Help Center> Bare Metal Server> Private Image Creation Guide> Linux> Installing Cloud-Init> SUSE/Red Hat/CentOS/Oracle Linux/Ubuntu/Debian
Updated on 2022-11-03 GMT+08:00

SUSE/Red Hat/CentOS/Oracle Linux/Ubuntu/Debian

You can install Cloud-Init in any of the following ways: (Recommended) Install Cloud-Init Using the Official Installation Package, Install Cloud-Init Using the Official Source Code Package and pip, and Install Cloud-Init Using the Compiled Source Code.

(Recommended) Install Cloud-Init Using the Official Installation Package

The method of installing Cloud-Init on a VM varies depending on the OS. Perform the installation operations as user root.

The following describes how to install Cloud-Init on VMs running SUSE, CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu. For other OS types, install the required type of Cloud-Init. For example, you need to install coreos-cloudinit on VMs running CoreOS.

  • SUSE Linux

    Paths for obtaining the Cloud-Init installation package for SUSE Linux

    http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/repositories/Cloud:/Tools/

    http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Cloud:/Tools/

    Select the required repo installation package in the provided paths.

    Take SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 12 as an example. Perform the following steps to install Cloud-Init:

    1. Run the following command to install the network installation source for SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 12:

      zypper ar http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/repositories/Cloud:/Tools/SLE_12_SP3/Cloud:Tools.repo

    2. Run the following command to update the network installation source:

      zypper refresh

    3. Run the following command to install Cloud-Init:

      zypper install cloud-init

    4. Run the following commands to enable Cloud-Init to automatically start upon system boot:
      • SUSE 11

        chkconfig cloud-init-local on; chkconfig cloud-init on; chkconfig cloud-config on; chkconfig cloud-final on

        service cloud-init-local status; service cloud-init status; service cloud-config status; service cloud-final status

      • SUSE 12 and openSUSE 12/13/42

        systemctl enable cloud-init-local.service cloud-init.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service

        systemctl status cloud-init-local.service cloud-init.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service

      For SUSE and openSUSE, perform the following steps to disable dynamic change of the VM name:

      1. Run the following command to open the dhcp file using the vi editor:

        vi etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp

      2. Change the value of DHCLIENT_SET_HOSTNAME in the dhcp file to no.
  • CentOS

    Table 1 lists the Cloud-Init installation paths for CentOS. Select an address from the following table and download the EPEL release package.

    Run the following commands to install Cloud-Init on a VM running CentOS 6.5 64-bit (example):

    yum install https://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/epel/6/x86_64/Packages/e/epel-release-xx-xx.noarch.rpm

    yum install cloud-init

    xx-xx indicates the version of Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) release required by the OS.

  • Debian

    Before installing Cloud-Init, ensure that the network installation source address has been configured for the OS by checking whether the /etc/apt/sources.list file contains the installation source address of the software package. If the file does not contain the address, configure the address by following the instructions on the Debian official website.

    Run the following commands to install Cloud-Init:

    apt-get update

    apt-get install cloud-init

    After Cloud-Init is installed in the Debian OS, run the following commands to install the vlan and ifenslave services:

    apt-get install vlan

    apt-get install ifenslave

  • Ubuntu

    Before installing Cloud-Init, ensure that the network installation source address has been configured for the OS by checking whether the /etc/apt/sources.list file contains the installation source address of the software package. If the file does not contain the address, configure the address by following the instructions on the Ubuntu official website.

    Run the following commands to install Cloud-Init:

    apt-get update

    apt-get install cloud-init

    After Cloud-Init is installed in the Ubuntu OS, perform the following operations to install tools and services:

    1. Install the SSH service.

      For x86, run the following commands:

      apt-get install openssh-client

      apt-get install openssh-server

      For ARM64, run the following commands:

      apt install openssh-client

      apt install openssh-server

    2. Install dkms.

      To ensure that SDI drivers can run properly, you need to install dkms for Ubuntu.

      Run the following command to install the tool:

      apt-get install dkms

      Then, run the following command:

      vi /usr/sbin/dkms

      Go to line 283 (press shift and : to enter the CLI mode. Then, type 283 and press Enter) and modify this line as follows:

      invoke_command "$mkinitrd -f $initrd_dir/$initrd $1" "$mkinitrd" background
    3. Install the vlan and ifenslave services.

      apt-get install vlan

      apt-get install ifenslave

    4. Install the ifupdown service.

      apt-get install ifupdown

Install Cloud-Init Using the Official Source Code Package and pip

The following operations use Cloud-Init 0.7.9 as an example to describe how to install Cloud-Init.

  1. Download the cloud-init-0.7.9.tar.gz source code package (version 0.7.9 is recommended) and upload it to the /home/ directory of the VM.

    Download cloud-init-0.7.9.tar.gz from the following path:

    https://launchpad.net/cloud-init/trunk/0.7.9/+download/cloud-init-0.7.9.tar.gz

  2. Create a pip.conf file in the ~/.pip/ directory and edit the following content:

    If the ~/.pip/ directory does not exist, run the mkdir ~/.pip command to create it.

    [global]
    index-url  = https://<$mirror>/simple/
    trusted-host = <$mirror>

    Replace <$mirror> with a public network PyPI source.

    Public network PyPI source: https://pypi.python.org/

  3. Run the following command to install the downloaded Cloud-Init source code package (select --upgrade as needed during installation):

    pip install [--upgrade] /home/cloud-init-0.7.9.tar.gz

  4. Run the cloud-init -v command. Cloud-Init is installed successfully if the following information is displayed:
    cloud-init 0.7.9
  5. Enable Cloud-Init to automatically start upon system boot.
    • If the OS uses SysVinit to manage automatic start of services, run the following commands:

      chkconfig --add cloud-init-local; chkconfig --add cloud-init; chkconfig --add cloud-config; chkconfig --add cloud-final

      chkconfig cloud-init-local on; chkconfig cloud-init on; chkconfig cloud-config on; chkconfig cloud-final on

      service cloud-init-local status; service cloud-init status; service cloud-config status; service cloud-final status

    • If the OS uses Systemd to manage automatic start of services, run the following commands:

      systemctl enable cloud-init-local.service cloud-init.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service

      systemctl status cloud-init-local.service cloud-init.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service

If you install Cloud-Init using the official source code package and pip, pay attention to the following:

  1. Add user syslog to the adm group during the installation. If user syslog exists, add it to the adm group. For some OSs (such as CentOS and SUSE), user syslog may not exist. Run the following commands to create user syslog and add it to the adm group:

    useradd syslog

    groupadd adm

    usermod -g adm syslog

  2. Change the value of distro in system_info in the /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg file based on the OS release version, such as distro: ubuntu, distro: sles, distro: debian, and distro: fedora.

Install Cloud-Init Using the Compiled Source Code

The Cloud-Init configuration has been compiled in the source code. Therefore, you do not need to configure Cloud-Init after the installation. You can obtain the Cloud-Init source code from GitHub at https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/

  1. Run the following commands to download the Cloud-Init package and copy it to the /tmp/CLOUD-INIT folder:

    Cloud-Init 0.7.6: https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/archive/refs/tags/0.7.6.zip

    Cloud-Init 0.7.9: https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/archive/refs/tags/0.7.9.zip

    wget https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/archive/refs/tags/0.7.9.zip

    mkdir /tmp/CLOUD-INIT

    cp cloud-init-0.7.9.zip /tmp/CLOUD-INIT

    cd /tmp/CLOUD-INIT

  2. Run the following command to decompress the package:

    unzip cloud-init-0.7.9.zip

  3. Run the following command to enter the cloud-init-0.7.9 directory:

    cd cloud-init-0.7.9

  4. Install the Cloud-Init package. The commands vary depending on the OS type.
    • For CentOS 6.x or SUSE 11.x, run the following commands:

      python setup.py build

      python setup.py install --init-system sysvinit

    • For CentOS 7.x, SUSE 12.x, or EulerOS 2.8 ARM, run the following commands:

      python setup.py build

      python setup.py install --init-system systemd

    Add user syslog to the adm group during the installation. If user syslog exists, add it to the adm group. For some OSs (such as CentOS and SUSE), user syslog may not exist. Run the following commands to create user syslog and add it to the adm group:

    useradd syslog

    groupadd adm

    usermod -g adm syslog

  5. Enable Cloud-Init to automatically start upon system boot.
    • If the OS uses SysVinit to manage automatic start of services, run the following commands:

      chkconfig --add cloud-init-local; chkconfig --add cloud-init; chkconfig --add cloud-config; chkconfig --add cloud-final

      chkconfig cloud-init-local on; chkconfig cloud-init on; chkconfig cloud-config on; chkconfig cloud-final on

      service cloud-init-local status; service cloud-init status; service cloud-config status; service cloud-final status

    • If the OS uses Systemd to manage automatic start of services, run the following commands:

      systemctl enable cloud-init-local.service cloud-init.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service

      systemctl status cloud-init-local.service cloud-init.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service

  6. Run the following commands to check whether Cloud-Init has been installed:

    cloud-init -v

    cloud-init init --local

    Cloud-Init is successfully installed if the following information is displayed:

    cloud-init 0.7.9