Do i have to use vcenter for the vsphere-iso builder?

Packer
1

hi…
do i have to use vsphere-iso with vcenter, and not use it directly on the esxi for build the vm?
the reason i’m asking is that i like using the api’s however due to a bug in vmware, creating a vm in a 6.7 environment makes it incompatible with 6.5 and below, so i would need to use ovftool to convert the template

2

Interesting question. I am using vmware-iso builder on a specific esx host. Maybe it’s an alternative/ workaround for you.

3

Hello,

I am using vsphere-iso, connecting directly to a esxi host instead of vcenter (just pointed it and GO!) - works as expected. You’ll need to have a non free version so it can access the API - appears to be faultless for my uses.

I’m using packer 1.6.5 on Windows 10, connecting to ESXI 7 Update1

Hope this helps.

4

Hello,

vsphere-iso is supposed to work with standalone esxi host both paid and free licensed.