deploy_vms: add cloud-init support for VM provisioning by Gabin-CC · Pull Request #953 · seapath/ansible

Gabin-CC · 2026-06-18T17:39:07Z

Summary

Adds optional cloud-init provisioning to VM deployment. Today SEAPATH only deploys and runs VMs ("does not handle any virtual machine inner configuration"); this lets a VM be configured on first boot (hostname, users, SSH keys, static network, packages, runcmd, the native ansible/ansible-pull module, ...) straight from the inventory.

Companion change in seapath/build_debian_iso ships cloud-init in the VM image and cloud-localds on the hypervisor image: link to the build_debian_iso PR

How it works

Uses the cloud-init NoCloud datasource. For each VM that defines a cloud_init mapping, a new cloud_init_seed role builds a small seed image (filesystem labelled cidata, holding meta-data / user-data / network-config) on the hypervisor with cloud-localds. The deploy roles then attach it to the VM:

cluster: passed to cluster_vm via additional_disks (imported by vm-manager, no vm-manager change required);
standalone: built in the disk pool and attached as a vdz disk in guest.xml.j2.
cloud-init in the guest discovers the disk by its CIDATA label and applies the config on first boot.

Inventory interface

Add a cloud_init mapping to a VM to enable it. Every key is rendered as-is into the #cloud-config user-data, except the reserved keys:

Key	Purpose
`hostname`	also written to `meta-data` `local-hostname`
`instance_id`	`meta-data` instance-id (defaults to the VM name)
`network`	NoCloud network-config v2 (the `version: 2` header is added)
`user_data_file`	path to a complete user-data file, used verbatim instead of the rest

So the full cloud-config schema (users, packages, runcmd, write_files, ansible, ...) is available without per-field plumbing. See the new cloud_init_seed role README and the extended inventories/examples/seapath-vm-deployement.yaml.

Backwards compatibility

Opt-in per VM: a VM without a cloud_init block keeps the exact previous behaviour (no seed built, no extra disk).

Requirements

cloud-localds (cloud-image-utils) on the hypervisor — shipped by SEAPATH host images from the companion PR.
The base VM image must ship cloud-init.

Testing

Deploy a VM with a cloud_init block and verify inside the guest: cloud-init status --long → done, hostname / users / network applied.

insatomcat

I don't really have the need for this feature, but I'd say "why not" if it's interesting to the community.
What do you think @dupremathieu

dupremathieu · 2026-06-23T12:53:41Z

I don't really have the need for this feature, but I'd say "why not" if it's interesting to the community. What do you think @dupremathieu

It can be useful for provisioning Ubuntu VM.

dupremathieu

LGTM

dupremathieu · 2026-06-25T07:10:58Z

I think we should document this feature somewhere in the Wiki. @eroussy what is the best pages for that?

eroussy · 2026-06-25T07:24:20Z

I think we should document this feature somewhere in the Wiki. @eroussy what is the best pages for that?

I would advise writing a new a subpage of this one : https://lf-energy.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SEAP/pages/534347789/Virtual+machines+deployment

dupremathieu · 2026-06-25T09:34:37Z

I think we should document this feature somewhere in the Wiki. @eroussy what is the best pages for that?

I would advise writing a new a subpage of this one : https://lf-energy.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SEAP/pages/534347789/Virtual+machines+deployment

https://lf-energy.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SEAP/pages/1163329602/Cloud-init+VM+provisioning

eroussy · 2026-06-25T11:24:14Z

+      # guest inner OS on first boot through a NoCloud seed disk. Requires the base
+      # image to ship cloud-init, and `cloud-localds` (package cloud-image-utils) on
+      # the Ansible controller. Remove this block to deploy without cloud-init.
+      cloud_init:


I do not like putting this directly in the VM example inventory.
This inventory should be the a simple inventory to kick start VM deployement
Then the rest of the documentation should be in the ansible roles README
Please remove this part

Done : I removed the cloud_init block from the example inventory; the documentation and an example now live in the cloud_init_seed role README.

Gabin-CC · 2026-07-16T12:46:36Z

@dupremathieu, @eroussy & @insatomcat is everything ok?

Add an optional `cloud_init` mapping per VM to configure the guest inner OS on first boot through a cloud-init NoCloud seed disk. A new `cloud_init_seed` role builds the seed image (meta-data, user-data and optional network-config) on the Ansible controller with cloud-localds. The deploy roles then attach it to the VM: - cluster: passed as an additional_disk imported by vm-manager; - standalone: copied to the disk pool and attached as a vdz disk. Every key of the `cloud_init` mapping is rendered as-is into the #cloud-config user-data, except the reserved keys hostname, instance_id, network and user_data_file. The feature is opt-in per VM: VMs without a `cloud_init` key keep the previous behaviour. cloud-localds comes from cloud-image-utils, added to the cqfd container image so the controller environment has the tool. Squashed from #953. Signed-off-by: Gabin-CC <gabin.laurent@rte-international.com> Signed-off-by: Florent Carli <fcarli@gmail.com>

eroussy · 2026-07-29T08:46:30Z

@dupremathieu, @eroussy & @insatomcat is everything ok?

Hi Gabin
Looks ok to me. I'll merge that when the stack of PR/CI is free

Add an optional `cloud_init` mapping per VM to configure the guest inner OS on first boot through a cloud-init NoCloud seed disk. A new `cloud_init_seed` role builds the seed image (meta-data, user-data and optional network-config) on the Ansible controller with cloud-localds. The deploy roles then attach it to the VM: - cluster: passed as an additional_disk imported by vm-manager; - standalone: copied to the disk pool and attached as a vdz disk. Every key of the `cloud_init` mapping is rendered as-is into the #cloud-config user-data, except the reserved keys hostname, instance_id, network and user_data_file. The feature is opt-in per VM: VMs without a `cloud_init` key keep the previous behaviour. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Gabin-CC <gabin.laurent@rte-international.com>

The deploy_vms roles build the cloud-init NoCloud seed on the Ansible controller with cloud-localds (provided by cloud-image-utils). Add it to the cqfd container image so the controller environment has the tool. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Gabin-CC <gabin.laurent@rte-international.com>

"Looks ok to me. I'll merge that when the stack of PR/CI is free"

Gabin-CC mentioned this pull request Jun 18, 2026

Add cloud-init support to SEAPATH images seapath/build_debian_iso#173

Merged

Gabin-CC force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from b5ff2e4 to 2366c07 Compare June 18, 2026 17:41

dupremathieu requested a review from insatomcat June 23, 2026 07:23

insatomcat force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from 2366c07 to 057275a Compare June 23, 2026 08:21

insatomcat reviewed Jun 23, 2026

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Gabin-CC force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from 057275a to 46596d8 Compare June 24, 2026 17:22

dupremathieu previously approved these changes Jun 25, 2026

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eroussy previously requested changes Jun 25, 2026

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Gabin-CC force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from 9fc694e to ae79e25 Compare June 26, 2026 12:09

Gabin-CC dismissed dupremathieu’s stale review via ea9b9d9 June 26, 2026 12:18

Gabin-CC force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from ae79e25 to ea9b9d9 Compare June 26, 2026 12:18

Gabin-CC requested review from dupremathieu, eroussy and insatomcat June 26, 2026 12:23

eroussy force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from c5a5cfc to cea647d Compare July 29, 2026 08:45

Gabin-CC and others added 2 commits July 29, 2026 12:50

insatomcat force-pushed the feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment branch from cea647d to f33cfb0 Compare July 29, 2026 10:50

insatomcat approved these changes Jul 29, 2026

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insatomcat merged commit ec89e20 into seapath:main Jul 30, 2026
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deploy_vms: add cloud-init support for VM provisioning - #953

deploy_vms: add cloud-init support for VM provisioning#953
insatomcat merged 2 commits into
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Gabin-CC:feature/cloud-init-vm-deployment

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Gabin-CC commented Jun 18, 2026

Summary

How it works

Inventory interface

Backwards compatibility

Requirements

Testing

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dupremathieu commented Jun 25, 2026

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