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# Packer
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* Website: http://www.packer.io
* IRC: `#packer-tool` on Freenode
* Mailing list: [Google Groups ](http://groups.google.com/group/packer-tool )
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Packer is a tool for building identical machine images for multiple platforms
from a single source configuration.
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Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system, and is highly
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performant, creating machine images for multiple platforms in parallel. Packer
comes out of the box with support for the following platforms:
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* Amazon EC2 (AMI). Both EBS-backed and instance-store AMIs
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* Azure
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* DigitalOcean
* Docker
* Google Compute Engine
* OpenStack
* Parallels
* QEMU. Both KVM and Xen images.
* VirtualBox
* VMware
Support for other platforms can be added via plugins.
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The images that Packer creates can easily be turned into
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[Vagrant ](http://www.vagrantup.com ) boxes.
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## Quick Start
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Download and install packages and dependencies
```
go get github.com/mitchellh/packer
```
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**Note:** There is a great
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[introduction and getting started guide ](http://www.packer.io/intro )
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for those with a bit more patience. Otherwise, the quick start below
will get you up and running quickly, at the sacrifice of not explaining some
key points.
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First, [download a pre-built Packer binary ](http://www.packer.io/downloads.html )
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for your operating system or [compile Packer yourself ](CONTRIBUTING.md#setting-up-go-to-work-on-packer ).
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After Packer is installed, create your first template, which tells Packer
what platforms to build images for and how you want to build them. In our
case, we'll create a simple AMI that has Redis pre-installed. Save this
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file as `quick-start.json` . Export your AWS credentials as the
`AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` and `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` environment variables.
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```json
{
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"variables": {
"access_key": "{{env `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` }}",
"secret_key": "{{env `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` }}"
},
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"builders": [{
"type": "amazon-ebs",
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"access_key": "{{user `access_key` }}",
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"secret_key": "{{user `secret_key` }}",
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"region": "us-east-1",
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"source_ami": "ami-fce3c696,",
"instance_type": "t2.micro",
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"ssh_username": "ubuntu",
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"ami_name": "packer-example {{timestamp}}"
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}]
}
```
Next, tell Packer to build the image:
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```
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$ packer build quick-start.json
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...
```
Packer will build an AMI according to the "quick-start" template. The AMI
will be available in your AWS account. To delete the AMI, you must manually
delete it using the [AWS console ](https://console.aws.amazon.com/ ). Packer
builds your images, it does not manage their lifecycle. Where they go, how
they're run, etc. is up to you.
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## Documentation
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Comprehensive documentation is viewable on the Packer website:
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http://www.packer.io/docs
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## Developing Packer
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See [CONTRIBUTING.md ](https://github.com/mitchellh/packer/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md ) for best practices and instructions on setting up your development environment to work on Packer.