Proxmox Automated VM Builder with Dual Disks

📘 Proxmox Automated VM Builder with Dual Disks

This script automates the following:

Verifies the environment and required files.
Builds customized Proxmox ISO images using answer files.
Provisions virtual machines using those ISOs with two identical virtual disks for each VM.

🧰 Prerequisites

Ensure the following tools and dependencies are available:

bash (script written for Bash shell)
docker (to run the ISO customization container)
virt-install (from the virt-manager suite)
qemu-img (for creating QCOW2 disk images)
libvirt (for VM creation and management)
Required user permissions (sudo access for VM and disk operations)
A Proxmox VE ISO (version 8.4 in this script)

🗂️ Directory Structure

.
├── iso/
│   ├── proxmox-ve_8.4-1.iso
│   └── output/
├── secrets/
│   └── <profile_name>/
│       └── answer.toml
└── build.sh  ← (this script)

🧩 Configuration

The script defines several configurable parameters:

Variable	Description
`ISO_VERSION`	Proxmox ISO version number
`ISO_BASE`	Name of the base ISO file
`ISO_DIR`	Directory to store the base ISO and outputs
`ANSWERS_DIR`	Path to the profile directories
`OUTPUT_DIR`	Directory where custom ISOs will be placed
`OS_VARIANT`	libvirt OS variant (`debian10` for Proxmox 8.x)
`RAM`	RAM allocated to the VM (in MB)
`VCPUS`	Number of virtual CPUs for each VM
`DISK_SIZE`	Size (in GB) of each disk (two disks per VM)
`NETWORK`	libvirt network to attach to

🛠️ What the Script Does

1. Ensures Required Directories Exist

Creates the iso, secrets, and iso/output folders if they do not exist.

2. Verifies ISO and Answer Files

Ensures the Proxmox base ISO exists.
Looks for answer.toml files in ./secrets/*/.

Each directory under secrets represents a profile that defines the configuration for a VM.

3. Builds Custom ISOs per Profile

For each profile, it calls the Dockerized Proxmox Auto Install Assistant with:

docker run \
  -v <ISO_DIR>:/iso:ro \
  -v <ANSWERS_DIR>:/answers:ro \
  -v <OUTPUT_DIR>:/out \
  rohanbatra/proxmox-auto-install-assistant-docker:latest \
    "/iso/${ISO_BASE}" "$profile"

This generates an auto-install ISO for that profile.

4. Creates VMs with Two Disks

For each profile:

It creates two QCOW2 virtual disks named:
- <profile>_disk_1.qcow2
- <profile>_disk_2.qcow2
Uses virt-install to create the VM with:
- VNC graphics
- UEFI boot
- 2 disks
- Proxmox ISO attached
- NAT-based networking

5. Shows Final VM Status

At the end, it runs sudo virsh list --all to show all VMs and their current state.

🖥️ Example: Adding a Profile

To create a new VM profile:

mkdir -p secrets/webserver
cp answer_template.toml secrets/webserver/answer.toml

Edit answer.toml to customize the installation.

💡 Tips

Make sure the answer.toml matches the required format for the Proxmox Auto Installer.
You can boot VMs using VNC (e.g., virt-viewer or virt-manager).

To delete a VM:

sudo virsh destroy <vm-name>
sudo virsh undefine <vm-name>
sudo rm /var/lib/libvirt/images/<vm-name>_disk_*.qcow2

📜 Full Script

set -euo pipefail

# ─── Config ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ISO_VERSION="8.4"
ISO_BASE="proxmox-ve_${ISO_VERSION}-1.iso"
ISO_DIR="./iso"
ANSWERS_DIR="./secrets"
OUTPUT_DIR="${ISO_DIR}/output"
OS_VARIANT="debian10"
RAM="4096"
VCPUS="2"
DISK_SIZE="32"
NETWORK="nat-1"

# ─── Ensure Required Directories Exist ──────────────────────────
for dir in "$ISO_DIR" "$ANSWERS_DIR" "$OUTPUT_DIR"; do
    [ ! -d "$dir" ] && echo "📁 Creating $dir" && mkdir -p "$dir"
done

# ─── Prompt if ISO or .toml Files Are Missing ───────────────────
if [ ! -f "${ISO_DIR}/${ISO_BASE}" ]; then
    echo "❌ Missing base ISO: ${ISO_DIR}/${ISO_BASE}"
    echo "➡️  Please download and place it in ${ISO_DIR}"
    exit 1
fi

PROFILES=()
for answer_file in "${ANSWERS_DIR}"/*/answer.toml; do
    [ -f "$answer_file" ] || continue
    profile=$(basename "$(dirname "$answer_file")")
    PROFILES+=("$profile")
done

if [ ${#PROFILES[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "❌ No profiles found in ./secrets/*/answer.toml"
    echo "➡️  Please create at least one profile folder and put answer.toml inside"
    exit 1
fi

# ─── Build Custom ISOs ──────────────────────────────────────────
for profile in "${PROFILES[@]}"; do
    echo -e "\n🛠️ Building ISO for profile: ${profile}"
    
    docker run --rm \
      -v "$(realpath $ISO_DIR):/iso:ro" \
      -v "$(realpath $ANSWERS_DIR):/answers:ro" \
      -v "$(realpath $OUTPUT_DIR):/out" \
      rohanbatra/proxmox-auto-install-assistant-docker:latest \
        "/iso/${ISO_BASE}" "$profile"
done

# ─── Create VMs from ISOs ───────────────────────────────────────
for profile in "${PROFILES[@]}"; do
    VM_NAME="$profile"
    DISK_PATH_1="/var/lib/libvirt/images/${VM_NAME}_disk_1.qcow2"
    DISK_PATH_2="/var/lib/libvirt/images/${VM_NAME}_disk_2.qcow2"
    ISO_PATH="${OUTPUT_DIR}/proxmox-ve_${ISO_VERSION}-auto-${profile}.iso"

    echo -e "\n💻 Creating VM: ${VM_NAME}"

    if [ ! -f "$ISO_PATH" ]; then
        echo "❌ ISO not found for ${profile} at $ISO_PATH. Skipping VM creation."
        continue
    fi

    # Create both disks if missing
    for disk_path in "$DISK_PATH_1" "$DISK_PATH_2"; do
        if [ ! -f "$disk_path" ]; then
            echo "🪣 Creating disk at $disk_path..."
            sudo qemu-img create -f qcow2 "$disk_path" "${DISK_SIZE}G"
        fi
    done

    sudo virt-install \
      --name "$VM_NAME" \
      --ram "$RAM" \
      --vcpus "$VCPUS" \
      --os-variant "$OS_VARIANT" \
      --disk path="$DISK_PATH_1",format=qcow2,bus=virtio \
      --disk path="$DISK_PATH_2",format=qcow2,bus=virtio \
      --cdrom "$ISO_PATH" \
      --network network="$NETWORK",model=virtio \
      --graphics vnc \
      --noautoconsole \
      --boot uefi \
      --cpu host-passthrough

    echo "✅ VM '${VM_NAME}' created with ISO: $ISO_PATH and disks: $DISK_PATH_1, $DISK_PATH_2"
done

# ─── Final VM Status ────────────────────────────────────────────
echo -e "\n📋 VM Status:"
sudo virsh list --all