Packer multiple provisioners hcl # containing multiple reusable sources provisioners. Reproduction Steps. Because Packer creates identical images for multiple platforms, you can run production in AWS, staging/QA in a private cloud like OpenStack, and development in desktop Documentation for creating new provisioners is covered in the custom provisioners page of the Packer plugin section. ; ServerUrl - The URL of the Chef packer_build_name is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. You switched accounts on another tab or window. While there are several avenues for provisioning infrastructure deployed with build blocks contain configuration for a specific combination of builders, provisioners, and post-processors used to create a specific image artifact. An example of a provisioner is the shell provisioner, which runs shell scripts within the machines. Multiple builds run in parallel. Shell - run shell Provisioners user built-in and third-party integrations to install packages and configure the machine image; Built-in integrations include file and different shell options. Reload to refresh your session. For multiple parameters, they should be merged together into the final configuration Multi-cloud image workflow. Warning: You can only upload files to locations that the provisioning user (generally not root) has permission to access. This is useful if you want Sep 16, 2020 · Provisioners give Terraform practitioners a way to prep their infrastructure for use by installing software and deploying applications. - hashicorp/packer Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. If you are asking or wondering what is Packer, the official definition is : Packer is a free and open source tool for creating golden images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. As of v1. Usage. json Multi-cloud image workflow. This is useful if you Multi-cloud image workflow. json along with a sample of the value being used for the WorkingDirectory variable. pkr. hcl # containing multiple reusable provisioners variables. ; NodeName - The node name set in the configuration. packer 1. Now I need to do the same but for a server with multiple disks. The documentation includes a page for each type of post-processor. json and packer-provisioners. Mar 1, 2024 · What is Packer? Packer is an open-source tool for creating machine images. Dismiss alert Jun 19, 2021 · packer_build_name is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. But as we create new accounts and want to share these AMIs, we are adding the new account numbers to "ami_users" and running the packer build command again. Register. Packer also has the ability to modify the artifact of a build once the instance has been shut down. chef_environment (string) - The name of the chef_environment sent to the Chef server. Add more provisioners. Packer supports the following Apr 23, 2023 · In addition to the builders, Packer also uses provisioners to install and configure software inside the machine image. Checked to see if there were any examples that matched the syntax I needed using Github search but couldn't find it. happycloud. If you are asking or wondering what is Packer, the official definition is : Packer is a free and open source tool Apr 1, 2022 · Okay, this might be a long one. Azure uses a combination of OAuth and Active Directory to Apr 30, 2020 · I’m creating RHEL servers from a script using PACKER + kickstart file. ; EncryptedDataBagSecretPath - The path to the secret key file to decrypt encrypted data bags. The shell provisioner demonstrated above is extremely powerful and flexible. " For example, nginx config scripts, git post-receive hooks, etc. Plugins extend Packer’s functionality without Create multiple images for multiple platforms in parallel, from one Packer template, by creating a source. Regards, Nas Apr 7, 2019 · Multi-provider portability. By default this is Jun 20, 2019 · Please excuse my ignorance I am new to using Packer. i am using ansible for provisioning. json, and then all the separate Packer templates in their own directories. This can be used to run a configuration management tool, bootstrap into a cluster, etc. The builders come from the same source, and I configure them to run the same Parameters common to all provisioners: pause_before (duration) - Sleep for duration before execution. 78 The Azure plugin can be used with HashiCorp Packer to create custom images on Azure. Packer has the following types of builders: Plugin: Each plugin has its own associated set of builders. This is useful if you want to run only certain Apr 23, 2023 · HashiCorp Packer is a tool for creating machine images that can be used with various cloud providers, virtualization platforms, or container systems. PACKER_BUILDER_TYPE is the type of the builder that was used to create the machine that the script is running on. 2: CI/CD Automation. My provisioning scripts are a little complicated, so I need to iterate on them carefully to get them right. This is useful if you want Dec 27, 2013 · Packer is a tool from Mitchell Hashimoto, the same guy who brought us Vagrant, designed to allow the same provisioners, whether that be Puppet, Chef, or plain shell scripts, and I think is a completely awesome Jan 14, 2021 · Type: file The file Packer provisioner uploads files to machines built by Packer. Packer handles the creation of the VM and packaging as an AMI, Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for multiple platforms in parallel. HashiTalks 2025 Learn about unique use cases, homelab setups, and best practices at scale at PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. Upgrades. This is most useful when Packer is making multiple builds and you want to distinguish them slightly from a common provisioning script. Example usage in a sentence: "The Packer build produced an AMI to run our web application. First, we have three provisioners; a shell script that installs Ansible (in our case, for PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. Prerequisites. This affects shell provisioner and does not work for inline, script, or scripts type in any combination (same type, or different types) For example, HashiCorp Packer offers a similar complement of configuration management provisioners and can run their installation steps during a separate build process, before creating a system disk image that you can deploy many times. Then, run packer init. \examples\hcl2vjson1\json1\winserver2019-aws. Multiple provisioners are executed in the order Oct 7, 2019 · Packer has a wealth of builders, provisioners, and post-processors to help you create the perfect image. Dec 1, 2020 · I’m using Packer to provision a VM for my project’s CI pipeline, which is hosted on a supported cloud provider. Provisioners are optional. Here are some of the available provisioners in Packer: Shell provisioner Multi-cloud image workflow. " Provisioners are components of Packer that install and configure software within a running machine prior to that machine being turned into a Oct 9, 2023 · The sources do not need to be the same type. my packer machine is different from my ansible machine and in this case how can i use the provisioner: “provisioners”: [ { “type”: “ansible”, “playbook_file”: “. Shell Provisioner. This tutorial assumes that you are continuing from the previous tutorials. HashiTalks 2025 Learn about unique use cases, homelab setups, and best practices at scale at Sep 25, 2020 · Provisioners are components of Packer that install and configure software within a running machine prior to that machine being turned into a static image. Support for all features found in Packer file is not yet complete, but to give you an idea of how they compare, here's a short traditional Windows example with the new format. /playbook. This is most useful when Packer is making multiple builds and you want to distinguish them slightly when using a common playbook. source blocks contain configuration for builder plugins. Extend Packer with plugins. Azure provides new users a $200 credit for the first 30 days; after which you will incur costs for VMs built and stored using Packer. They perform the major work of making the image contain useful software. Works great for a one disk server. Expanding from this, Packer uses configurations defined in JSON format, with distinct blocks. Providers/Builders are AWS, Azure and vSphere Environments would be something like production and development Sources would be single-session, multisession, . Read the Packer documentation for more information. JSON template build docs are here and HCL template build docs are here. Here’s an example of how you can do this: json “provisioners”: [{“type”: “powershell”, PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. Build Ubuntu and Ubuntu Focal images for Docker. This is a cool open-source tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source Make sure you test against the latest released version. ResourceManagement. This local image won’t be used in production, or Aug 24, 2021 · Packer is an open source HashiCorp solution for creating machine images for multiple platforms using the IaC methodology. If no provisioners are defined within a template, then no software (other than the Apr 30, 2020 · Hashicorp’s Packer is a tool for automating the creation of pre-baked machine images across multiple platforms, enabling server management via infrastructure-as-code in a way that is especially Packer is an image creation tool for creating golden images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. I am Sep 16, 2021 · Hello, Is it possible in packer to see time taken by every step in packer build. If no provisioners are defined within a template, then no software other than the defaults will be PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. Defaults to zero (0). I have tried about every example I can find. yml”, “extra_arguments”: “-vvvv” } ], playbook. Packer itself is a tool for building identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single May 13, 2020 · Packer is an open source tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. Create one workflow for images across multiple clouds and private infrastructure. Once defined, sources can be used and further configured by the "build" block. Oct 1, 2021 · To filter provisioners based on VM type I need to define multiple sources for a build. HashiTalks 2025 Learn about unique use cases, homelab setups, and best practices at scale at our 24-hour virtual knowledge sharing event. This is most useful when Packer is making multiple builds and you want to distinguish them in your Hiera hierarchy. In addition the Oct 18, 2018 · Summary: Intermittent issue, although this repro usually causes it to fail Changing the PATH environment variable inside a windows ami via a powershell provisioner causes subsequent powershell provisioners to fail Running this as one scr At the end Packer snapshots it creates a reusable custom image. The `remote-exec` provisioner invokes a script on a remote resource after it is created. ChefEnvironment - The Chef environment name. This allows Packer's users to use both the officially-supported builders, provisioners, and post-processors, and custom in-house solutions. Refer to the post-processor and post-processors blocks documentation to learn more about working with post-processors. max_retries (int) - Max times the provisioner will retry in case of failure. Nov 11, 2023 · Explore Packer provisioners in our guide, enhancing Udacity's "Deploying a Web Server in Azure" course. Build variables. Packer provides two types of provisioners that work The Windows provisioning process often requires multiple reboots, and this provisioner helps to ease that process. This is useful if you Within the template, the provisioners section contains an array of all the provisioners that Packer should use to install and configure software within running machines prior to turning them into machine images. Third-party integrations include Ansible, Chef, InSpec, PowerShell, Provisioners use builtin and third-party software to install and configure the machine image after booting. The Packer core itself is responsible launching and cleaning up the plugin processes. Each of Jul 15, 2014 · Have found a heap of logs in /tmp for the indiviual file provisioner command executions, going to review those and see what I find initially. yml is in the different machine. It allows us to create machine images. OPTION }} for those engines. We will use shell Provisioner to install or execute our own script while creating machine images. Packer expects the machine to be ready to continue provisioning Jun 19, 2021 · packer_build_name is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. For example, in the below code snippet there are three types of provisioners: shell , file , and powershell . Here is my current json setup: { "variables": { "aws_access_key": "{{env `AWS_ACCESS_K Jan 18, 2022 · Multi-provider support: Packer can be used to create images for multiple Provisioners section Conclusion. When that is run, Packer will build multiple images. hcl # referencing subset x of variables, sources and provisioners |- Mar 27, 2020 · i am using packer for the automated image creation on openstack. No configuration is actually required, but at least run_list is recommended. " Or: "Packer is running the builds now for VMware, AWS, and VirtualBox. We use that list of variables to Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. While provisioners are run against an instance while it is running, post-processors run only after Packer saves the instance as an image. Here are some of the available provisioners in Packer: Feb 6, 2021 · Consider the following packer project directory, in which I am trying to build, provision, and post-process 2 identical virtualbox machines. If no provisioners are defined within a template, then no software other than the defaults will be Feb 21, 2020 · Hello, is there any known feature request to extend the “re-usability”? It would be really cool to have something like: sources. and like me, you will likely find that using HCL2 instead of json will pay off in spades, since with HCL2 you can do things like define your builder Apr 17, 2021 · In this blog post, provisioning and customizing images using packer will be shown with a template repository. The list of available provisioners can be Apr 25, 2015 · I'm trying to solve the syntax of my template for hours now. It is possible we already fixed the bug you're experiencing. These can be simple shell scripts, or can be a more robust tool like Ansible. prefix. Post-processors are optional, and you can use them to upload artifacts, re-package files, and more. Post-Processors. To save money I’m using a local image builder with the same provisioners as used in the cloud builder. (From Official Website). foo top-level source block; but it can be used more than once. This is also pretty fundamental but most teams don’t tend to run Packer manually. There can be only one source. Within the template, the provisioners section contains an array of all the provisioners that Packer should use to install and configure software within running machines prior to turning them into machine images. The recommended usage of the file provisioner is to use it to upload files, and then use shell provisioner to move them to the proper place, set permissions, etc. Packer has Packer allows you to create identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source template. Multi-cloud Image Creation: Packer is used to create machine images from sources and then pack into compatible machine images for other cloud platforms; AWS, Azure, GCP etc which makes it suitable for organizations with a multiple or hybrid cloud environment where consistency of the images is required. In addition to the builders, Packer also uses provisioners to install and configure software inside the machine image. In the past, the -debug used to pause between provisioners and now it executes all the provisioners without any pause. hcl files Mar 31, 2014 · Packer can even build images for multiple providers using multiple provisioners (like shell scripts, Ansible playbooks, Salt states, Chef cookbooks, Puppet manifests or other popular provisioners), all with one set of configuration and instructions. If not, follow the steps below before continuing. This is useful if you Packer fully supports automated provisioning in order to install software onto machines prior to turning them into images. Installing Packer; Configuring Packer; Release notes. Provisioners. In any event, first off, aside from the documentation, can anyone recommend to me some packer provisioner examples? I am currently running a Packer build against our VMware environment to roll out CentOS-7. The second label is the unique name or identifier you want to give to the source. I have attached my packer build logs, so in front of each step i want to see how much time taken by each step to complete. Packer expects the machine to be ready to continue provisioning Nov 28, 2019 · The next thing that Packer lets us do is use provisioners to define steps we want packer to run. Add multiple provisioners and run packer in debug mode packer build -debug template. hcl. Jun 13, 2023 · The Windows restart provisioner initiates a reboot on a Windows machine and waits for the machine to come back online. The order of provisioner or post-processor blocks within a build is the only major feature where block order matters. or mix-and-match the one-off post-processors with the post-processors blocks to create multiple Builders create machines and generate images from those machines for various platforms. Oct 19, 2017 · I would like to be able to pass my local environment variables through the environment variables of the shell. Packer expects the machine to be ready to continue provisioning after it reboots. Provisioners are optional when it comes to automating image creation using Packer. Run the command with debug output with the environment variable PACKER_LOG. json files, and uses jq - Oct 15, 2014 · Packer 0. Provisioners prepare the system using built-in and third-party software to install and configure the image. To invoke a local process, see the `local-exec` provisioner Jan 29, 2021 · To my initial point (packer can do this, without TF and without VM templates), you would simply define multiple builders in your packer template, and these will by default be built in parallel. Packer is one of the core DevOps tools that is widely used around the world to Aug 31, 2018 · I also specify the SSH username and password so that Packer can connect to the virtual machine to run additional tasks after initial creation. I think what I may do is just change my model for using packer to move my variables out of the packer project and into the Jenkins pipeline (which invokes packer), and render multiple . I've then written a quick Bash script that takes the name of the template one wants to build, finds all the packer-*. Packer ensures these images are portable, reproducible, and version-controlled, enabling seamless deployments across different environments. Learn to use Packer in Docker and Azure, understanding Jun 10, 2019 · "provisioners": "{{user host_provisioners}}" What is the best practice on structuring and managing multiple templates or making your templates generic? I'll really appreciate any guidance on this please as our packer scripts and templates are becoming a bit hard to scale and maintain. Packer is an open-source tool. For example: PACKER_LOG=1 packer build template. HCL2 templates were first introduced as a beta feature into Packer version 1. Reproduction Steps I have the following Ansible provisioner block: When the --extra-vars arguments are arranged as a single line, all works as expected: . For example, HashiCorp Packer offers a similar complement of configuration management provisioners and can run their installation steps during a separate build process, before creating a system disk image that you can deploy many times. Provisioners prepare the system for use. Packer detects that the reboot has completed by making an RPC call through the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service, not by ACPI functions, so Oct 26, 2020 · Packer actually comes with multiple builders able to create VirtualBox machines, depending on the strategy you want to use to build the image. 5. This is useful if you want to run only certain The multiple separate Packer plugin processes communicate with the Core using an RPC defined in the packer-plugin SDK. or local. Plugins extend Packer’s functionality without modifying Packer's core by adding new builders, provisioners, post-processors, and data sources. how can i The first label — happycloud here — is the builder type. can't seem to figure it out. Packer should strip sensitive keys from the May 22, 2023 · HashiCorp Packer, a versatile open-source tool, simplifies the process of building and provisioning machine images across multiple platforms. Packer JSON makes it possible to provide custom template engine variables to be shared with provisioners and post-processors using the build function. To install this plugin, copy and paste this code into your Packer configuration, then run packer init. You can use the Invoke-Expression cmdlet or simply call the script using its path from within the provisioner. 2 seems to stall with the multiple provisioners of the same type for the docker builder. If you want to embed the variables in a string, you can do so with the ${} HCL interpolation syntax. Example provisioners timeout (duration) - If the provisioner takes more than for example 1h10m1s or 10m to finish, the provisioner will timeout and fail. Comments. We start with the simple "shell" provisioner. It can be used for multiple platforms from a single source template. packer_builder_type is the type of the builder that was used to create the machine that the script is running on. The post-processor block allows to define multiple Jan 7, 2021 · The Windows restart provisioner initiates a reboot on a Windows machine and waits for the machine to come back online. it should give you an idea of what Packer provisioners can do. Oct 26, 2020 · Packer actually comes with multiple builders able to create VirtualBox machines, depending on the strategy you want to use to build the image. Mar 30, 2021 · The quick answer is that Packer files will a look more like Terraform and so it looks more like code than data- json. Apr 17, 2021 · In this blog post, provisioning and customizing images using packer will be shown with a template repository. We define these provisioning steps in our packer config file and packer will use them to setup our machine images identically, Type: azure-arm Artifact BuilderId: Azure. Here is an example: "provisioner Skip to content This template is a configuration template and has a set of variables available to use:. The components that can be created and used in a Packer plugin are builders, provisioners, post-processors, and data sources. 7. This is useful if you want Mar 8, 2019 · There can be multiple provisioners in a Packer template. Expanding from this, Packer uses Starting from version 1. I also specify the SSH username and password so that Packer can connect to the virtual machine to run additional tasks after initial creation. Builders are usually found in plugins, except for the file and the null builders that will remain in Packer core. I quickly tested the file provisioner on AWS with a windows AMI and was not able to reproduce the issue packer_build_name is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. In HCL2 templates, things are different, as the configuration language allows you to specify builders through sources, and weave them in build blocks. For example, there are separate builders for EC2, VMware, VirtualBox, etc. Notice how Packer also outputs the first inline command (Installing Redis). File - upload files to machines image during a build. Provisioners are important components of Packer that install and configure software within a running machine prior to that machine being turned into a static image. Packer provisioners allow you to configure your machine image using traditional configuration management tools like Puppet, Chef, Ansible or just plain shell scripts (Bash or PowerShell). Take the entire output and create a gist for linking to in your issue. Packer uses builders to create machine images and provisioners to install and configure software on those images. Multiple provisioners can be specified within a resource. To do so, the plugin exposes multiple builders, among which you can choose the one most adapted to your workflow. Using a GitLab/GitHub CI/CD pipeline, I’d like to run multiple source/builder configs that specify the same variables for different environments on different providers. I am running multiple provisioners, so i want to see how much time taken by each provisioner to complete. packer_builder_type is the type of the builder that was used to create the machine that Puppet is running on. Packer Provisioners are the components of Packer that install and configure software into a running machine prior to turning that machine into an image. Create one security and compliance workflow for images that are provisioned across multiple clouds. It is a lightweight tool written in the GO language. Installation. You'll see ui output prompting you to press "enter" to Feb 6, 2021 · Thanks for the quick response. As of Packer v1. This is useful if you Blocks can even span multiple Packer template files. 7, HCL2 support is no longer in beta, and is the preferred way to write Packer configuration. Packer supports various platforms through external plugin integrations, the full list of Mar 15, 2015 · You signed in with another tab or window. Build Ubuntu and Ubuntu Focal images for AWS EBS. I have searched and searched. I suspect its a scaling issue, as there's at least 8 file provisioners x 12 builders, 96 file provisioners total, plus the other packer commands running to instantiate the EC2 instances/EBS volumes etc etc (184 packer* Jul 2, 2013 · It'd be a very useful feature to be able to copy over files under "provisioners. This document aims to explain the parallels Apr 14, 2020 · Can you please provide a copy of your debug logs PACKER_LOG=1 packer build build. VMImage Packer supports building Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs) and Managed Images in Azure Resource Manager. virtualbox-vm - This builder uses an existing VM to run defined provisioners on top of that VM, and optionally creates a snapshot to save the changes applied from the provisioners. Feb 23, 2023 · PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. In this article, we will explore the fundamentals of Oct 1, 2022 · Yes, the Powershell provisioner in tools like Packer or Terraform does support calling another PowerShell script. A common use case is creating images that can be used later in cloud infrastructure. Multiple provisioners are executed in the order Create multiple images for multiple platforms in parallel, from one Packer template, by creating a source. Oct 11, 2024 · Use Cases for Packer. Do not try and do everything in a single Packer build. If you are using an option that is a template engine, you still need to use the Go templating engine syntax {{ . 6 images. The following provisioners are included with Packer: Breakpoint - pause until the user presses Enter to resume a build. - hashicorp/packer Nov 7, 2024 · Provisioners like Chef, Puppet, or shell scripts are used to install and configure software on machine images during the build process. It allows you to automate the creation of machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. When I first started creating my Packer May 14, 2020 · Packer is an open source tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. Visit the AWS AMI page to verify that Packer successfully built your AMI. Oct 26, 2023 · When creating Packer templates, create builds in a step by step process. This is useful if you packer_build_name is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. hcl’ file, to Packer, then have Packer pass those variable values to the PowerShell script. In legacy JSON templates, you would declare a series of builders, provisioners and post-processors to build images. ; ChefLicense - The Chef license acceptance value. These are components of Packer that install and configure Multi-cloud image workflow. Blocks can be defined in multiple files and packer The reference of available configuration options is listed below. "cleanup_pause": "", Mar 31, 2014 · Packer can even build images for multiple providers using multiple provisioners (like shell scripts, Ansible playbooks, Salt states, Chef cookbooks, Puppet manifests or other Packer provisioners allow you to configure your machine image using traditional configuration management tools like Puppet, Chef, Ansible or just plain shell scripts (Bash or PowerShell). Nov 17, 2024 · HashiCorp Packer is an open-source tool that automates the creation of machine images for multiple platforms using a single source configuration. Please help me, Thanks Jul 22, 2023 · The problem is that I need to be able to pass the variable values from a ‘variables. Concurrency: Go’s built-in support for concurrency (via goroutines) allows Packer to perform multiple tasks in parallel, like building images for different platforms simultaneously. Packer supports multiple “provisioners,” which handle the actual server configuration. To install this plugin, copy and paste this code into your Packer configuration . What is the format of the JSON file to accomplish I’m Post-processors run after builders and provisioners. Multi-cloud image workflow. Packer provisioners. hcl # |- use_case_1 |- image1. Insert this provisioner wherever you want the build to pause. 0, builder Prepare() methods return a list of custom variables which we call generated data. To be brief I think I may be doing this wrong or my syntax is wrong or both. If I have two scripts in a row which does this I will start to get “thrash VMs” which I need to throw away because I do not know how to tell the scripts that they should only For example, HashiCorp Packer offers a similar complement of configuration management provisioners and can run their installation steps during a separate build process, before creating a system disk image that you can deploy many May 18, 2020 · We have a packer project where we build our AMIs using packer and are sharing this among some of our accounts using the directive "ami_users". A common use case is creating images that can be used later in Jun 17, 2018 · packer-builders. In the output, you will find the Provisioning with shell script that confirms that the Packer ran the provision step. Packer version. The Windows provisioning process often requires multiple reboots, and this provisioner helps to ease that process. If I define multiple build sources in the script I will get multiple VM outputs. Packer uses templates to orchestrate builds for one or more images. PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. Packer also has some builders that perform helper tasks, like running provisioners. Feb 24, 2022 · Packer. Plugins. As you can see in the example, you can access your variables directly by giving them the var. Jan 14, 2021 · Overview of the Issue Using multi-line arguments in extra_arguments does not work. . We talk about Provisioning, which run commands and customize the AMI. They perform the Jun 10, 2020 · With great parallel power comes great parallel responsibility. You signed out in another tab or window. 7, Packer supports a new packer init command allowing automatic installation of Packer plugins.
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