--- description: | The ansible-local Packer provisioner will run ansible in ansible's "local" mode on the remote/guest VM using Playbook and Role files that exist on the guest VM. This means ansible must be installed on the remote/guest VM. Playbooks and Roles can be uploaded from your build machine (the one running Packer) to the vm. layout: docs page_title: 'Ansible Local - Provisioners' sidebar_current: 'docs-provisioners-ansible-local' --- # Ansible Local Provisioner Type: `ansible-local` The `ansible-local` Packer provisioner will run ansible in ansible's "local" mode on the remote/guest VM using Playbook and Role files that exist on the guest VM. This means ansible must be installed on the remote/guest VM. Playbooks and Roles can be uploaded from your build machine (the one running Packer) to the vm. Ansible is then run on the guest machine in [local mode](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/playbooks_delegation.html#local-playbooks) via the `ansible-playbook` command. -> **Note:** Ansible will *not* be installed automatically by this provisioner. This provisioner expects that Ansible is already installed on the guest/remote machine. It is common practice to use the [shell provisioner](/docs/provisioners/shell.html) before the Ansible provisioner to do this. ## Basic Example The example below is fully functional. ``` json { "type": "ansible-local", "playbook_file": "local.yml" } ``` ## Configuration Reference The reference of available configuration options is listed below. Required: - `playbook_file` (string) - The playbook file to be executed by ansible. This file must exist on your local system and will be uploaded to the remote machine. This option is exclusive with `playbook_files`. - `playbook_files` (array of strings) - The playbook files to be executed by ansible. These files must exist on your local system. If the files don't exist in the `playbook_dir` or you don't set `playbook_dir` they will be uploaded to the remote machine. This option is exclusive with `playbook_file`. Optional: - `command` (string) - The command to invoke ansible. Defaults to "ANSIBLE\_FORCE\_COLOR=1 PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 ansible-playbook". Note, This disregards the value of `-color` when passed to `packer build`. To disable colors, set this to `PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 ansible-playbook`. - `extra_arguments` (array of strings) - An array of extra arguments to pass to the ansible command. By default, this is empty. These arguments *will* be passed through a shell and arguments should be quoted accordingly. Usage example: "extra_arguments": [ "--extra-vars \"Region={{user `Region`}} Stage={{user `Stage`}}\"" ] - `inventory_groups` (string) - A comma-separated list of groups to which packer will assign the host `127.0.0.1`. A value of `my_group_1,my_group_2` will generate an Ansible inventory like: ``` text [my_group_1] 127.0.0.1 [my_group_2] 127.0.0.1 ``` - `inventory_file` (string) - The inventory file to be used by ansible. This file must exist on your local system and will be uploaded to the remote machine. When using an inventory file, it's also required to `--limit` the hosts to the specified host you're building. The `--limit` argument can be provided in the `extra_arguments` option. An example inventory file may look like: ``` text [chi-dbservers] db-01 ansible_connection=local db-02 ansible_connection=local [chi-appservers] app-01 ansible_connection=local app-02 ansible_connection=local [chi:children] chi-dbservers chi-appservers [dbservers:children] chi-dbservers [appservers:children] chi-appservers ``` - `playbook_dir` (string) - a path to the complete ansible directory structure on your local system to be copied to the remote machine as the `staging_directory` before all other files and directories. - `playbook_paths` (array of strings) - An array of directories of playbook files on your local system. These will be uploaded to the remote machine under `staging_directory`/playbooks. By default, this is empty. - `galaxy_file` (string) - A requirements file which provides a way to install roles with the [ansible-galaxy cli](http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/galaxy.html#the-ansible-galaxy-command-line-tool) on the remote machine. By default, this is empty. - `galaxycommand` (string) - The command to invoke ansible-galaxy. By default, this is ansible-galaxy. - `group_vars` (string) - a path to the directory containing ansible group variables on your local system to be copied to the remote machine. By default, this is empty. - `host_vars` (string) - a path to the directory containing ansible host variables on your local system to be copied to the remote machine. By default, this is empty. - `role_paths` (array of strings) - An array of paths to role directories on your local system. These will be uploaded to the remote machine under `staging_directory`/roles. By default, this is empty. - `staging_directory` (string) - The directory where all the configuration of Ansible by Packer will be placed. By default this is `/tmp/packer-provisioner-ansible-local/`, where `` is replaced with a unique ID so that this provisioner can be run more than once. If you'd like to know the location of the staging directory in advance, you should set this to a known location. This directory doesn't need to exist but must have proper permissions so that the SSH user that Packer uses is able to create directories and write into this folder. If the permissions are not correct, use a shell provisioner prior to this to configure it properly. - `clean_staging_directory` (boolean) - If set to `true`, the content of the `staging_directory` will be removed after executing ansible. By default, this is set to `false`. <%= partial "partials/provisioners/common-config" %> ## Default Extra Variables In addition to being able to specify extra arguments using the `extra_arguments` configuration, the provisioner automatically defines certain commonly useful Ansible variables: - `packer_build_name` is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. This is most useful when Packer is making multiple builds and you want to distinguish them slightly when using a common playbook. - `packer_builder_type` is the type of the builder that was used to create the machine that the script is running on. This is useful if you want to run only certain parts of the playbook on systems built with certain builders. - `packer_http_addr` If using a builder that provides an http server for file transfer (such as hyperv, parallels, qemu, virtualbox, and vmware), this will be set to the address. You can use this address in your provisioner to download large files over http. This may be useful if you're experiencing slower speeds using the default file provisioner. A file provisioner using the `winrm` communicator may experience these types of difficulties.