Initializing a Windows virtual machine using cloudbase-init

Introduction to cloudbase-init

Cloudbase-init is a third-party tool that can automate the initial configurations for Windows virtual machines. As a non-resident service, cloudbase-init only performs actions during the virtual machine's boot process, and will immediately exit after its task completion. Therefore, it will not keep any ports open for listening.

AVE supports cloudbase-init by allowing you to create virtual machines from templates with cloudbase-init pre-configured. New virtual machines built from the templates will contain the initialization data and will be automatically configured on their first boot.

Below are the configurations supported by cloudbase-init:

• Hostname.

• Default user's password.

  The default user configured by cloudbase-init is Admin.

• SSH public keys for remote login.

• DNS server.

• IP address. DHCP and static IP configuration are supported.

• Custom user data. You can automate more configurations by configuring scripts.

For more details on cloudbase-init, you can refer to the official cloudbase-init documentation.

Known issues

• Windows 7 and Windows Server 2016 virtual machines created from a cloudbase-init template will reboot three times after entering the password on their initial boot. Once finished, the virtual machines will be all set and ready for use.
• Configuring the static routing and DHCP when creating a virtual machine from a cloudbase-init template is not supported. You need to manually configure them after the virtual machine is created.
• Configuring network for a virtual machine with cloudbase-init 0.9.11 is not supported on any version of Windows. Please install the latest cloudbase-init dev version instead to avoid this issue.