I keep forgetting this when I setup a new Ubuntu server, so here are the steps for automatically logging in via SSH.

1. ssh-keygen -t rsa

2. ssh-copy-id username@server

I spent last night in Mexico City speaking to and recruiting Dreamers that have been in a coding bootcamp at <hola-code/>, powered by Hack Reactor,  for the past four months. Many without previous technology experience at all. In that time, they more competent than many that have been in the industry anywhere in the world. I was asked what two qualities were the most important for junior consultants. Without a doubt I settled on curioustity and flexibility.

Curiosity – You must always be wondering what’s next, how it works, how it can be better. Like the early humans that wondered what was over the mountains or across the water.

Flexibility – You must be able to adapt to changing circumstances like team skills and experience, technical requirements, functional requirements, costs, timelines, and most importantly different roles and responsibilities.

I am in Mexico City this week and spent a lot of time with recent college graduates. They are going through training and getting imersed in the Mobiik culture. They primarily know C# and many asked what languages were important to learn. So, even though Azure has expanded its capabilities, I feel this list represents a balance of not being too many languages with what is truly necessary to be productive. This list is in order or importance to me:

1. C# – Duh, right? Do I even need to explain this entry? The core to most applications running in Azure will use C#.
2. JavaScript – Most apps are Web Apps and mobile apps. JavaScript plays in both worlds in addition to the backend for the those Node.js fans.
3. PowerShell – How do you get those apps in Azure in an automated way? How do automate your environment once the app is deployed? How do you analyze your use and consumption?
4. Ruby – If you have a large IaaS solution in Azure or any cloud for that matter, you are going to want to deploy a configuration management solution like Puppet or Chef, which are both written in Ruby and knowing Ruby really helps with their development.
5. Bash – The popularity of deploying Linux in Azure is growing. If you are going to adopt Linux, then Bash skills are definitely required.

It is a polyglot world these days; 1 & 2 are for the development of the app itself, 3 & 4 for managing the apps lifecycle, and 5 for well-roundedness. Once you’ve tackled these, start to look at Python, Java, and Groovy as part of the next set to learn. Embrace development as development and don’t get hung up on one language or environment.

I’ve seen lots of examples on the Internet of Ubuntu installer boot commands for use in Packer. They appear to be derived from the same source and that’s fine, but they aren’t optimized and some comments about what are required are inaccurate. There are two reasons to minimize the boot command:

1. Time – It takes time to enter the boot command over the VNC connection even if it automated. This affects the fix/test cycle time.
2. Duplication – Options in the boot command can be specified in the preseed file. You either need to update both spots of wonder which value will be taken.

This is the command I use:

"boot_command": [
"<esc><wait>",
"<esc><wait>",
"<enter><wait>",
"/install/vmlinuz",
" initrd=/install/initrd.gz",
" auto=true",
" priority=critical",
" url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/{{user `preseed_path`}}",
"<enter>"
]

Getting a Packer build run to complete successfully can be challenging. Getting the write combination of template configuration and scripts is always a challenge. If you stuck trying to get here are a few tips.

Turn on Logging

Enable Packer logging by setting a few environment variables. Set PACKER_LOG = 1 and enter a file path for PACKER_LOG_PATH.

Prevent Cleanup on Error

Inform Packer that it should ask you what to do when it encounters an error instead of just immediately cleaning up all the resources it created.

packer build -on-error=ask mytemplate.json

Log into VM

If examining the log file isn’t enough to resolve the issue, you can leverage our ability to prevent cleanup and log into the VM. So, what is the password? Well the password is not dumped into the console output, which is just fine. You need to open the file at the path you specified for PACKER_LOG_PATH. Once you have that open you can search for “adminPassword” and grab the value that immediately follows it.

\"parameters\":{\"adminPassword\":{\"value\":\"THIS_IS_THE_PASSWORD\"}