/mkosi-debian-vm

Primary LanguageShell

Notes

Use mkosi to build a Debian based VM image, to boot on AWS.

  • Used mkosi from git (or later than v19).
  • Used a tools distro of Fedora Rawhide for systemd 255 tooling required for mkosi burn
  • Target OS is Debian bookworm (12)
  • Creates a GPT disk with an EFI Systems Partition (ESP) and boots with systemd-boot

Testing it on AWS with AmazonLinux2023 as the host (which is why I need a ToolsDistribution)

mkosi --debug-shell burn /dev/nvme1n1

/dev/nvme1n1 is a second volume attached to the Ec2 Instance, tested with a 8GB Volume.

Next I powerdown the Ec2, detach both volumes, and re-attach the new volume as /dev/xvda, thus making it the new boot drive. On start, the Ec2 will boot in the newly installed Debian.

Alternatively, we can just create an AMI from the Volume.

aws ec2 create-snapshot \
    --volume-id vol-1234567890abcdef0 \
    --description 'Snapshot for AMI' \
    --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=snapshot,Tags=[]'

aws ec2 register-image \
    --name my-image \
    --root-device-name /dev/xvda \
    --block-device-mappings DeviceName=/dev/xvda,Ebs={SnapshotId=snap-1234567890abcdef0}

Alternatively, alternatively, use with Packer and its EBS-Surrogate builder to make the AMI automatically.

Reference: