Seedbox Autoinstall

User-focused, reproducible Ubuntu seedbox provisioning with cloud-init NoCloud seeds.

What this is

• Static bundles of meta-data and user-data for Ubuntu autoinstall.
• Ready-to-use sample host profiles under cloud-init/v1/hosts/ you can copy and customize.
• A validator script to catch common mistakes before you boot.

Requirements

• A VM, server, or bare-metal install that supports cloud-init NoCloud.
• Ubuntu Server autoinstall (20.04+)
• One delivery method for the seed:
  • ISO/USB labeled cidata containing user-data and meta-data, or
  • HTTP(S) serving of these files (NoCloud-Net).

Quick start (ISO / USB NoCloud)

1. Pick a starting profile from cloud-init/v1/hosts/ (e.g. sample, minimal, or ansible).
2. Copy it to a new directory name:
   • cloud-init/v1/hosts/<your-host>/
3. Edit meta-data and user-data to suit your environment.
4. Create a small ISO (or USB) labeled cidata containing exactly these two files from your new host directory:
   • user-data
   • meta-data
5. Attach the media and boot the target. Cloud-init will apply the configuration on first boot.

Quick start (serve over HTTP)

• Serve the version folder cloud-init/v1/ with any static web server.
• Use the included landing page and hosts browser to verify paths.
  • Landing page: .../cloud-init/v1/index.html
  • Hosts list: .../cloud-init/v1/hosts/_list.html
• The installer will fetch these files for your chosen host:
  • .../hosts/<your-host>/user-data
  • .../hosts/<your-host>/meta-data

Example from the repository root:

python -m http.server 8000 --directory cloud-init/
# Open the helper page in a browser to copy the computed URL:
# http://<server>:8000/index.html
# Or browse host seeds directly:
# http://<server>:8000/hosts/_list.html

Note: the address needs to be accessible from the target server being installed.

Ubuntu installer kernel line (NoCloud-Net)

When booting the Ubuntu installer (GRUB/syslinux), add the following to the kernel command line to enable unattended install via HTTP. The helper page shows this with your exact base URL and offers a one-click copy.

autoinstall ds="nocloud;s=http://ashley/cloud-init/v1/hosts/<hostname>/" ip=dhcp

Notes:

• Replace <hostname> with your host directory name under cloud-init/v1/hosts/.
• Keep the trailing / after the host directory.
• The URL must be reachable from the target machine.
• If the ds parameter isn't quoted, you must backslash/escape the semicolon (;) like this: \;

Customize a new host profile

• Create cloud-init/v1/hosts/<your-host>/ with copies of meta-data and user-data from a sample profile.
• Edit meta-data:
  • Set a unique instance-id (often starting with your local-hostname).
  • Set local-hostname.
• Edit user-data:
  • Keep the first line #cloud-config.
  • Adjust autoinstall sections (e.g., storage, identity, packages, late-commands).
  • Re-run the validator until it passes.

Directory layout

• cloud-init/v1/
  • hosts/
    • minimal/, sample/, ansible/ → example profiles
      • meta-data
      • user-data
  • index.html → optional landing page if serving over HTTP
  • hosts/_list.html → optional host browser page when serving over HTTP
• scripts/
  • validate_autoinstall.py → checks your host profiles
  • ubuntu_autoinstall_schema.json → validation schema
  • requirements.txt → Python deps for the validator
• LICENSE

Versioning

• Breaking changes will land in new version folders like cloud-init/v2/.

License

• See LICENSE.

Validate your files (recommended)

1. Install requirements once:

pip install -r scripts/requirements.txt

1. Run the validator:

python scripts/validate_autoinstall.py
# or specify a different hosts dir
python scripts/validate_autoinstall.py --hosts-dir cloud-init/v1/hosts

The validator checks:

• Presence and basic correctness of meta-data (instance-id, local-hostname).
• user-data YAML, top-level #cloud-config, and autoinstall structure against the official JSON schema.

Schema reference:

• The JSON schema used by the validator is vendored at scripts/ubuntu_autoinstall_schema.json. See Canonical Subiquity Autoinstall documentation for upstream details.

Todo list

The one of these days, I'll have the time list:

• Full user-data with comments
• Scaffold profiles for desktop and k8s-node
• Overlays (comon, proxmox, aws)
• J2 templates and snippets
• Clean and release push scripts