For the moment I've hacked a script together which uses the vsphere perl utilities to find the current DHCP IP address allocated to the new virtual machine, logs into it using a trusted ssh key which is in the template, and reconfigures the hostname and network settings.
I've also found where you make feature requests for VMware. I'd suggest everyone affected by this does so. Unless they hear about it, they'll claim there's no demand.
Best of luck...
Here's my script, in case it's of use to anyone else:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
VSPHEREPERL=/where-you-installed/vsphere-perl-5.0.0
: ${VI_SERVER:=your-vcenter}
DOMAIN=example.com
unset PERL5LIB
export PERLLIB=$VSPHEREPERL/lib/perl5
export PATH=$VSPHEREPERL/bin/apps/vm:$PATH
host="$1"
hostent=$(getent hosts $host || /bin/true)
set -- $hostent
# if host is in DNS, assume static IP address
# otherwise, stick with DHCP
hostip=${1:-dhcp}
fqdn=${2:-${host}.$DOMAIN}
declare -a iface
tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
get_vm_info() {
echo "You may be prompted for your password here in order to contact vCenter"
vminfo.pl --vmname $1 | sed -e 's/:[\t ]*/:/;s/[ \t]*$//' > $tmpdir/vminfo
currentip=$(grep 'IP Address:' $tmpdir/vminfo | cut -d: -f2)
guestid=$(grep 'guestId:' $tmpdir/vminfo | cut -d: -f2)
}
enumerate_ifaces() {
iface=($(sudo -H /usr/bin/ssh "$1" ifconfig -a | awk '/encap:Ethernet/ {print $1}'))
if [ ${#iface[@]} -ne 1 ]; then
echo "Automatic configuration only works on machines with a single ethernet interface"
exit 1
fi
siteif=${iface[0]}
}
get_vm_info $host
case "$guestid" in
debian*) ;;
ubuntu*) ;;
*) echo "Only Debian and Ubuntu guests are currently supported by this script"; exit 1 ;;
esac
if [ "$currentip" = 'Not Known' ]; then
echo "Can't determine current IP address of $host. Cannot continue."
echo "Will try rebooting the VM now"
vmcontrol.pl --vmname $host --operation reboot
exit 1
fi
echo "You may now be prompted for your password in order to run sudo"
enumerate_ifaces $currentip
echo $host > $tmpdir/hostname
cat > $tmpdir/interfaces << EOF
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto $siteif
EOF
if [ $hostip = 'dhcp' ]; then
cat >> $tmpdir/interfaces << EOF
iface $siteif inet dhcp
EOF
else
cat >> $tmpdir/interfaces << EOF
iface $siteif inet static
address $hostip
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast ${hostip%.*}.255
gateway ${hostip%.*}.1
EOF
fi
cat > $tmpdir/hosts << EOF
127.0.0.1 localhost
$hostip $fqdn $host
# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts
EOF
cat > $tmpdir/debconf << EOF
exim4-config exim4/dc_other_hostnames string $fqdn
EOF
sudo -H /usr/bin/ssh $currentip rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules /var/lib/dhcpcd/*
sudo -H /usr/bin/ssh $currentip /usr/bin/touch /etc/dhcpc/inhibit-duid
sudo -H /usr/bin/scp -q $tmpdir/host* $currentip:/etc
sudo -H /usr/bin/scp -q $tmpdir/interfaces $currentip:/etc/network/interfaces
sudo -H /usr/bin/scp -q $tmpdir/debconf $currentip:/root/debconf
sudo -H /usr/bin/ssh $currentip /usr/bin/debconf-set-selections /root/debconf
if [ $hostip = dhcp ]; then
sudo -H /usr/bin/ssh $currentip /sbin/shutdown -r now
else
cat << EOF
Now change the VM's network to the correct VLAN in vSphere before
you power it on
EOF
sudo -H /usr/bin/ssh $currentip /sbin/shutdown -h now
fi
rm -rf $tmpdir
