talos build process for vmware vsphere

sources:

https://www.talos.dev/v1.3/introduction/getting-started - this will be referenced as GSG (getting started guide) in steps below.
https://www.talos.dev/v1.3/talos-guides/install/virtualized-platforms/vmware/ - this will be referenced as VMG (vmware guide) in steps below.
the official docs are lacking

assumptions made:

you have talosctl installed
you have kubectl installed
you have govc installed
you know what IP(s) will be used
they will be static IP's
you have created vsphere credentials that can create libraries, vm's, etc.
you know what an FQDN is, and what value you are going to use for the control plane node FQDN / VIP FQDN.
'tk' is the name I used for this demo cluster.

This guide will use steps from both docs linked above

(GSG) Complete the Decide the Kubernetes Endpoint step and create any required DNS records.
(GSG) Generate and save secrets via talosctl gen secrets -o secrets.yaml.
(VMG) Complete the Generating Base Configurations step: download cp.patch.yaml, apply your customisations to cp.patch.yaml (I removed the VIP, set dhcp to false, defined address statically etc).
- The syntax I used for generating initial config was talosctl gen config --with-secrets secrets.yaml tk https://control-plane.fqdn.com:6443 --config-patch-control-plane @cp.patch.yaml.
- You will now have a base configuration for the control-plane-1 node defined.
(GSG) Begin the Machine Configs as Templates step, create as many worker patch files (worker1.patch, worker2.patch) as needed, customise them accordingly (i.e. static IP)
(GSG) Finish the Machine Configs as Templates step by creating the worker yaml's: for i in {1..3}; do talosctl gen config --with-secrets secrets.yaml --config-patch-worker @worker$i.patch --output-types worker -o worker-$i.yaml tk https://control-plane.fqdn.com:6443; done
- The command above will read worker1.patch, worker2.patch and worker3.patch and output files called worker-1.yaml, worker-2.yaml and worker-3.yaml.
(VMG) Validate your configs: talosctl validate --config controlplane.yaml --mode cloud and for i in {1..3}; do talosctl validate --config worker-$i.yaml --mode cloud; done.
(VMG) Set your govc environment variables.
(VMG) Set the TALOS_VERSION environment variable and confirm it matches your desired version, i.e. export TALOS_VERSION=v1.3.0; echo $TALOS_VERSION.
(VMG) In the Manual Approach step, complete all steps under the Import the OVA into vCenter heading.
(VMG) Complete the Create the Bootstrap Node and Update Hardware Resources for the Bootstrap Node steps.
- A one liner that can achieve this: govc library.deploy <library name>/talos-${TALOS_VERSION} control-plane-1; govc vm.change -e "guestinfo.talos.config=$(cat controlplane.yaml | base64)" -e "disk.enableUUID=1" -vm control-plane-1; govc vm.change -c 2 -m 4096 -vm control-plane-1; govc vm.disk.change -vm control-plane-1 -disk.name disk-1000-0 -size 10G; govc vm.power -on control-plane-1
(VMG) Complete the Create the Remaining Control Plane Nodes step.
- A one liner that can achieve this: for i in {1..3}; do govc library.deploy tk/talos-${TALOS_VERSION} worker-$i; govc vm.change -e "guestinfo.talos.config=$(base64 worker-$i.yaml)" -e "disk.enableUUID=1" -vm worker-$i; govc vm.change -c 2 -m 8192 -vm worker-$i; govc vm.disk.change -vm worker-$i -disk.name disk-1000-0 -size 50G; done
(GSG) Move the talosconfig file into it's home: talosctl config merge ./talosconfig.
(VMG) Complete the Bootstrap Cluster step: talosctl --talosconfig talosconfig bootstrap -e <control plane IP> -n <control plane IP>
(VMG) Complete the Retrieve the kubeconfig step:
- talosctl --talosconfig talosconfig config endpoint <control plane IP>
- talosctl --talosconfig talosconfig config node <control plane IP>
- talosctl --talosconfig talosconfig kubeconfig .
(GSG) Have talosctl write the kubeconfig file to enable kubectl functionality: talosctl kubeconfig
Missing from docs: Ensure that you get a Ready result when querying the control plane node via kubectl get no
(VMG) Complete the Configure talos-vmtoolsd step: talosctl --talosconfig talosconfig -n <control plane IP> config new vmtoolsd-secret.yaml --roles os:admin; kubectl -n kube-system create secret generic talos-vmtoolsd-config --from-file=talosconfig=./vmtoolsd-secret.yaml; rm vmtoolsd-secret.yaml; kubectl -n kube-system delete po -l=app=talos-vmtoolsd.
Power on the worker nodes: for i in {1..3}; do govc vm.power -on worker-$i; done
Give it a couple of minutes and check that the nodes have joined the cluster and report their status as Ready via kubectl get no
Confirm vmtoolsd daemonset is now running (one pod for each node): kubectl get po -n kube-system -l=app=talos-vmtoolsd