Deploy a ubuntu OVA to VMWare ESXi with cloud init user-data yaml

Ubuntu OVA VMWare Cloud-init Deploy

First create a cloud config YAML file, save it for example, as "my-user-data.yaml"
---


#cloud-config
hostname: ubuntu-vm1

users:
  - default
  - name: someuser
    sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
    groups: users, admin
    ssh_authorized_keys: "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc................... my-ssh-key"




# Now Using OVF Tool, deploy the image and pass the user data yaml as a property
ovftool --name=<vmname> --skipManifestCheck --noSSLVerify --datastore=<ds name> --powerOn=True --net:"VM Network=VM Network" --overwrite --powerOffTarget --X:injectOvfEnv --allowExtraConfig --prop:user-data=$(cat my-user-data.yaml | base64 --wrap=0) ./ubuntu-20.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.ova 'vi:///<user>:<pass>@your.server'