Help Center/ Image Management Service/ User Guide (ME-Abu Dhabi Region) / Windows Operations/ Installing and Configuring Cloudbase-Init
Updated on 2024-10-31 GMT+08:00
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Installing and Configuring Cloudbase-Init

Scenarios

To ensure that you can use the user data injection function to inject initial custom information into ECSs created from a private image (such as setting the ECS login password), install Cloudbase-Init on the ECS used to create the image.

  • If Cloudbase-Init is not installed, you cannot configure an ECS. As a result, you can only use the password in the image file to log in to the ECS.
  • By default, ECSs created from a public image have Cloudbase-Init installed. You do not need to install or configure Cloudbase-Init on such ECSs.
  • For ECSs created from external image files, install and configure Cloudbase-Init by performing the operations in this section.

Cloudbase-Init is open-source software. If the installed version has security vulnerabilities, you are advised to upgrade it to the latest version.

Prerequisites

  • An EIP has been bound to the ECS.
  • You have logged in to the ECS.
  • The ECS uses DHCP to obtain IP addresses.

Install Cloudbase-Init

  1. On the Windows Start menu, choose Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features and check whether Cloudbase-Init 1.1.2 is installed.
    • If Cloudbase-Init 1.1.2 is installed, skip the subsequent steps and go to Configure Cloudbase-Init.
    • If Cloudbase-Init is installed but the version is not 1.1.2, uninstall Cloudbase-Init and go to the next step.
    • If Cloudbase-Init is not installed, go to the next step.
  2. Check whether the version of the OS is Windows desktop.
    • If yes, go to 3.
    • If the OS is Windows Server, go to 4.
  3. Enable the administrator account (Windows 7 is used as an example).
    1. Click Start and choose Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.
    2. Double-click Computer Management.
    3. Choose System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users.
    4. Right-click Administrator and select Properties.
    5. Deselect Account is disabled.
  4. Download the Cloudbase-Init installation package.

    Download the Cloudbase-Init installation package of the appropriate version based on the OS architecture from the Cloudbase-Init official website (http://www.cloudbase.it/cloud-init-for-windows-instances/).

    To obtain the stable version, visit the following paths:

  5. Double-click the Cloudbase-Init installation package.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Select I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click Next.
  8. Retain the default path and click Next.
  9. In the Configuration options window, enter Administrator for Username, select COM1 for Serial port for logging, and ensure that Run Cloudbase-Init service as LocalSystem is not selected.

    The version number shown in the figure is for reference only.

    Figure 1 Configuring parameters
  10. Click Next.
  11. Click Install.
  12. In the Files in Use dialog box, select Close the application and attempt to restart them and click OK.
  13. Check whether the version of the OS is Windows desktop.
    • If yes, go to 15.
    • If no, go to 14.
  14. In the Completed the Cloudbase-Init Setup Wizard window, ensure that neither option is selected.
    Figure 2 Completing the Cloudbase-Init installation

    The version number shown in the figure is for reference only.

  15. Click Finish.

Configure Cloudbase-Init

  1. Edit the configuration file C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\conf\cloudbase-init.conf in the Cloudbase-Init installation path.
    1. Add netbios_host_name_compatibility=false to the last line of the file so that the hostname supports a maximum of 63 characters.

      NetBIOS contains no more than 15 characters due to Windows system restrictions.

    2. Add metadata_services=cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.httpservice.HttpService to enable the agent to access the IaaS OpenStack data source.
    3. Add plugins to configure the plugins that will be loaded. Separate different plugins with commas (,). The information in bold is the keyword of each plugin.
      • The following plugins are loaded by default. You can keep all or some of them as needed. 
        plugins=cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.localscripts.LocalScriptsPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.mtu.MTUPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.createuser.CreateUserPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.setuserpassword.SetUserPasswordPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sshpublickeys.SetUserSSHPublicKeysPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sethostname.SetHostNamePlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.extendvolumes.ExtendVolumesPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.userdata.UserDataPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.licensing.WindowsLicensingPlugin

        Plugin functions:

        • LocalScriptsPlugin configures scripts.
        • MTUPlugin configures MTU network interfaces.
        • CreateUserPlugin creates a user.
        • SetUserPasswordPlugin configures a password.
        • SetUserSSHPublicKeysPlugin configures a key.
        • SetHostNamePlugin configures a hostname.
        • ExtendVolumesPlugin expands disk space.
        • UserDataPlugin injects user data.
        • WindowsLicensingPlugin activates Windows instances.

        If you may change the hostname of ECSs after they are created from this image and services on the ECSs are sensitive to hostname changes, you are not advised to configure the SetHostNamePlugin here.

      • Optional plugins: 
        plugins=cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmlistener.ConfigWinRMListenerPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmcertificateauth.ConfigWinRMCertificateAuthPlugin

        Plugin functions:

        • ConfigWinRMListenerPlugin configures listening to remote logins.
        • ConfigWinRMCertificateAuthPlugin configures remote logins without password authentication.

          The WinRM plug-ins use weak cryptographic algorithm, which may cause security risks. So, you are advised not to load the plug-ins.

    4. (Optional) Add the following configuration items to configure the number of retry times and interval for obtaining metadata: 
      retry_count=40
retry_count_interval=5
    5. (Optional) Add the following configuration item to prevent metadata network disconnections caused by the default route added by Windows: 
      [openstack]
add_metadata_private_ip_route=False
    6. (Optional) If the Cloudbase-Init version is 0.9.12 or later, you can customize the length of the password.

      Change the value of user_password_length to customize the password length.

    7. (Optional) Add the following configuration item to disable password changing upon first login:

      first_logon_behaviour=no

    8. (Optional) Add the following configuration item to ensure that time synchronization from BIOS persists through system restarts:

      real_time_clock_utc=true

      The registry entry RealTimeIsUniversal=1 allows the system to synchronize time from BIOS. If real_time_clock_utc=true is not configured, Cloudbase-Init will revert RealTimeIsUniversal back to 0. As a result, the system cannot synchronize time from BIOS after a restart.

  2. Release the current DHCP address so that the created ECSs can obtain correct addresses.

    In the Windows command line, run the following command to release the current DHCP address:

    ipconfig /release

    This operation will interrupt network connection and adversely affect ECS use. The network will automatically recover after the ECSs are started again.

  3. When creating an image using a Windows ECS, you need to change the SAN policy of the ECS to OnlineAll. Otherwise, EVS disks attached to the ECSs created from the image may be offline.

    Windows has three types of SAN policies: OnlineAll, OfflineShared, and OfflineInternal.

    Table 1 SAN policies

    Type

    Description

    OnlineAll

    All newly detected disks are automatically brought online.

    OfflineShared

    All disks on sharable buses, such as iSCSI and FC, are left offline by default, while disks on non-sharable buses are kept online.

    OfflineInternal

    All newly detected disks are left offline.
    1. Execute cmd.exe and run the following command to query the current SAN policy of the ECS using DiskPart:

      diskpart

    2. Run the following command to view the SAN policy of the ECS:
      san
      • If the SAN policy is OnlineAll, run the exit command to exit DiskPart.
      • If the SAN policy is not OnlineAll, go to 3.c.
    3. Run the following command to change the SAN policy of the ECS to OnlineAll:

      san policy=onlineall

Parent topic: Windows Operations