Description:
Learn how HashiCorp Packer helps DevOps engineers automate machine image creation for cloud and CI/CD pipelines.
In DevOps, consistency and automation are very important.
Manual server setup often leads to errors and time waste.
This is where Packer helps us.
Tags: devops, packer, cloud, automation
Console Link: Official Packer Documentation
What is Packer?
Packer is an open-source tool developed by HashiCorp.
It is used to create machine images automatically.
Using Packer, we can build:
- AWS AMIs
- Azure VM Images
- Google Cloud Images
- Docker Images
Once an image is built, it can be reused anywhere.
Why Do We Need Packer?
Traditional approach:
- Manual server configuration
- Configuration mismatch
- Slow deployments
With Packer:
- Consistent images
- Faster provisioning
- Automation friendly
- Works well with CI/CD
How Packer Works
- Write a Packer configuration file (
.pkr.hcl) - Choose a base OS image
- Use provisioners (Shell, Ansible, etc.)
- Run
packer build - Get a ready-to-use image
Real-Time Example
Imagine launching multiple EC2 instances with the same software.
Without Packer:
- Manual setup for every server
With Packer:
- Build AMI once
- Launch multiple EC2 instances instantly
🙏 Acknowledgement
I would like to sincerely thank @santhoshnc for giving this assignment.
This task helped me explore Packer as a DevOps tool and understand how image automation plays a crucial role in real-world DevOps workflows.
The assignment motivated me to learn beyond theory and apply concepts practically.
Thank you, sir, for the guidance and encouragement.
Sample Packer Configuration
hcl
source "amazon-ebs" "example" {
region = "ap-south-1"
instance_type = "t2.micro"
ami_name = "packer-demo-ami"
source_ami = "ami-xxxxxxxx"
ssh_username = "ubuntu"
}
build {
sources = ["source.amazon-ebs.example"]
provisioner "shell" {
inline = [
"sudo apt update",
"sudo apt install nginx -y"
]
}
}
Top comments (0)