Basic Ubuntu 20.04 autoinstallation using cd_files

user-data

#cloud-config
autoinstall:
  version: 1
  identity:
    hostname: ubuntu-server
    password: '$6$wdAcoXrU039hKYPd$508Qvbe7ObUnxoj15DRCkzC3qO7edjH0VV7BPNRDYK4QR8ofJaEEF2heacn0QgD.f8pO8SNp83XNdWG6tocBM1'
    username: ubuntu
  network:
    network:
      version: 2
      ethernets:
        ens33:
          dhcp4: true
          dhcp-identifier: mac
  ssh:
    install-server: true
  late-commands:
    - sed -i 's/^#*\(send dhcp-client-identifier\).*$/\1 = hardware;/' /target/etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf
    - 'sed -i "s/dhcp4: true/&\n      dhcp-identifier: mac/" /target/etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml'

vmware_cd_files.json

{
  "builders": [
    {
      "name": "ubuntu-2004-vmware",
      "type": "vmware-iso",
      "guest_os_type": "ubuntu-64",
      "headless": false,
      "iso_checksum": "sha256:443511f6bf12402c12503733059269a2e10dec602916c0a75263e5d990f6bb93",
      "iso_url": "https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/ubuntu-20.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso",
      "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
      "ssh_password": "ubuntu",
      "ssh_handshake_attempts": "100",
      "ssh_timeout": "10000s",
      "cd_files": ["./meta-data", "./user-data"],
      "cd_label": "cidata",
      "memory": 1024,
      "boot_wait": "5s",
      "boot_command": [
        "<enter><wait2><enter><wait><f6><esc><wait>",
        " autoinstall<wait2> ds=nocloud",
        "<wait><enter>"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "provisioners": [
    {
      "inline": [
        "ls /"
      ],
      "type": "shell"
    }
  ]
}

meta-data is an empty file.

naming the volume "cidata" will cause ubuntu to automatically detect and mount it to load the data at boot.