diff --git a/website/source/docs/index.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/index.html.markdown index fba2347cb..2996da011 100644 --- a/website/source/docs/index.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/docs/index.html.markdown @@ -4,60 +4,7 @@ layout: "docs" # Packer Documentation -Welcome to the Packer documentation! This documentation will guide you from -complete beginner to being a Packer expert. It introduces all the concepts -of Packer as well as contains references material for every configuration -parameter and command-line flags available to control Packer. - -## What is Packer? - -Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms -from a single source configuration. Packer is lightweight, runs on every major -operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for -multiple platforms in parallel. Packer does not replace configuration management -like Chef or Puppet. In fact, when building images, Packer is able to use tools -like Chef or Puppet to install software onto the image. - -A _machine image_ is a single static unit that contains a pre-configured operating -system and installed software which is used to quickly create new running machines. -Machine image formats change for each platform. Some examples include -[AMIs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Machine_Image) for EC2, -VMDK/VMX files for VMware, OVF exports for VirtualBox, etc. - -## Why Use Packer? - -Historically, creating -these images has been a predominantly manual process. Any existing automated tools were able to -create only one type of image. Packer, on the other hand, is able to automatically -create any type of image, all from a single source configuration. This unlocks -untapped potential in developing, testing, and deploying applications. - -Pre-baked machine images have a lot of advantages, but we've been unable to -benefit from them because they have been too tedious to create and manage. -Packer tears down this barrier, allowing the benefits of pre-baked machine -images to become available to everyone. Some benefits include: - -* ***Super fast infrastructure deployment***. Packer images allow you to launch -completely provisioned and configured machines in seconds, rather than -several minutes or hours. This benefits not only production, but development as well, -since development virtual machines can also be launched in seconds, without waiting -for a typically much longer provisioning time. - -* ***Multi-provider portability***. Because Packer creates identical images for -multiple platforms, you can run production in AWS, staging/QA in a private -cloud like OpenStack, and development in desktop virtualization solutions -such as VMware or VirtualBox. Each environment is running an identical -machine image, giving ultimate portability. - -* ***Improved stability***. Packer installs and configures all the software for -a machine at the time the image is built. If there are bugs in these scripts, -they'll be caught early, rather than several minutes after a machine is launched. - -* ***Greater testability***. After a machine image is built, that machine image -can be quickly launched and smoke tested to verify that things appear to be -working. If they are, you can be confident that any other machines launched -from that image will function properly. - -Packer makes it extremely easy to take advantage of all these benefits. - -What are you waiting for? Let's get started! +Welcome to the Packer documentation! This documentation is more of a reference +guide for all available features and options in Packer. If you're just getting +started with Packer, please start with the +[introduction and getting started guide](/intro) instead. diff --git a/website/source/layouts/docs.erb b/website/source/layouts/docs.erb index 6f7600bbe..8d27b02a3 100644 --- a/website/source/layouts/docs.erb +++ b/website/source/layouts/docs.erb @@ -3,7 +3,6 @@

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