VMware Template – Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
Thanks to VMUG advantage I’m running the latest and greatest versions of ESXi and vCenter Server. However, applying a simple VM customization during Ubuntu 18.04.3 template deployment resulted in the network being set but not connected even though the template was.
I ended up combining parts of this helpful script seen at Jim Angel’s site along with VMware’s original resolution to get things sorted in my environment.
Throw the following into a file on your system, make it executable, and sudo bash to prep for converting to template.
#!/bin/bash echo Update system apt update -y && apt upgrade -y echo Stop rsyslog service rsyslog stop echo Empty log files find /var/log/ -type f -exec cp /dev/null {} \; echo Remove tmp files rm -rf /tmp/* rm -rf /var/tmp/* echo Remove host SSH keys rm -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_* echo Create /etc/rc.local to regenerate ssh host keys if needed cat << 'EOL' > /etc/rc.local #!/bin/sh if [ ! -e /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key ]; then dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server systemctl restart ssh fi exit 0 EOL chmod +x /etc/rc.local echo Clean apt apt clean echo Clean cloud-init logs cloud-init clean --logs echo Clear machine-id cp /dev/null /etc/machine-id echo Remove unwanted MOTD detail chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/10-help-text chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/50-motd-news #vmware customization fix https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/56409 if grep -E '^#D \/tmp 1777 root root' /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tmp.conf then echo VM tools tmp.conf customizations already exists else echo Adding VM tools tmp.conf customization sed -i 's/^D \/tmp 1777 root root -/#D \/tmp 1777 root root -/' /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tmp.conf fi if grep -E '^After=dbus.service' /lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service then echo VM tools service customization already exists else echo Adding VM tools service customization sed -i '/^\[Unit\]/a\After=dbus.service' /lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service fi echo Clear bash history cp /dev/null ~/.bash_history && history -cw echo shutdown # uncomment if you want to shutdown immediately #shutdown now # you may want to run history -cw as your logged in account too