]}"
      user          = "${var.connection_thingys.["connection_user"]}"
      password      = "${var.connection_thingys.["connection_password"]}"
    }
  }
}

variables.tf

# Main login, defaults to my admin account
variable "vsphere_user" {
  default = "administrator@vsphere.local"
}

# Main password, defaults to my admin account
variable "vsphere_password" {
  default = "Good4bye!"
}

# vCenter server
variable "vsphere_server" {
  default = "vcenter.tirefi.re"
}

# My connections for the Chef server
variable "chef_provision" {
  type                      = "map"
  description               = "Configuration details for chef server"

  default = {
    # A default node name
    node_name_default       = "terraform-1"
    # Run it again? You probably need to recreate the client
    recreate_client         = true
    # Chef server :)
    server_url              = "https://chef.tirefi.re/organizations/tirefi/"
    # SSL is lame, so lets turn it off
    ssl_verify_mode_setting = ":verify_none"
    # The username that you authenticate your chef server
    user_name               = "admini"
    }
}

variable "connection_thingys" {
  type                      = "map"
  description               = "Configuration details for connecting to the remote machine"

  default = {
    # Default to SSH
    connection_type     = "ssh"
    # User to connect to the server
    connection_user     = "admini"
    # Password to connect to the server
    connection_password = "admini"
  }
}