website: Move the "what is" to the docs homepage
This commit is contained in:
Mitchell Hashimoto
parent
19eff04d2f
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layout: "docs"
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---
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# Documentation
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# Packer Documentation
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Welcome to the Packer documentation! This documentation will guide you from
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complete beginner to being a Packer expert. It introduces all the concepts
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of Packer as well as contains references material for every configuration
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parameter and command-line flags available to control Packer.
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## What is Packer?
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Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms
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from a single source configuration. Packer is lightweight, runs on every major
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operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for
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multiple platforms in parallel. Packer does not replace configuration management
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like Chef or Puppet. In fact, when building images, Packer is able to use tools
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like Chef or Puppet to install software onto the image.
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A _machine image_ is a single static unit that contains a pre-configured operating
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system and installed software which is used to quickly create new running machines.
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Machine image formats change for each platform. Some examples include
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[AMIs](http://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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## Why Use Packer?
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Historically, creating
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these images has been a predominantly manual process. Any existing automated tools were able to
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create only one type of image. Packer, on the other hand, is able to automatically
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create any type of image, all from a single source configuration. This unlocks
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untapped potential in developing, testing, and deploying applications.
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Pre-baked machine images have a lot of advantages, but we've been unable to
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benefit from them because they have been too tedious to create and manage.
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Packer tears down this barrier, allowing the benefits of pre-baked machine
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images to become available to everyone. Some benefits include:
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* ***Super fast infrastructure deployment***. Packer images allow you to launch
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completely provisioned and configured machines in seconds, rather than
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several minutes or hours. This benefits not only production, but development as well,
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since development virtual machines can also be launched in seconds, without waiting
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for a typically much longer provisioning time.
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* ***Multi-provider portability***. Because Packer creates identical images for
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multiple platforms, you can run production in AWS, staging/QA in a private
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cloud like OpenStack, and development in desktop virtualization solutions
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such as VMware or VirtualBox. Each environment is running an identical
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machine image, giving ultimate portability.
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* ***Improved stability***. Packer installs and configures all the software for
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a machine at the time the image is built. If there are bugs in these scripts,
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they'll be caught early, rather than several minutes after a machine is launched.
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* ***Greater testability***. After a machine image is built, that machine image
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can be quickly launched and smoke tested to verify that things appear to be
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working. If they are, you can be confident that any other machines launched
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from that image will function properly.
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Packer makes it extremely easy to take advantage of all these benefits.
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What are you waiting for? Let's get started!<D-j>
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@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
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---
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layout: "docs"
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---
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# What is Packer?
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Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms
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from a single source configuration. Packer is lightweight, runs on every major
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operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for
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multiple platforms in parallel. Packer does not replace configuration management
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like Chef or Puppet. In fact, when building images, Packer is able to use tools
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like Chef or Puppet to install software onto the image.
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A _machine image_ is a single static unit that contains a pre-configured operating
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system and installed software which is used to quickly create new running machines.
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Machine image formats change for each platform. Some examples include
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[AMIs](http://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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Historically, creating
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these images has been a predominantly manual process. Any existing automated tools were able to
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create only one type of image. Packer, on the other hand, is able to automatically
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create any type of image, all from a single source configuration. This unlocks
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untapped potential in developing, testing, and deploying applications.
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Pre-baked machine images have a lot of advantages, but we've been unable to
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benefit from them because they have been too tedious to create and manage.
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Packer tears down this barrier, allowing the benefits of pre-baked machine
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images to become available to everyone. Some benefits include:
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* Super fast infrastructure deployment. Packer images allow you to launch
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completely provisioned and configured machines in seconds, rather than
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several minutes or hours. This benefits not only production, but development as well,
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since development virtual machines can also be launched in seconds, without waiting
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for a typically much longer provisioning time.
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* Multi-provider portability. Because Packer creates identical images for
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multiple platforms, you can run production in AWS, staging/QA in a private
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cloud like OpenStack, and development in desktop virtualization solutions
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such as VMware or VirtualBox. Each environment is running an identical
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machine image, giving ultimate portability.
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* Improved stability. Packer installs and configures all the software for
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a machine at the time the image is built. If there are bugs in these scripts,
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they'll be caught early, rather than several minutes after a machine is launched.
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* Improved testability. After a machine image is built, that machine image
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can be quickly launched and smoke tested to verify that things appear to be
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working. If they are, you can be confident that any other machines launched
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from that image will function properly.
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Packer makes it extremely easy to take advantage of all these benefits.
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What are you waiting for? Let's get started!
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@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
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<h2>Docs</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="/docs/what-is-packer.html">What is Packer?</a></li>
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<li><a href="/docs/index.html">What is Packer?</a></li>
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<li><a href="/docs/installation.html">Installation</a></li>
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<li><a href="/docs/basics/terminology.html">Terminology</a></li>
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</ul>
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@ -4,13 +4,6 @@
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<title>Packer</title>
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<meta name="description" content="Packer is a free and open source tool for creating golden images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration." />
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<!-- rewrite URLs for @2x retina images -->
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<script>
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if((window.devicePixelRatio===undefined?1:window.devicePixelRatio)>1) {
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document.cookie='HTTP_IS_RETINA=1;path=/';
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}
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</script>
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<!-- HTML5 shiv -->
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<!--[if lt IE 9]>
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<script src="dist/html5shiv.js"></script>
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@ -137,6 +137,22 @@
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padding: $docs-top-margin 80px;
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display: block;
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ul,
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ol {
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list-style-type: circle;
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list-style-position: inside;
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margin-top: $baseline;
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margin-left: 20px;
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margin-right: 20px;
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li {
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font-family: $serif;
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font-size: 17px;
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line-height: (30/17) !important;
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margin-bottom: $baseline;
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}
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}
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pre {
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border: 0;
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font-size: 14px;
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@ -126,33 +126,9 @@ ul,
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ol {
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margin: 0;
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padding: 0;
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}
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ul {
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list-style-type: none;
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}
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ol {
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list-style-type: circle;
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list-style-position: inside;
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margin-top: $baseline * 2;
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li {
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font-family: $serif;
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font-size: 17px;
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line-height: (30/17) !important;
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margin-bottom: $baseline;
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}
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}
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li {
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}
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blockquote {
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}
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em {
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font-style: italic;
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}
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