Packer

• https://github.com/ForestTechnologiesLtd/devopsplayground4-packer
• https://www.packer.io
• Fast infrastructure deployment
• multi-provider support )
• highly testable
• Packer has a public repository
• there are Packer repositories where boot_commands can be found
• can run parallel builds by specifying multiple “type” objects in the “builders” section of template.json
• command line arguments are order sensitive. (e.g. in packer build -var-file=config.json -var ‘NAME=Gaz’ template.json -var overrides -var-file).
• integrates with Jenkins
• compliments Ansible and Terraform

Packer components

• builders (i.e. what type of machine)
• description (human readable field)
• min_packer_version (minimum version requirement of Packer binary)
• post_processors (steps to create the images required. E.g. import AMI)
• provisioners (extra software beyond operating system)
• preseed.cfg file (contains the same information you enter when you setup a machine for the first time like time zone, keyboard layout, how to partition the hard drive, host name, etc.)
  • When you boot from the startup media (in this case an iso), you can choose the location of the preseed file via a url
  • The preseed file is uploaded into memory and the configuration is read
  • The installation process begins using information from the preseed file to enter the values where the user would normally enter them.
• http://blog.endpoint.com/2014/03/provisioning-development-environment.html
• http://kappataumu.com/articles/creating-an-Ubuntu-VM-with-packer.html

Pressed example: