How to make guest OS customization with cloud-init engine work on Ubuntu 20.04.x Live Server and later

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Guest OS Customization with cloud-init engine fails for Ubuntu 20.04.x Live Server and later.
The network configuration doesn't take effect.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Cause

There is a config file /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/subiquity-disable-cloudinit-networking.cfg which disables cloud-init permissions to configure networking. When this file exists, cloud-init will skip network configuration.

Resolution

After setting cloud-init as the customization engine when customizing Ubuntu 20.04.x Live Server or Ubuntu 20.10 Live Server, take these steps to make guest networking configuration during OS customization functional:

1. rm -rf /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/subiquity-disable-cloudinit-networking.cfg
2. rm -rf /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-installer.cfg

Additional Information

Enabling or disabling Linux guest customization with cloud-init