Packer Debian 12 (Bookworm) Template for Proxmox

Packer configuration for creating Debian 12 virtual machine templates for Proxmox VE.

Requirements

• Packer
• Proxmox VE

Why

Time and time again you create a VM and go through the setup manually. This method automatically goes through all manual options using a preseed.

More info on preseeding: preseed documentation

How

1. Authorized Keys

If you don't have one already. Create a new keypair.

ssh-keygen

I've just saved the key to the default location and left the passphrase empty. After doing that you'll find your private (id_rsa) and public keys (id_rsa.pub) in your profile .ssh directory. (/Users/YourUsername/.ssh)

Copy the contents of your public key file and paste it in cloud.cfg Replace or remove the example if you need to.

2. Creating a new VM Template

Templates are created by converting an existing VM to a template. Navigate to the project directory and execute the following command:

packer init .
packer build -var-file vars/debian_12.pkrvars.hcl -var "proxmox_api_password=PASSWORD_HERE" .

3. Deploy a VM from a Template

Right-click the template in Proxmox VE, and select "Clone".

• full clone is a complete copy and is fully independent from the original VM or VM Template, but it requires the same disk space as the original
• linked clone requires less disk space but cannot run without access to the base VM Template. Not supported with LVM & ISCSI storage types

4. Connect with cloned VM over SSH

(Change the IP with your new VM's IP)

ssh [email protected]

The certificate should do and no further passwords are needed.