Ubuntu cloud-init autoinstall

README.md

Create an Ubuntu 20.04 LTS autoinstall USB

This only works with UEFI boot.

1. Get a USB key and format it with a GPT partition table. Using gptfdisk something like this should do it:

   sgdisk -og /dev/sdX
   sgdisk -n 0:0:0 -t 0:ef00 /dev/sdX
   

   Create a FAT32 partition, mount it and extract the ISO image to that location

   mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdX1
   mkdir cd-image
   mount /dev/sdX1 cd-image
   7z x ubuntu-20.04.2-live-server-amd64.iso -ocd-image/
   

2. Create a directory called nocloud, copy user-data to it, and create an empty file meta-data.

   mkdir cd-image/nocloud
   touch cd-image/nocloud/meta-data
   cp user-data cd-image/nocloud/user-data
   

3. Edit the bootloader as described in ubuntu-usb.patch and disable the integrity check of the installer using

   echo "" > cd-image/md5sum.txt
   

ubuntu-usb.patch

--- boot/grub/grub.cfg
+++ boot/grub/grub.cfg
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 set timeout=5
 menuentry "Install Ubuntu Server" {
 	set gfxpayload=keep
-	linux	/casper/vmlinuz   quiet  ---
+	linux	/casper/vmlinuz   quiet autoinstall ds=nocloud\;s=/cdrom/nocloud/ ---
 	initrd	/casper/initrd
 }
 grub_platform
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 submenu 'Boot and Install with the HWE kernel' {
 menuentry "Install Ubuntu Server" {
 	set gfxpayload=keep
-	linux	/casper/hwe-vmlinuz   quiet  ---
+	linux	/casper/hwe-vmlinuz   quiet autoinstall ds=nocloud\;s=/cdrom/nocloud/ ---
 	initrd	/casper/hwe-initrd
 }
 }
--- isolinux/txt.cfg
+++ isolinux/txt.cfg
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 label live
   menu label ^Install Ubuntu Server
   kernel /casper/vmlinuz
-  append   initrd=/casper/initrd quiet  ---
+  append   initrd=/casper/initrd quiet autoinstall ds=nocloud;s=/cdrom/nocloud/ ---
 label hwe-live
   menu label ^Install Ubuntu Server with the HWE kernel
   kernel /casper/hwe-vmlinuz
-  append   initrd=/casper/hwe-initrd quiet  ---
+  append   initrd=/casper/hwe-initrd quiet autoinstall ds=nocloud;s=/cdrom/nocloud/ ---
 label memtest
   menu label Test ^memory
   kernel /install/mt86plus

user-data

#cloud-config
# https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/install/autoinstall-reference
autoinstall:
  version: 1

  interactive-sections:
   - storage

  apt:
    primary:
      - arches: [default]
        uri: "http://ftp.fau.de/ubuntu"
    sources:
      salt:
        source: "deb https://repo.saltproject.io/py3/ubuntu/20.04/amd64/latest $RELEASE main"
        key: |
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          Version: GnuPG v2
          
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          MA==
          =dtMN
          -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

  packages:
    - curl
    - emacs
    - git
    - salt-minion

  # does this even do anything?
  package_update: true
  package_upgrade: true

  # completely ignored (probably because interactive)
  storage:
    layout:
      name: direct
    swap:
      size: 0

  ssh:
    allow-pw: true
    install-server: true

  keyboard:
    layout: en
    variant: us

  locale: en_US.UTF-8

  user-data:
    timezone: Europe/Berlin

  late-commands:
    - swapoff -a
    - sed -i '/^\/swap.img/d' /target/etc/fstab
    - rm -f /target/swap.img
    - echo 'root:$6$zScnL.LGa$W0rG9t6Yy2y84aprSP0USWQ/MD7AwLFO/ljt1iDm8Mb2AETAKyMfUGngG6oqOZ7naIa9BmIEOfqHWHyPHVaH3/' | chpasswd -e -R /target