SSH cannot communicate with Packer and QEMU

jnunezgts · April 14, 2022, 9:55pm

Hello,

I’m trying to setup a virtual machine using packer but even after the installation completes I cannot get any artifacts as the SSH provide cannot connect to QEMU.

I even resorted disabling the NAT SSH port, I hardcoded it but still get this message:

PACKER_LOG=1 packer build .
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [INFO] Packer version: 1.8.0 [go1.17.8 linux amd64]
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [TRACE] discovering plugins in /usr/bin
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [TRACE] discovering plugins in /home/jose/.config/packer/plugins
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [TRACE] discovering plugins in .
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var not set; checking the default config file path
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var set; attempting to open config file: /home/jose/.packerconfig
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [WARN] Config file doesn't exist: /home/jose/.packerconfig
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [INFO] Setting cache directory: /home/jose/.cache/packer
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [TRACE] Starting internal plugin packer-builder-qemu
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Starting plugin: /usr/bin/packer []string{"/usr/bin/packer", "plugin", "packer-builder-qemu"}
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Waiting for RPC address for: /usr/bin/packer
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Packer version: 1.8.0 [go1.17.8 linux amd64]
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var not set; checking the default config file path
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] PACKER_CONFIG env var set; attempting to open config file: /home/jose/.packerconfig
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [WARN] Config file doesn't exist: /home//jose/.packerconfig
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Setting cache directory: /home//jose/.cache/packer
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: args: []string{"packer-builder-qemu"}
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Plugin address: unix /tmp/packer-plugin2007554095
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Waiting for connection...
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Received unix RPC address for /usr/bin/packer: addr is /tmp/packer-plugin2007554095
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Serving a plugin connection...
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: use specified accelerator: kvm
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Build debug mode: false
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Force build: false
2022/04/14 17:00:49 On error:
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Waiting on builds to complete...
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Starting build run: qemu.fedora
2022/04/14 17:00:49 Running builder:
2022/04/14 17:00:49 [INFO] (telemetry) Starting builder qemu.fedora
qemu.fedora: output will be in this color.

2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Qemu path: /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64, Qemu Image path: /usr/bin/qemu-img
==> qemu.fedora: Retrieving ISO
==> qemu.fedora: Trying http://ny2lxavt082p.nologies.com:8081/repository/avt-static/fedora/Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-29-1.2.iso
2022/04/14 17:00:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Acquiring lock for: http://ny2lxavt082p.nologies.com:8081/repository/avt-static/fedora/Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-29-1.2.iso?checksum=md5%3A4962e7136516120d40e4289ede5a974d (/home//jose/.cache/packer/b97374ee9f2769529cbc362c18833941211fe333.iso.lock)
==> qemu.fedora: Trying http://ny2lxavt082p.nologies.com:8081/repository/avt-static/fedora/Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-29-1.2.iso?checksum=md5%3A4962e7136516120d40e4289ede5a974d
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Leaving retrieve loop for ISO
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: No floppy files specified. Floppy disk will not be made.
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: No CD files specified. CD disk will not be made.
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Creating disk with Path: output_fedora/fedora and Size: 50000M
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Executing qemu-img: []string{"create", "-f", "qcow2", "output_fedora/fedora", "50000M"}
==> qemu.fedora: http://ny2lxavt082p.nologies.com:8081/repository/avt-static/fedora/Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-29-1.2.iso?checksum=md5%3A4962e7136516120d40e4289ede5a974d => /home//jose/.cache/packer/b97374ee9f2769529cbc362c18833941211fe333.iso
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: stdout: Formatting 'output_fedora/fedora', fmt=qcow2 size=52428800000 cluster_size=65536 lazy_refcounts=off refcount_bits=16
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: stderr:
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Found available port: 8273 on IP: 0.0.0.0
==> qemu.fedora: Starting HTTP server on port 8273
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Skipping NAT port forwarding. Using communicator (SSH, WinRM, etc) port 2280
==> qemu.fedora: Looking for available port between 5900 and 5900 on 0.0.0.0
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Looking for available port between 5900 and 5900 on 0.0.0.0
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Found available port: 5900 on IP: 0.0.0.0
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Found available VNC port: 5900 on IP: 0.0.0.0
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Qemu --version output: QEMU emulator version 3.0.0 (qemu-3.0.0-3.fc29)
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Copyright (c) 2003-2017 Fabrice Bellard and the QEMU Project developers
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Qemu version: 3.0.0
==> qemu.fedora: Starting VM, booting from CD-ROM
    qemu.fedora: view the screen of the VM, connect via VNC without a password to
    qemu.fedora: vnc://0.0.0.0:5900
    qemu.fedora: The VM will be run headless, without a GUI. If you want to
    qemu.fedora: view the screen of the VM, connect via VNC without a password to
    qemu.fedora: vnc://0.0.0.0:5900
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Qemu Builder has no floppy files, not attaching a floppy.
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Executing /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64: []string{"-netdev", "user,id=user.0,hostfwd=tcp::2280-:2280", "-m", "16000M", "-device", "virtio-net-pci,netdev=user.0", "-boot", "once=d", "-drive", "file=output_fedora/fedora,if=virtio,cache=writeback,discard=ignore,format=qcow2", "-drive", "file=/home//jose/.cache/packer/b97374ee9f2769529cbc362c18833941211fe333.iso,media=cdrom", "-name", "fedora", "-machine", "type=pc-q35-2.10,accel=kvm", "-vnc", "0.0.0.0:0", "-smp", "cpus=8,sockets=8"}
2022/04/14 17:00:54 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Started Qemu. Pid: 26446
==> qemu.fedora: Waiting 10s for boot...
==> qemu.fedora: Connecting to VM via VNC (0.0.0.0:5900)
2022/04/14 17:01:06 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Connected to VNC desktop: QEMU (fedora)
==> qemu.fedora: Typing the boot command over VNC...
2022/04/14 17:01:06 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Special code '<tab>' found, replacing with: 0xFF09
2022/04/14 17:01:06 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char ' ', code 0x20, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:06 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 't', code 0x74, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:06 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'e', code 0x65, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:07 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'x', code 0x78, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:07 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 't', code 0x74, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:07 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char ' ', code 0x20, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:07 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'k', code 0x6B, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:07 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 's', code 0x73, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:08 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '=', code 0x3D, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:08 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'h', code 0x68, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:08 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 't', code 0x74, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:08 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 't', code 0x74, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:08 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'p', code 0x70, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:09 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char ':', code 0x3A, shift true
2022/04/14 17:01:09 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '/', code 0x2F, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:09 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '/', code 0x2F, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:09 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '1', code 0x31, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:10 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '0', code 0x30, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:10 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '.', code 0x2E, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:10 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '0', code 0x30, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:10 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '.', code 0x2E, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:10 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '2', code 0x32, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:11 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '.', code 0x2E, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:11 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '2', code 0x32, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:11 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char ':', code 0x3A, shift true
2022/04/14 17:01:11 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '8', code 0x38, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:12 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '2', code 0x32, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:12 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '7', code 0x37, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:12 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '3', code 0x33, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:12 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '/', code 0x2F, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:12 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'f', code 0x66, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:13 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'e', code 0x65, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:13 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'd', code 0x64, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:13 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'o', code 0x6F, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:13 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'r', code 0x72, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:13 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'a', code 0x61, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:14 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '2', code 0x32, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:14 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '9', code 0x39, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:14 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '-', code 0x2D, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:14 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'k', code 0x6B, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:14 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 's', code 0x73, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:15 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char '.', code 0x2E, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:15 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'c', code 0x63, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:15 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'f', code 0x66, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:15 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Sending char 'g', code 0x67, shift false
2022/04/14 17:01:16 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Special code '<enter>' found, replacing with: 0xFF0D
2022/04/14 17:01:16 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Waiting 1s
    qemu.fedora: Not using a NetBridge -- skipping StepWaitGuestAddress
2022/04/14 17:01:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Using host value: 127.0.0.1
==> qemu.fedora: Using SSH communicator to connect: 127.0.0.1
2022/04/14 17:01:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Waiting for SSH, up to timeout: 15m0s
==> qemu.fedora: Waiting for SSH to become available...
2022/04/14 17:01:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Using host value: 127.0.0.1
2022/04/14 17:01:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Attempting SSH connection to 127.0.0.1:2280...
2022/04/14 17:01:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] reconnecting to TCP connection for SSH
2022/04/14 17:01:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] handshaking with SSH
2022/04/14 17:02:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] SSH handshake err: Timeout during SSH handshake
2022/04/14 17:02:24 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Using host value: 127.0.0.1
2022/04/14 17:02:24 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Attempting SSH connection to 127.0.0.1:2280...
2022/04/14 17:02:24 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] reconnecting to TCP connection for SSH
2022/04/14 17:02:24 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] handshaking with SSH
2022/04/14 17:03:24 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] SSH handshake err: Timeout during SSH handshake
2022/04/14 17:03:31 packer-builder-qemu plugin: Using host value: 127.0.0.1
2022/04/14 17:03:31 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Attempting SSH connection to 127.0.0.1:2280...
2022/04/14 17:03:31 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] reconnecting to TCP connection for SSH
2022/04/14 17:03:31 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] handshaking with SSH
2022/04/14 17:04:31 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] SSH handshake err: Timeout during SSH handshake
2022/04/14 17:16:10 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] SSH handshake err: ssh: handshake failed: EOF
==> qemu.fedora: Timeout waiting for SSH.
2022/04/14 17:16:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: failed to unlock port lockfile: close tcp 0.0.0.0:5900: use of closed network connection
2022/04/14 17:16:17 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] SSH wait cancelled. Exiting loop.
==> qemu.fedora: Deleting output directory...
2022/04/14 17:16:17 [INFO] (telemetry) ending qemu.fedora
==> Wait completed after 15 minutes 28 seconds
2022/04/14 17:16:17 machine readable: error-count []string{"1"}
==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
2022/04/14 17:16:17 machine readable: qemu.fedora,error []string{"Timeout waiting for SSH."}
==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.
Build 'qemu.fedora' errored after 15 minutes 28 seconds: Timeout waiting for SSH.

==> Wait completed after 15 minutes 28 seconds

==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
2022/04/14 17:16:17 [INFO] (telemetry) Finalizing.
--> qemu.fedora: Timeout waiting for SSH.

==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.
2022/04/14 17:16:17 waiting for all plugin processes to complete...
2022/04/14 17:16:17 /usr/bin/packer: plugin process exited

My HCL2 packer file looks like this:

/*
 * https://www.packer.io/plugins/builders/qemu
 * https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Networking
 * https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/images.html
 * https://github.com/jakobadam/packer-qemu-templates
 * https://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Networking#User_Networking
 * PACKER_LOG=1 packer build .
 * On a separate terminal: vinagre vnc://127.0.0.1:5987 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
 * NOTE: Possible performance issue, may need to add a TAP device. BUT that requires GTS to give us an IP address we can use https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Networking#Tap
 */
source "qemu" "fedora" {
  iso_url          = "http://webserver.company.com:8081/repository/avt-static/fedora/Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-29-1.2.iso"
  iso_checksum     = "md5:4962e7136516120d40e4289ede5a974d"
  output_directory = "output_fedora"
  shutdown_command = "echo 'XXXX' | sudo -S shutdown -P now"
  disk_size        = "50000M"
  format           = "qcow2"
  accelerator      = "kvm"
  http_directory   = "kickstart"
  # communicator     = "none"
  # Disabled NAT as port forwarding doesn't work for non-root user
  skip_nat_mapping = "true"
  ssh_port         = "2280"
  ssh_username     = "systemuser"
  ssh_password     = "systemuser"
  ssh_timeout      = "15m"
  vm_name          = "fedora"
  net_device       = "virtio-net-pci"
  # scsi is not allowed under RedHat due a bug.
  disk_interface   = "virtio"
  boot_wait        = "10s"
  headless         = "true"
  cpus             = "8"
  memory           = "16000"
  vnc_bind_address = "0.0.0.0"
  vnc_port_min     = "5900"
  vnc_port_max     = "5900"
  machine_type     = "pc-q35-2.10"
  boot_command     = ["<tab> text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/fedora-ks.cfg<enter><wait>"]
}

build {
  sources = ["source.qemu.fedora"]
}

And my kickstart file:

# Please check: https://pykickstart.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
# Lint the file: ksvalidator fedora29-ks.cfg
# Jose Vicente Nunez (mycompany.com)
bootloader --append="nofb ipv6.disable=1 selinux=0 noselinux geoloc=0 consoleblank=0 audit=0" --location=mbr
text
repo --name="os" --baseurl=http://repo.mycompany.com/repo/Fedora/XX/os --cost=1
repo --name="os-updates" --baseurl=http://repo.mycompany.com/repo/Fedora/XX/updates --cost=1
url --url="http://repo.mycompany.com/repo/Fedora/XX/os"
keyboard --vckeymap=us --xlayouts=''
lang en_US.UTF-8
network --hostname=virtual29
rootpw --plaintext XXXX
authselect --useshadow --passalgo=sha256 --kickstart
selinux --disabled
firstboot --disabled
skipx
services --enable="chronyd" --enabled="sshd"
timezone America/New_York --isUtc --ntpservers=ntp.mycompany.com
clearpart --all --initlabel
part /boot --fstype="ext4" --size=512 --fsoptions="noatime"
part /var --fstype="xfs" --size=10240 --fsoptions="noatime"
part swap --fstype="swap" --size=8192
part / --fstype="xfs" --size=30000 --grow --fsoptions="noatime"
part biosboot --fstype="biosboot" --size=1
user --name=systemuser --groups=YYY --password=XXXXX
reboot

%pre --erroronfail
echo "Nothing to see here"
%end

%pre-install --erroronfail --interpreter /usr/bin/python3
"""
/mnt/sysimage is available, make some changes to YUM repositories
"""
from pathlib import Path
REPO_PATH = Path("/mnt/sysimage/etc/yum.repos.d")
REPO_PATH.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
REPOS = {
    "os": "http://repo.mycompany.com/repo/Fedora/XX/os",
    "os-updates": "http://repo.mycompany.com/repo/Fedora/XX/updates"
}
for repo, url in REPOS.items():
    repo_file = REPO_PATH.joinpath(f"{repo}.repo")
    print(f"Creating {repo_file}")
    with open(repo_file, "w") as repod:
        repod.write(f'''[{repo}]
name={repo}
enabled=1
baseurl={url}
gpgcheck=0
''')
%end

%post --interpreter /bin/bash --erroronfail
exec < /dev/tty3 > /dev/tty3
/bin/chvt 3
(
set -x
for disabled in fedora fedora-modular updates updates-modular updates-testing fedora-cisco-openh264; do
    /bin/dnf config-manager --set-disabled $disabled
done

/bin/sed -i "s/#PermitRootLogin yes/PermitRootLogin yes/g" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
/usr/bin/systemctl enable sshd
set +x
) 2>&1| /bin/tee /root/ks-post-services.log
/bin/chvt 1
%end

%post --interpreter /bin/bash --erroronfail
exec < /dev/tty3 > /dev/tty3
/bin/chvt 3
(
set -x
/bin/cat<<SUDOERS>/etc/sudoers.d/systemuser
systemuser             ALL=(ALL)   NOPASSWD: ALL
Defaults:systemuser    env_keep += SSH_AUTH_SOCK
SUDOERS
chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/systemuser
/bin/sed -i 's/^.*requiretty/#Defaults requiretty/' /etc/sudoers
/bin/cat<<PUBLIC_KEY>/home/systemuser/.ssh/authorized_keys
ssh-rsa 6u6wBvvEvYXlwy3yZSfdDhACSRvL/4OfpMlN7TCDf39aL8sUh0QxCmYiPmrlZjASSomlFjtRFEs1Mc3/gZptvfcHSeA4OhK9vfZpeZ3gyj1UT1CQuVAzUFY28EHbPfB+iE4elI+r3M/fZAN92Ilz3Iw7YAKeihbaovka8RyklE7/FfQ5MEMs1ypa9fbz+D systemuser@mycompany.com
PUBLIC_KEY
/bin/chmod 0600 /home/systemuser/.ssh/systemuser
/bin/chown -R systemuser:mygroup /home/systemuser/.ssh
set +x
) 2>&1| /bin/tee /root/ks-post-sudoers.log
/bin/chvt 1
%end

%post --interpreter /bin/bash --erroronfail
exec < /dev/tty3 > /dev/tty3
/bin/chvt 3
(
set -x
/usr/bin/dnf -y update
/usr/bin/dnf -y -q clean all
/bin/rm -rf /var/cache/dnf/*
/usr/bin/dnf -y -q remove NetworkManager* PackageKit* cups* jack-audio* gstreamer* iw firewalld* ModemManager-glib
set +x
) 2>&1| /bin/tee /root/ks-post-packages.log
/bin/chvt 1
%end

%post --interpreter /bin/bash --erroronfail
exec < /dev/tty3 > /dev/tty3
/bin/chvt 3
(
set -x
sync
sync
sleep 1
sync
sleep 1
set +x
) 2>&1| /bin/tee /root/ks-post-useradd.log
/bin/chvt 1
%end

%packages
@core
@standard
dnf-plugins-core
augeas
dhclient
dnf-plugins-extras-versionlock
kernel-devel
network-scripts
ntpdate
perl
-puppet-3.8.4
rsyslog
ruby-augeas
rubygem-xmlrpc
vim-minimal
wget
yum
-PackageKit-glib
-abrt-cli
-cups
-emacs
-geolite2-city
-hunspell
-nano
-pinfo
procps-ng
which
net-tools
iproute
iputils
traceroute
findutils
hostname
htop
bind-utils
kernel-tools
kmod

%end

%addon com_redhat_kdump --disable --reserve-mb='128'

%end

Any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

I’m not running packer as root.

Thanks!

aram · April 15, 2022, 6:51am

I’m not a qemu nor a fedora user, but going off of CentOS builds I used to do the boot command is most likely the issue.

Have you actually tried to do run that command by hand to get it to boot and use the kickstart script?

This is what I had in my script, again not for fedora:

"<tab> linux ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/{{ user `ks_path` }}<enter><wait>"

jnunezgts · April 18, 2022, 2:28pm

Hello @aram,

Not sure if that is the issue, My kickstart command is not so different than yours:

"<tab> text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/fedora29-ks.cfg<enter><wait>"

Oddly enough the whole installation Kickstart script goes through but because of the SSH timeout, it fails at the end.

I saw a similar post on Stack Overflow but it was never resolved.

jnunezgts · April 18, 2022, 7:14pm

I made a few changes and I got it to work:

On the packer hcl file I use root and re-enabled SSH NAT:

  # skip_nat_mapping = "true"
  # ssh_port         = "2280"
  ssh_username     = "root"
  ssh_password     = "XXX"

On the Kickstart file, I enable SSHD on boot and as service. I cannot get an SSH while Kickstart is running but now it works after the first boot:

bootloader --append="nofb ipv6.disable=1 selinux=0 noselinux geoloc=0 consoleblank=0 audit=0 inst.sshd" --location=mbr
services --enabled=chronyd,sshd

I changed the syntax of the services to include all my services, separated by a ‘,’ per manual.

Hope this helps.

prakash.prks · June 14, 2023, 7:21am

Is this issue resolved for you ? I’m also getting the same error

2023/06/14 03:16:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [INFO] Attempting SSH connection to 127.0.0.1:2958…
2023/06/14 03:16:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] reconnecting to TCP connection for SSH
2023/06/14 03:16:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] handshaking with SSH
2023/06/14 03:16:49 packer-builder-qemu plugin: [DEBUG] SSH handshake err: ssh: handshake failed: read tcp 127.0.0.1:53442->127.0.0.1:2958: read: connection reset by peer

safenetwork-CMTY · June 15, 2023, 4:33am

Please start your own thread on this issue.

This issue is frequent due to bad ssh configuration in someone’s packer build script.

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