Documentation
HCL templates
Packer uses the HashiCorp Configuration Language — HCL — designed to allow concise descriptions of the required steps to get to a build file.
Use case
Automated image builds
Automate the creation of any type of machine or container image. Customize images to match application and organizational requirements.
Challenge
Manual image creation is time-consuming and error-prone
The manual work of maintaining images across teams is tedious and error-prone, and takes time away from projects that are core to your business. Inconsistent configurations can lead to instability and errors for downstream applications that rely on these images.
Solution
Images as code with a unified multi-cloud workflow
Create identical images for multiple platforms from a single-source configuration. By codifying commonly used base images as golden images, they can be standardized, secured, and updated using automation.
Customer case study
How Whiterabbit.ai uses Terraform and Packer to fight cancer
Whiterabbit.ai develops state-of-the-art machine learning models that detect breast cancer. Learn how it uses Packer to generate virtual machine images deployed on servers in the cloud and in clinics, providing consistency across environments.
Resources
Docs
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Tutorials
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Build an image
Build an Amazon EC2 AMI under the AWS Free Tier.
Provision
The real utility of Packer comes from automated configuration of machine images. In this tutorial, you will complete your image by installing Redis on it.
Standardize machine images across multiple cloud providers
Build identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single template file.
Extend Packer with plugins
Plugins extend Packer’s functionality without modifying Packer core by adding new builders, provisioners, post-processors, and data sources.
Introduction to HCP Packer
In this whiteboard video, HashiCorp Co-Founder and CTO Armon Dadgar explains how HCP Packer forms the core of a multi-cloud golden image pipeline.