diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-chroot.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-chroot.html.markdown index b3d1644dd..7e1a23ccb 100644 --- a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-chroot.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-chroot.html.markdown @@ -57,10 +57,7 @@ can be configured for this builder. ### Required: -* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. - If not specified, Packer will search the standard [credentials](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html#cli-config-files) file using environment variable `AWS_PROFILE` as the profile name, will use the `[default]` entry, - or will fall back to environment variables `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` or `AWS_ACCESS_KEY`. - Finally, if Packer is running on an EC2 instance it will check the instance metadata for IAM role keys. +* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials) * `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. @@ -68,7 +65,7 @@ can be configured for this builder. [configuration templates](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html) for more info) * `secret_key` (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS. - Lookup behavior is as above for `access_key` except the variables are `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` or `AWS_SECRET_KEY`. + [Learn how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials) * `source_ami` (string) - The source AMI whose root volume will be copied and provisioned on the currently running instance. This must be an diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html.markdown index fc78901a6..6413899c8 100644 --- a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html.markdown @@ -37,10 +37,7 @@ can be configured for this builder. ### Required: -* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. - If not specified, Packer will search the standard [credentials](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html#cli-config-files) file using environment variable `AWS_PROFILE` as the profile name, will use the `[default]` entry, - or will fall back to environment variables `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` or `AWS_ACCESS_KEY`. - Finally, if Packer is running on an EC2 instance it will check the instance metadata for IAM role keys. +* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials) * `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. @@ -53,8 +50,7 @@ can be configured for this builder. * `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. - Lookup behavior is as above for `access_key` except the variables are `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` or `AWS_SECRET_KEY` +* `secret_key` (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials) * `source_ami` (string) - The initial AMI used as a base for the newly created machine. diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-instance.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-instance.html.markdown index 81e425c9a..565d77594 100644 --- a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-instance.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon-instance.html.markdown @@ -42,10 +42,7 @@ can be configured for this builder. ### Required: -* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. - If not specified, Packer will search the standard [credentials](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html#cli-config-files) file using environment variable `AWS_PROFILE` as the profile name, will use the `[default]` entry, - or will fall back to environment variables `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` or `AWS_ACCESS_KEY`. - Finally, if Packer is running on an EC2 instance it will check the instance metadata for IAM role keys. +* `access_key` (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials) * `account_id` (string) - Your AWS account ID. This is required for bundling the AMI. This is _not the same_ as the access key. You can find your @@ -65,9 +62,7 @@ can be configured for this builder. * `s3_bucket` (string) - The name of the S3 bucket to upload the AMI. This bucket will be created if it doesn't exist. -* `secret_key` (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS. - Lookup behavior is as above for `access_key` except the variables are `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` or `AWS_SECRET_KEY` - +* `secret_key` (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS. [Learn how to set this.](/docs/builders/amazon.html#specifying-amazon-credentials) * `source_ami` (string) - The initial AMI used as a base for the newly created machine. diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon.html.markdown index 783018d95..736f61068 100644 --- a/website/source/docs/builders/amazon.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/docs/builders/amazon.html.markdown @@ -31,6 +31,35 @@ AMI. Packer supports the following builders at the moment: [amazon-ebs builder](/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html). It is much easier to use and Amazon generally recommends EBS-backed images nowadays. +
## Specifying Amazon Credentials
+ +When you use any of the amazon builders, you must provide credentials to the API in the form of an access key id and secret. These look like: + + access key id: AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE + secret access key: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY + +If you use other AWS tools you may already have these configured. If so, packer will try to use them, *unless* they are specified in your packer template. Credentials are resolved in the following order: + +1. Values hard-coded in the packer template are always authoritative. +2. *Variables* in the packer template may be resolved from command-line flags or from environment variables. Please read about [User Variables](https://packer.io/docs/templates/user-variables.html) for details. +3. If no credentials are found, packer falls back to automatic lookup. + +### Automatic Lookup + +If no AWS credentials are found in a packer template, we proceed on to the following steps: + +1. Lookup via environment variables. + - First `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`, then `AWS_ACCESS_KEY` + - First `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`, then `AWS_SECRET_KEY` +2. Look for [local AWS configuration files](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html#cli-config-files) + - First `~/.aws/credentials` + - Next based on `AWS_PROFILE` +3. Lookup an IAM role for the current EC2 instance (if you're running in EC2) + +~> **Subtle details of automatic lookup may change over time.** The most reliable way to specify your configuration is by setting them in template variables (directly or indirectly), or by using the `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` and `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` environment variables. + +Environment variables provide the best portability, allowing you to run your packer build on your workstation, in Atlas, or on another build server. + ## Using an IAM Instance Profile If AWS keys are not specified in the template, Packer will consult the [credentials](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html#cli-config-files) file, try the standard AWS environment variables, and then