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---
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2015-07-22 22:31:00 -04:00
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layout: intro
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page_title: Introduction
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description: |-
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Welcome to the world of Packer! This introduction guide will show you what
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Packer is, explain why it exists, the benefits it has to offer, and how you
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can get started with it. If you're already familiar with Packer, the
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documentation provides more of a reference for all available features.
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---
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2013-06-21 14:46:38 -04:00
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# Introduction to Packer
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Welcome to the world of Packer! This introduction guide will show you what
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2015-07-22 22:31:00 -04:00
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Packer is, explain why it exists, the benefits it has to offer, and how you can
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get started with it. If you're already familiar with Packer, the
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2020-03-24 18:15:31 -04:00
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[documentation](/docs) provides more of a reference for all available
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features.
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2013-06-21 14:46:38 -04:00
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## What is Packer?
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2015-07-22 22:31:00 -04:00
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Packer is an open source tool for creating identical machine images for multiple
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platforms from a single source configuration. Packer is lightweight, runs on
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every major operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images
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for multiple platforms in parallel. Packer does not replace configuration
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management like Chef or Puppet. In fact, when building images, Packer is able to
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use tools like Chef or Puppet to install software onto the image.
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2013-06-21 14:46:38 -04:00
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A _machine image_ is a single static unit that contains a pre-configured
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operating system and installed software which is used to quickly create new
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running machines. Machine image formats change for each platform. Some examples
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include [AMIs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Machine_Image) for EC2,
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VMDK/VMX files for VMware, OVF exports for VirtualBox, etc.
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