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Packer

Hi Folks! Introduction: In this post, I will introduce you about packer. Packer is actually open source tool for creating machine and container images for multiple platforms from single source of configuration. As a configuration It uses a json syntax for creating machines for different platforms such as  Amazon EC2, Docker, VirtualBox, VMware etc. Actually I will not get into more detail. For more information please visit website . As an example, I created very simple configuration for VMware Workstation platform by installing CentOS 7 without keyboard interaction. For non-interactive installation(kick-start installation). I have used kickstart file. Next tutorial will be about kick-start installation of RedHat system. Installing Packer: I have a CentOS 7 system, So you can download packer.zip file by using wget command. For 64 bit system.

Download packer.zip

wget -O packer.zip https://releases.hashicorp.com/packer/0.12.3/packer_0.12.3_linux_amd64.zip?_ga=1.60002541.1517413558.1489953845

unzip packer.zip

You can run packer the same as ordinary executable Linux file like below.

./packer -h
usage: packer [--version] [--help] <command> [<args>]

Available commands are:
    build       build image(s) from template
    fix         fixes templates from old versions of packer
    inspect     see components of a template
    push        push a template and supporting files to a Packer build service
    validate    check that a template is valid
    version     Prints the Packer version

Usage of Packer We have packer, but we do not have any configuration file to tell the packer what to do. Below, I shared very simple packer configuration for VMware Workstation platform to give you an overview. For other platforms please see packer documents . Plus, For auto-installation, you will need a machine to serve kick-start.(dhcp, tftp, http). Do not worry! Next tutorial will be about kick-start installation. So For now, stick with packer configuration.

{
    "builders": [{
        "name": "centos-latest",
        "type": "vmware-iso",
        "guest_os_type": "centos-64",
        "tools_upload_flavor": "linux",
        "iso_url": "http://mirror.fibersunucu.com.tr/centos/7/isos/x86_64/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso",
        "iso_checksum": "27bd866242ee058b7a5754e83d8ee8403e216b93d130d800852a96f41c34d86a",
        "iso_checksum_type": "sha256",
        "ssh_username": "root",
        "ssh_password": "vagrant",
        "ssh_port": "22",
        "ssh_host": "192.168.17.38",
        "ssh_wait_timeout": "10000s",
        "shutdown_timeout": "20s",
        "shutdown_command": "shutdown -P now",
        "vm_name": "mypacker",
        "format": "vmx",
        "boot_wait": "10s",
        "http_directory": "/var/www/html/http",
        "http_port_min": "8008",
        "http_port_max": "8008",
        "disk_size": "12000",
        "vmx_data": {
        "cpuid.coresPerSocket": "1",
        "memsize": "1024",
        "numvcpus": "1",
        "ethernet0.present": "TRUE",
        "ethernet0.connectionType": "nat"

      },
        
        "boot_command": [
        "<tab> ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks.cfg<enter><wait>"
      ]

    }],


    "provisioners": [
  {
    "type": "shell",
    "inline": [
      "touch /home/vagrant/test1234.packer",
      "echo 'Hello Packer !' > /home/vagrant/test1234.packer"
    ]
  }]

}

Simple packer directive first.json file Verify first.json with Packer Before building a machine, configuration file should be verified for error-free.

[root@hulk packer]# ./packer validate first.json
Template validated successfully.

Kickstart File Kickstart(ks.cfg) is  a actually configuration file for RedHat based systems to install system without human interaction. In doing so, hundreds of system can be installed just a snippet of directives.

#version=DEVEL
# System authorization information
auth --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512
# Use CDROM installation media
url --url http://192.168.17.25/rhel7/
# Use graphical install
text
# Run the Setup Agent on first boot
firstboot --enable
ignoredisk --only-use=sda
# Keyboard layouts
keyboard --vckeymap=tr --xlayouts='tr'
# System language
lang en_US.UTF-8
reboot
# Network information
network  --bootproto static --device=ens33 --gateway 192.168.17.2 --ip 192.168.17.38 --nameserver 192.168.17.2,8.8.8.8 --netmask=255.255.255.0  --activate
network  --hostname vagrant.tbag.local

# Root password
rootpw vagrant --plaintext
# System services
services --disabled="chronyd"
# System timezone
timezone Europe/Istanbul --isUtc --nontp
user --name=vagrant --password=vagrant --plaintext
# System bootloader configuration
bootloader --append=" crashkernel=auto" --location=mbr --boot-drive=sda
# Partition clearing information
clearpart --none --initlabel
# Disk partitioning information
autopart --type=lvm

%packages
@base
kexec-tools

%end



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