Create a VMware VCSA appliance under KVM with libvirt and ansible

vcsa-kvm.yml

---
- name: Generate a KVM enabled VMWare VCSA VM under libvirt
  hosts: 127.0.0.1
  connection: local
  vars:
  - reqpkgs_apt:
    - bsdtar
    - libguestfs-tools
    - qemu-utils
    - virtinst
  - reqpkgs_yum:
    - bsdtar
    - libguestfs-tools
    - qemu-img
    - virt-install
  - vcsaiso: 'VMware-VCSA-all-6.0.0-3040890.iso'
  - vcsasettings: '{
     "deployment.node.type": "embedded",
     "appliance.ssh.enabled": "True",
     "appliance.root.passwd": "VMWare123!",
     "vmdir.domain-name": "vsphere.local",
     "vmdir.site-name": "vagrant",
     "vmdir.password": "VMWare123!",
     "appliance.net.addr.family": "ipv4",
     "appliance.net.addr": "10.99.99.254",
     "appliance.net.pnid": "10.99.99.254",
     "appliance.net.prefix": "24",
     "appliance.net.mode": "static",
     "appliance.net.dns.servers": "10.99.99.1",
     "appliance.net.gateway": "10.99.99.1"
    }'
  - libvirt:
     name: 'vcsa'
     pool: 'vagrant'
     network: 'vagrant-libvirt'
  - disks:
     disk1: 12288
     disk2: 1420
     disk3: 25600
     disk4: 25600
     disk5: 10240
     disk6: 10240
     disk7: 5120
     disk8: 10240
     disk9: 1024
     disk10: 10240
     disk11: 5120
  tasks:
  - name: Ensure required packages are installed (Debian)
    apt: pkg={{item}} state=present
    become_user: root
    with_items: reqpkgs_apt
    when: ansible_pkg_mgr == "apt"
  - name: Ensure libguestfs packages are installed (CentOS)
    apt: pkg={{item}} state=present
    become_user: root
    with_items: reqpkgs_yum
    when: ansible_pkg_mgr == "yum"
  - name: Download VMWare VCSA iso to /tmp/
    get_url: url=https://localhost/vagrant/{{ vcsaiso }}
             dest=/tmp/{{ vcsaiso }}
             force=no
  - name: Extract vcsa/vmware-vcsa to stdout and untar *vmdk directly into /tmp
    shell: bsdtar -xvOf /tmp/{{ vcsaiso }} vcsa/vmware-vcsa | tar xv -C /tmp/ -xvf -
  - name: Convert VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.0.0.10000-3018521_OVF10-disk1.vmdk to vcsa6-disk1.qcow2
    shell: qemu-img convert -O qcow2 /tmp/VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.0.0.10000-3018521_OVF10-disk1.vmdk /tmp/{{libvirt.name}}-disk1.qcow2
  - name: Convert VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.0.0.10000-3018521_OVF10-disk2.vmdk to vcsa6-disk2.qcow2
    shell: qemu-img convert -O qcow2 /tmp/VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.0.0.10000-3018521_OVF10-disk2.vmdk /tmp/{{libvirt.name}}-disk2.qcow2
  - name: Generate a vcsa settings.json file
    copy: content='{{vcsasettings}}' dest=/tmp/settings.json
    tags: json
  - name: Update the initrd inside the VCSA OS disk (-A is overkill but will work) and inject settings.json
    shell: 'guestfish add /tmp/{{libvirt.name}}-disk1.qcow2 : run : mount /dev/sda3 / : mount /dev/sda1 /boot : command "sed -i s/mptspi/ahci/ /etc/sysconfig/kernel" : command "sed -i s/vmxnet/e1000/ /etc/sysconfig/kernel" : command "sed -i s/ata_piix/libata/ /etc/sysconfig/kernel" : command "mkinitrd" : mkdir /var/install : copy-in /tmp/settings.json /var/install'
    tags: guestfish
  - name: Destroy the existing VCSA VM
    shell: virsh -c qemu:///system destroy {{libvirt.name}}
    ignore_errors: true
    tags: libvirt
  - name: Undefine the existing VCSA VM
    shell: virsh -c qemu:///system undefine {{libvirt.name}}
    ignore_errors: true
    tags: libvirt
  - name: Delete any existing volumes for the VCSA VM in the storage pool
    shell: virsh -c qemu:///system  vol-delete --pool {{libvirt.pool}} {{libvirt.name}}-disk{{item}}
    with_sequence: count=11
    ignore_errors: true
    tags: libvirt
  - name: Create empty disk images
    shell: virsh -c qemu:///system vol-create-as {{libvirt.pool}} {{libvirt.name}}-{{item.key}} {{item.value}}M --format qcow2
    with_dict: disks
    tags: libvirt
  - name: Import disk1 into the libvirt pool
    shell: virsh -c qemu:///system  vol-upload --pool {{libvirt.pool}} {{libvirt.name}}-disk1 /tmp/{{libvirt.name}}-disk1.qcow2
    tags: libvirt
  - name: Import disk2 into the libvirt pool
    shell: virsh -c qemu:///system  vol-upload --pool {{libvirt.pool}} {{libvirt.name}}-disk2 /tmp/{{libvirt.name}}-disk2.qcow2
    tags: libvirt
  - name: Create the VCSA VM
    shell: virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n vcsa --ram 8192 --vcpus 2 --cpu host-passthrough --import --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk1,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk2,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk3,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk4,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk5,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk6,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk7,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk8,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk9,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk10,bus=sata --disk vol={{libvirt.pool}}/{{libvirt.name}}-disk11,bus=sata  --os-variant sles11 --network model=e1000,network={{libvirt.network}} --wait 0
    tags: libvirt

Note that the iso download URL either needs to be updated to reflect a local mirror, or the iso just needs to be present in /tmp/ (line 59)

Hi @infernix, Do you know if it is possible to disable the splashscreen that appears during the early installation phase and says smth about "detected KVM hypervisor instead of ESXi, please confirm by a press of a button"?

That's SUSE's hypervisor compliance checker. To disable it, login to the VCSA and run:
chkconfig --set boot.compliance off

just wanted to say, this was suuuper helpful!

while i am not using ansible directly, i was able to use the steps here as a starting point and adapt the workflow to be able to bring-up VCSA v7.0.3 in libvirt/KVM (on AlmaLinux 8.10)..

there were some slight things i had to adapt (namely, the guestfish commands; the filesystem layout changed since this ansible workbook was created in the newer version of the VCSA).

I've created a separate full-length gist describing my entire workflow.. thanks again!!