# VMware guestinfo `cloud-init` configuration for AL2023 on VMware
<a name="vmware-guestinfo"></a>

 VMware environments do not have the [Amazon EC2 Instance Meta Data Service (IMDS)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/configuring-instance-metadata-service), so an alternate method of configuring AL2023 is required. This section describes how to use an alternative configuration mechanism to the `seed.iso` virtual CD-ROM drive that is available in VMware vSphere. 

 This method of configuration uses the VMware `extraconfig` mechanism to provide configuration data to `cloud-init`. For each of the following keys, a corresponding ***keyname*.encoding** property must be provided. 

 The following keys can be provided to the VMware `extraconfig` mechanism. 

** `guestinfo.metadata` **  
 JSON or YAML containing `cloud-init` meta-data 

** `guestinfo.userdata` **  
 A YAML document containing `cloud-init` user-data in the `cloud-config` format. 

** `guestinfo.vendordata` (optional) **  
 YAML containing `cloud-init` vendor-data 

 The corresponding encoding properties ( `guestinfo.metadata.encoding`, `guestinfo.userdata.encoding`, and `guestinfo.vendordata.encoding`) can contain: 

** `base64` **  
 The content of the property is `base64` encoded. 

** `gzip+base64` **  
 The content of the property is compressed with `gzip` after `base64` encoding. 

**Note**  
 The `seed.iso` method supports a separate (optional) `network-config` configuration file. VMware `guestinfo` differs in how the networking configuration is provided. Additional information is provided in the following section. 

 If an explicit network configuration is desired, it should be embedded in the `metadata` in the form of two YAML or JSON properties: 

** `network` **  
 Contains the encoded network configuration in JSON or YAML form. 

** `network.encoding` **  
 Contains the encoding of the above network configuration data. The `cloud-init` supported encodings are the same as for the `guestinfo` data: `base64` and `gzip+base64`. 

**Example Using the VMware vSphere **govc** CLI tool to pass configuration with `guestinfo`**  

1.  Prepare the `meta-data`, `user-data`, and optional `network-config` configuration files as described in [NoCloud (`seed.iso`) `cloud-init` configuration for Amazon Linux 2023 on KVM and VMware](seed-iso.md). 

1.  Convert the configuration files into formats usable by VMware `guestinfo`. 

   ```
   # 'meta-data', `user-data` and `network-config` are the configuration
   # files in the same format that would be used by a NoCloud (seed.iso)
   # data source, read-them and convert them to VMware guestinfo
   #
   # The VM_NAME variable is assumed to be set to the name of the VM
   # It is assumed that the necessary govc environment (credentials etc...) are already set
   
   metadata=$(cat "meta-data")
   userdata=$(cat "user-data")
   if [ -e "network-config" ] ; then
       # We need to embed the network config inside the meta-data
       netconf=$(base64 -w0 "network-config")
       metadata=$(printf "%s\nnetwork: %s\nnetwork.encoding: base64" "$metadata" "$netconf")
   fi
   metadata=$(base64 -w0 <<< "$metadata")
   govc vm.change -vm "$VM_NAME" \
       -e guestinfo.metadata="$metadata" \
       -e guestinfo.metadata.encoding="base64"
   userdata=$(base64 -w0 <<< "$userdata")
   govc vm.change -vm "$VM_NAME" \
       -e guestinfo.userdata="$userdata" \
       -e guestinfo.userdata.encoding="base64"
   ```