This is WIP (Work in Progress)

The whole stuff here needs some clean up, more generalization, parameters and so on, but should give you a good starting point if you are trying to build your own UEFI boot cappable Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 image to run on Hyper-V Generation 2.

Ever wondered how to get a (custom) Gen 2 Azure image?

Given a kickstart configuration, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 build host, but in theory everything where you can run virt-install again a libvirtd with KVM, should be OK.

Prerequisits (at least what I required to get this running)

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 with the following packages
  • libvirt-client
  • virt-install
  • libvirt
  • libvirt-daemon-kvm
  • azure-cli ([1])
  • vim-enhanced
• azcopy ([2]) in the $PATH (eg. /usr/bin or ~/bin/)
• A copy of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.7 server DVD in the following path: /var/lib/libvirt/images/rhel-server-7.7-x86_64-dvd.iso ([3]) [4]

Building the VM in an automated fashion

• First, adapt kickstart.cfg as you require it

• Change the parameters in create_image.sh as you need and run the script

  # ./create_image.sh
  

• After the installation succeeded, the machine rebooted and you're presented with the login prompt, shut down the VM

  # virsh shutdown rhel77
  

• Convert the image from raw to VHD, with correct 1 MB alignment (adapt script as required)

  # ./convert_image.sh
  

• Create a resource group; Adapt parameters in the script and run it

  # ./group_create.sh
  

• Upload and 'generalize' the image; Adapt parameters and run it

  # ./upload_image.sh
  

• Run a VM from that newly created image; Adapt parameters and run it [5]

  # ./run_vm.sh
  

Notes

• [1] Following the instructions from here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli-yum?view=azure-cli-latest
• [2] Following the instructions from there: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azcopy-v10
• [3] With a valid subscription from Red Hat, you can download it here: https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/69/ver=/rhel---7/7.7/x86_64/product-software
• [4] Any other Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 version or version 8 should do it, but this has been tested with 7.7.
• [5] You do not need to enable boot diagnostics and if, you'll definitely have to adapt the storage account name!!!