website: AMI documentation

website/source/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html.markdown

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+---
+layout: "docs"
+---
+
+# Amazon AMI Builder
+
+Type: `amazon-ebs`
+
+The `amazon-ebs` builder is able to create Amazon AMIs backed by EBS
+volumes for use in [EC2](http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/). The builder takes
+an initial source AMI, runs any provisioning necesary on the instance,
+and snapshots it into a reusable AMI.
+
+Amazon supports two types of AMIs: EBS-backed and instance-store. Instance
+store AMIs are considerably harder to create, requiring many platform-specific
+steps that can often take a very long time. EBS-backed AMIs, on the hand,
+only require a source AMI to exist. This builder only builds EBS-backed
+instances, because they are easier to create, especially across many
+platforms running Packer.
+
+This builder builds an AMI by launching an EC2 instance from a source AMI,
+provisioning that running machine, and then creating an AMI from that machine.
+This is all done in your own AWS account. The builder will create temporary
+keypairs, security group rules, etc. that provide it temporary access to
+the instance while the image is being created. This simplifies configuration
+quite a bit.
+
+The builder does _not_ manage AMIs. Once it creates an AMI and stores it
+in your account, it is up to you to use, delete, etc. the AMI.
+
+## Configuration Reference
+
+There are many configuration options available for the builder. They are
+segmented below into two categories: required and optional parameters. Within
+each category, the available configuration keys are alphabetized.
+
+Required:
+
+* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS.
+
+* `ami_name` (string) - The name of the resulting AMI that will appear
+  when managing AMIs in the AWS console or via APIs. This must be unique.
+  To help make this unique, certain template parameters are available for
+  this value, which are documented below.
+
+* `instance_type` (string) - The EC2 instance type to use while building
+  the AMI, such as "m1.small".
+
+* `region` (string) - The name of the region, such as "us-east-1", in which
+  to launch the EC2 instance to create the AMI.
+
+* `secret_key` (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS.
+
+* `source_ami` (string) - The initial AMI used as a base for the newly
+  created machine.
+
+* `ssh_username` (string) - The username to use in order to communicate
+  over SSH to the running machine.
+
+Optional:
+
+* `ssh_port` (int) - The port that SSH will be available on. This defaults
+  to port 22.
+
+## Basic Example
+
+Here is a basic example. It is completely valid except for the access keys:
+
+<pre class="prettyprint">
+{
+  "type": "amazon-ebs",
+  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
+  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
+  "region": "us-east-1",
+  "source_ami": "ami-de0d9eb7",
+  "instance_type": "m1.small",
+  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
+  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{.CreateTime}}"
+}
+</pre>
+
+## AMI Name Variables
+
+The AMI name specified by the `ami_name` configuration variable is actually
+treated as a template. Packer provides a set of variables that it will replace
+within the AMI name. This helps ensure the AMI name is unique, as AWS requires.
+
+The available variables are shown below:
+
+* `CreateTime` - This will be replaced with the Unix timestamp of when
+  the AMI was built.

website/source/layouts/docs.erb

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 							<li><a href="/docs/templates/provisioners.html">Provisioners</a></li>
 
 							<li class="nav-header">Builders</li>
-							<li><a href="#">EC2 (AMI)</a></li>
+							<li><a href="/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html">EC2 (AMI)</a></li>
 							<li><a href="#">VirtualBox</a></li>
 							<li><a href="#">VMware</a></li>
 							<li><a href="#">Custom</a></li>