--- description: | The ansible Packer provisioner allows Ansible playbooks to be run to provision the machine. layout: docs page_title: 'Ansible - Provisioners' sidebar_current: 'docs-provisioners-ansible-remote' --- # Ansible Provisioner Type: `ansible` The `ansible` Packer provisioner runs Ansible playbooks. It dynamically creates an Ansible inventory file configured to use SSH, runs an SSH server, executes `ansible-playbook`, and marshals Ansible plays through the SSH server to the machine being provisioned by Packer. -> **Note:**: Any `remote_user` defined in tasks will be ignored. Packer will always connect with the user given in the json config for this provisioner. ## Basic Example This is a fully functional template that will provision an image on DigitalOcean. Replace the mock `api_token` value with your own. ``` json { "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./playbook.yml" } ], "builders": [ { "type": "digitalocean", "api_token": "6a561151587389c7cf8faa2d83e94150a4202da0e2bad34dd2bf236018ffaeeb", "image": "ubuntu-14-04-x64", "region": "sfo1" } ] } ``` ## Configuration Reference Required Parameters: - `playbook_file` (string) - The playbook to be run by Ansible. Optional Parameters: - `ansible_env_vars` (array of strings) - Environment variables to set before running Ansible. Usage example: ``` json "ansible_env_vars": [ "ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=False", "ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS='-o ForwardAgent=yes -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s'", "ANSIBLE_NOCOLOR=True" ] ``` If you are running a Windows build on AWS, Azure or Google Compute and would like to access the auto-generated password that Packer uses to connect to a Windows instance via WinRM, you can use the template variable {{.WinRMPassword}} in this option. For example: ``` json "ansible_env_vars": [ "WINRM_PASSWORD={{.WinRMPassword}}" ], ``` - `command` (string) - The command to invoke ansible. Defaults to `ansible-playbook`. If you would like to provide a more complex command, for example, something that sets up a virtual environment before calling ansible, take a look at the ansible wrapper guide below for inspiration. - `empty_groups` (array of strings) - The groups which should be present in inventory file but remain empty. - `extra_arguments` (array of strings) - Extra arguments to pass to Ansible. These arguments *will not* be passed through a shell and arguments should not be quoted. Usage example: ``` json "extra_arguments": [ "--extra-vars", "Region={{user `Region`}} Stage={{user `Stage`}}" ] ``` If you are running a Windows build on AWS, Azure or Google Compute and would like to access the auto-generated password that Packer uses to connect to a Windows instance via WinRM, you can use the template variable {{.WinRMPassword}} in this option. For example: ``` json "extra_arguments": [ "--extra-vars", "winrm_password={{ .WinRMPassword }}" ] ``` - `groups` (array of strings) - The groups into which the Ansible host should be placed. When unspecified, the host is not associated with any groups. - `inventory_file` (string) - The inventory file to use during provisioning. When unspecified, Packer will create a temporary inventory file and will use the `host_alias`. - `host_alias` (string) - The alias by which the Ansible host should be known. Defaults to `default`. This setting is ignored when using a custom inventory file. - `inventory_directory` (string) - The directory in which to place the temporary generated Ansible inventory file. By default, this is the system-specific temporary file location. The fully-qualified name of this temporary file will be passed to the `-i` argument of the `ansible` command when this provisioner runs ansible. Specify this if you have an existing inventory directory with `host_vars` `group_vars` that you would like to use in the playbook that this provisioner will run. - `local_port` (uint) - The port on which to attempt to listen for SSH connections. This value is a starting point. The provisioner will attempt listen for SSH connections on the first available of ten ports, starting at `local_port`. A system-chosen port is used when `local_port` is missing or empty. - `sftp_command` (string) - The command to run on the machine being provisioned by Packer to handle the SFTP protocol that Ansible will use to transfer files. The command should read and write on stdin and stdout, respectively. Defaults to `/usr/lib/sftp-server -e`. - `skip_version_check` (boolean) - Check if ansible is installed prior to running. Set this to `true`, for example, if you're going to install ansible during the packer run. - `ssh_host_key_file` (string) - The SSH key that will be used to run the SSH server on the host machine to forward commands to the target machine. Ansible connects to this server and will validate the identity of the server using the system known\_hosts. The default behavior is to generate and use a onetime key. Host key checking is disabled via the `ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING` environment variable if the key is generated. - `ssh_authorized_key_file` (string) - The SSH public key of the Ansible `ssh_user`. The default behavior is to generate and use a onetime key. If this key is generated, the corresponding private key is passed to `ansible-playbook` with the `-e ansible_ssh_private_key_file` option. - `user` (string) - The `ansible_user` to use. Defaults to the user running packer. <%= 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. ## Debugging To debug underlying issues with Ansible, add `"-vvvv"` to `"extra_arguments"` to enable verbose logging. ``` json "extra_arguments": [ "-vvvv" ] ``` ## Limitations ### Redhat / CentOS Redhat / CentOS builds have been known to fail with the following error due to `sftp_command`, which should be set to `/usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server -e`: ``` text ==> virtualbox-ovf: starting sftp subsystem virtualbox-ovf: fatal: [default]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "SSH Error: data could not be sent to the remote host. Make sure this host can be reached over ssh", "unreachable": true} ``` ### chroot communicator Building within a chroot (e.g. `amazon-chroot`) requires changing the Ansible connection to chroot and running Ansible as root/sudo. ``` json { "builders": [ { "type": "amazon-chroot", "mount_path": "/mnt/packer-amazon-chroot", "region": "us-east-1", "source_ami": "ami-123456" } ], "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "extra_arguments": [ "--connection=chroot", "--inventory-file=/mnt/packer-amazon-chroot," ], "playbook_file": "main.yml" } ] } ``` ### winrm communicator Windows builds require a custom Ansible connection plugin and a particular configuration. Assuming a directory named `connection_plugins` is next to the playbook and contains a file named `packer.py` which implements the connection plugin. On versions of Ansible before 2.4.x, the following works as the connection plugin ``` python from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function) __metaclass__ = type from ansible.plugins.connection.ssh import Connection as SSHConnection class Connection(SSHConnection): ''' ssh based connections for powershell via packer''' transport = 'packer' has_pipelining = True become_methods = [] allow_executable = False module_implementation_preferences = ('.ps1', '') def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs) ``` Newer versions of Ansible require all plugins to have a documentation string. You can see if there is a plugin available for the version of Ansible you are using [here](https://github.com/hashicorp/packer/tree/master/examples/ansible/connection-plugin). To create the plugin yourself, you will need to copy all of the `options` from the `DOCUMENTATION` string from the [ssh.py Ansible connection plugin](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py) of the Ansible version you are using and add it to a packer.py file similar to as follows ``` python from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function) __metaclass__ = type from ansible.plugins.connection.ssh import Connection as SSHConnection DOCUMENTATION = ''' connection: packer short_description: ssh based connections for powershell via packer description: - This connection plugin allows ansible to communicate to the target packer machines via ssh based connections for powershell. author: Packer version_added: na options: **** Copy ALL the options from https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py for the version of Ansible you are using **** ''' class Connection(SSHConnection): ''' ssh based connections for powershell via packer''' transport = 'packer' has_pipelining = True become_methods = [] allow_executable = False module_implementation_preferences = ('.ps1', '') def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs) ``` This template should build a Windows Server 2012 image on Google Cloud Platform: ``` json { "variables": {}, "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./win-playbook.yml", "extra_arguments": [ "--connection", "packer", "--extra-vars", "ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None" ] } ], "builders": [ { "type": "googlecompute", "account_file": "{{user `account_file`}}", "project_id": "{{user `project_id`}}", "source_image": "windows-server-2012-r2-dc-v20160916", "communicator": "winrm", "zone": "us-central1-a", "disk_size": 50, "winrm_username": "packer", "winrm_use_ssl": true, "winrm_insecure": true, "metadata": { "sysprep-specialize-script-cmd": "winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{Basic=\"true\"}" } } ] } ``` -> **Warning:** Please note that if you're setting up WinRM for provisioning, you'll probably want to turn it off or restrict its permissions as part of a shutdown script at the end of Packer's provisioning process. For more details on the why/how, check out this useful blog post and the associated code: https://cloudywindows.io/post/winrm-for-provisioning---close-the-door-on-the-way-out-eh/ ### Post i/o timeout errors If you see `unknown error: Post http://:/wsman:dial tcp :: i/o timeout` errors while provisioning a Windows machine, try setting Ansible to copy files over [ssh instead of sftp](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html#envvar-ANSIBLE_SCP_IF_SSH). ### Too many SSH keys SSH servers only allow you to attempt to authenticate a certain number of times. All of your loaded keys will be tried before the dynamically generated key. If you have too many SSH keys loaded in your `ssh-agent`, the Ansible provisioner may fail authentication with a message similar to this: ``` console googlecompute: fatal: [default]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: Warning: Permanently added '[127.0.0.1]:62684' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.\r\nReceived disconnect from 127.0.0.1 port 62684:2: too many authentication failures\r\nAuthentication failed.\r\n", "unreachable": true} ``` To unload all keys from your `ssh-agent`, run: ``` console $ ssh-add -D ``` ### Become: yes We recommend against running Packer as root; if you do then you won't be able to successfully run your ansible playbook as root; `become: yes` will fail. ### Using a wrapping script for your ansible call Sometimes, you may have extra setup that needs to be called as part of your ansible run. The easiest way to do this is by writing a small bash script and using that bash script in your "command" in place of the default "ansible-playbook". For example, you may need to launch a Python virtualenv before calling ansible. To do this, you'd want to create a bash script like ``` sh #!/bin/bash source /tmp/venv/bin/activate && ANSIBLE_FORCE_COLOR=1 PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 /tmp/venv/bin/ansible-playbook "$@" ``` The ansible provisioner template remains very simple. For example: ``` json { "type": "ansible", "command": "/Path/To/call_ansible.sh", "playbook_file": "./playbook.yml" } ``` Note that we're calling ansible-playbook at the end of this command and passing all command line arguments through into this call; this is necessary for making sure that --extra-vars and other important ansible arguments get set. Note the quoting around the bash array, too; if you don't use quotes, any arguments with spaces will not be read properly.