Commit c5e9fbcb authored by Rickard von Essen's avatar Rickard von Essen

Added support for Parallels Desktop for Mac [GH-223]

Added documentation for Parallels builder.
parent cdaa9d5a
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---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Parallels Builder (from a PVM)"
---
# Parallels Builder (from a PVM)
Type: `parallels-pvm`
This Parallels builder is able to create
[Parallels Desktop for Mac](http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/)
virtual machines and export them in the PVM format, starting from an
existing PVM (exported virtual machine image).
The builder builds a virtual machine by importing an existing PVM
file. It then boots this image, runs provisioners on this new VM, and
exports that VM to create the image. The imported machine is deleted prior
to finishing the build.
## Basic Example
Here is a basic example. This example is functional if you have an PVM matching
the settings here.
<pre class="prettyprint">
{
"type": "parallels-pvm",
"source_path": "source.pvm",
"ssh_username": "packer",
"ssh_password": "packer",
"ssh_wait_timeout": "30s",
"shutdown_command": "echo 'packer' | sudo -S shutdown -P now"
}
</pre>
It is important to add a `shutdown_command`. By default Packer halts the
virtual machine and the file system may not be sync'd. Thus, changes made in a
provisioner might not be saved.
## Configuration Reference
There are many configuration options available for the Parallels builder.
They are organized below into two categories: required and optional. Within
each category, the available options are alphabetized and described.
Required:
* `source_path` (string) - The path to a PVM directory that acts as
the source of this build.
* `ssh_username` (string) - The username to use to SSH into the machine
once the OS is installed.
Optional:
* `floppy_files` (array of strings) - A list of files to put onto a floppy
disk that is attached when the VM is booted for the first time. This is
most useful for unattended Windows installs, which look for an
`Autounattend.xml` file on removable media. By default no floppy will
be attached. The files listed in this configuration will all be put
into the root directory of the floppy disk; sub-directories are not supported.
* `output_directory` (string) - This is the path to the directory where the
resulting virtual machine will be created. This may be relative or absolute.
If relative, the path is relative to the working directory when `packer`
is executed. This directory must not exist or be empty prior to running the builder.
By default this is "output-BUILDNAME" where "BUILDNAME" is the name
of the build.
* `prlctl` (array of array of strings) - Custom `prlctl` commands to execute in
order to further customize the virtual machine being created. The value of
this is an array of commands to execute. The commands are executed in the order
defined in the template. For each command, the command is defined itself as an
array of strings, where each string represents a single argument on the
command-line to `prlctl` (but excluding `prlctl` itself). Each arg is treated
as a [configuration template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html),
where the `Name` variable is replaced with the VM name. More details on how
to use `prlctl` are below.
* `parallels_tools_mode` (string) - The method by which Parallels tools are
made available to the guest for installation. Valid options are "upload",
"attach", or "disable". The functions of each of these should be
self-explanatory. The default value is "upload".
* `parallels_tools_guest_path` (string) - The path on the guest virtual machine
where the Parallels tools ISO will be uploaded. By default this is
"prl-tools.iso" which should upload into the login directory of the user.
This is a configuration template where the `Version` variable is replaced
with the prlctl version.
* `parallels_tools_host_path` (string) - The path to the Parallels Tools ISO to
upload. By default the Parallels builder will use the "other" OS tools ISO from
the Parallels installation:
"/Applications/Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/Tools/prl-tools-other.iso"
* `prlctl_version_file` (string) - The path within the virtual machine to upload
a file that contains the `prlctl` version that was used to create the machine.
This information can be useful for provisioning. By default this is
".prlctl_version", which will generally upload it into the home directory.
* `shutdown_command` (string) - The command to use to gracefully shut down
the machine once all the provisioning is done. By default this is an empty
string, which tells Packer to just forcefully shut down the machine.
* `shutdown_timeout` (string) - The amount of time to wait after executing
the `shutdown_command` for the virtual machine to actually shut down.
If it doesn't shut down in this time, it is an error. By default, the timeout
is "5m", or five minutes.
* `ssh_key_path` (string) - Path to a private key to use for authenticating
with SSH. By default this is not set (key-based auth won't be used).
The associated public key is expected to already be configured on the
VM being prepared by some other process (kickstart, etc.).
* `ssh_password` (string) - The password for `ssh_username` to use to
authenticate with SSH. By default this is the empty string.
* `ssh_port` (int) - The port that SSH will be listening on in the guest
virtual machine. By default this is 22.
* `ssh_wait_timeout` (string) - The duration to wait for SSH to become
available. By default this is "20m", or 20 minutes. Note that this should
be quite long since the timer begins as soon as the virtual machine is booted.
* `vm_name` (string) - This is the name of the virtual machine when it is
imported as well as the name of the PVM directory when the virtual machine is
exported. By default this is "packer-BUILDNAME", where "BUILDNAME" is
the name of the build.
## prlctl Commands
In order to perform extra customization of the virtual machine, a template can
define extra calls to `prlctl` to perform.
[prlctl](http://download.parallels.com/desktop/v4/wl/docs/en/Parallels_Command_Line_Reference_Guide/)
is the command-line interface to Parallels. It can be used to do things such as
set RAM, CPUs, etc.
Extra `prlctl` commands are defined in the template in the `prlctl` section.
An example is shown below that sets the memory and number of CPUs within the
virtual machine:
<pre class="prettyprint">
{
"prlctl": [
["set", "{{.Name}}", "--memsize", "1024"],
["set", "{{.Name}}", "--cpus", "2"]
]
}
</pre>
The value of `prlctl` is an array of commands to execute. These commands are
executed in the order defined. So in the above example, the memory will be set
followed by the CPUs.
Each command itself is an array of strings, where each string is an argument to
`prlctl`. Each argument is treated as a
[configuration template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html). The only
available variable is `Name` which is replaced with the unique name of the VM,
which is required for many `prlctl` calls.
---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Parallels Builder"
---
# Parallels Builder
The Parallels builder is able to create [Parallels Desktop for Mac](http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/) virtual machines and export them in the PVM format.
Packer actually comes with multiple builders able to create Parallels
machines, depending on the strategy you want to use to build the image.
Packer supports the following Parallels builders:
* [parallels-iso](/docs/builders/parallels-iso.html) - Starts from
an ISO file, creates a brand new Parallels VM, installs an OS,
provisions software within the OS, then exports that machine to create
an image. This is best for people who want to start from scratch.
* [parallels-pvm](/docs/builders/parallels-pvm.html) - This builder
imports an existing PVM file, runs provisioners on top of that VM,
and exports that machine to create an image. This is best if you have
an existing Parallels VM export you want to use as the source. As an
additional benefit, you can feed the artifact of this builder back into
itself to iterate on a machine.
## Requirements
In addition to [Parallels Desktop for Mac](http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/) this requires:
- [Parallels Virtualization SDK 9 for Mac](http://download.parallels.com//desktop/v9/pde.hf1/ParallelsVirtualizationSDK-9.0.24172.951362.dmg)
- [prl-utils](https://github.com/rickard-von-essen/prl-utils/)
The SDK can be installed by downloading and following the instructions in the dmg. The easiest way to install _prl-utils_ is using [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/)
```
brew tap rickard-von-essen/homebrew-formulae
brew install --HEAD prl-utils
```
......@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
<li><a href="/docs/builders/qemu.html">QEMU</a></li>
<li><a href="/docs/builders/virtualbox.html">VirtualBox</a></li>
<li><a href="/docs/builders/vmware.html">VMware</a></li>
<li><a href="/docs/builders/parallels.html">Parallels</a></li>
<li><a href="/docs/builders/custom.html">Custom</a></li>
</ul>
......
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