Merge pull request #1873 from alexander-demicev/vspherekubeadmimage

Document building vSphere kubeadm image

Author: alexander-demicev

docs/image-builder/vsphere-kubeadm.md

@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+# Building Ubuntu 24.04 vSphere OVAs with Kubernetes for CAPI
+
+This guide walks you through building vSphere OVA templates for Cluster API with Ubuntu 24.04 and any Kubernetes version you need.
+
+## Getting Started
+
+### 1. Clone the Repository
+
+First, clone the image-builder repo:
+
+```bash
+git clone [email protected]:kubernetes-sigs/image-builder.git
+cd image-builder/images/capi
+```
+
+### 2. vSphere Prerequisites
+
+You'll need:
+- A vSphere environment
+- vSphere credentials with permissions to create VMs and templates
+
+### 3. Create vSphere Credentials File
+
+Create a `vsphere.json` file with your vSphere credentials:
+
+```bash
+cat > packer/ova/vsphere.json <<EOF
+{
+  "vcenter_server": "vcenter.example.com",
+  "username": "[email protected]",
+  "password": "your-password",
+  "datacenter": "Datacenter",
+  "cluster": "Cluster",
+  "datastore": "datastore1",
+  "folder": "Templates",
+  "network": "VM Network",
+  "insecure_connection": "true"
+}
+EOF
+```
+
+## Building vSphere OVA
+
+### Step 1: Install Dependencies
+
+The build process needs Packer and Ansible. Install them with:
+
+```bash
+make deps-ami
+```
+
+This installs Python, Ansible, Packer, and initializes Packer plugins. If you're on macOS, the tools get installed to `.local/bin` in the current directory. Add them to your PATH:
+
+```bash
+export PATH="$(pwd)/.local/bin:$PATH"
+```
+
+### Step 2: Choose Your Kubernetes Version
+
+Create a config file with the Kubernetes version you want:
+
+**For Kubernetes v1.33.5:**
+```bash
+cat > my-k8s-config.json <<EOF
+{
+  "kubernetes_deb_version": "1.33.5-1.1",
+  "kubernetes_rpm_version": "1.33.5",
+  "kubernetes_semver": "v1.33.5",
+  "kubernetes_series": "v1.33"
+}
+EOF
+```
+
+### Step 3: Build the vSphere OVA
+
+Build Ubuntu 24.04 with your chosen Kubernetes version:
+
+```bash
+PACKER_VAR_FILES="$(pwd)/my-k8s-config.json" make build-node-ova-vsphere-ubuntu-2404
+```
+
+What happens:
+1. Packer connects to vSphere
+2. Creates a new VM from Ubuntu 24.04 ISO
+3. Installs Kubernetes and dependencies
+4. Runs Ansible playbooks to configure everything
+5. Converts the VM to a template
+6. Cleans up the temporary build VM
+
+Build time is usually 1-1.5 hours due to image download/upload.
+
+### Step 4: Verify Your Template
+
+When the build finishes, check that your template was created in vSphere:
+
+1. Log in to vCenter
+2. Navigate to your configured folder
+3. Look for a template named like: `ubuntu-2404-kube-v1.33.5`
+
+Save the template name - you'll need it for your CAPI clusters.