57 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
57 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: intro
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sidebar_current: intro-use-cases
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page_title: Use Cases - Introduction
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description: |-
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By now you should know what Packer does and what the benefits of image
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creation are. In this section, we'll enumerate *some* of the use cases for
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Packer. Note that this is not an exhaustive list by any means. There are
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definitely use cases for Packer not listed here. This list is just meant to
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give you an idea of how Packer may improve your processes.
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---
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# Use Cases
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By now you should know what Packer does and what the benefits of image creation
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are. In this section, we'll enumerate *some* of the use cases for Packer. Note
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that this is not an exhaustive list by any means. There are definitely use cases
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for Packer not listed here. This list is just meant to give you an idea of how
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Packer may improve your processes.
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### Continuous Delivery
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Packer is lightweight, portable, and command-line driven. This makes it the
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perfect tool to put in the middle of your continuous delivery pipeline. Packer
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can be used to generate new machine images for multiple platforms on every
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change to Chef/Puppet.
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As part of this pipeline, the newly created images can then be launched and
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tested, verifying the infrastructure changes work. If the tests pass, you can be
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confident that the image will work when deployed. This brings a new level of
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stability and testability to infrastructure changes.
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### Dev/Prod Parity
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Packer helps [keep development, staging, and production as similar as
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possible](http://www.12factor.net/dev-prod-parity). Packer can be used to
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generate images for multiple platforms at the same time. So if you use AWS for
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production and VMware (perhaps with [Vagrant](https://www.vagrantup.com)) for
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development, you can generate both an AMI and a VMware machine using Packer at
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the same time from the same template.
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Mix this in with the continuous delivery use case above, and you have a pretty
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slick system for consistent work environments from development all the way
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through to production.
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### Appliance/Demo Creation
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Since Packer creates consistent images for multiple platforms in parallel, it is
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perfect for creating
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[appliances](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_appliance) and disposable
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product demos. As your software changes, you can automatically create appliances
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with the software pre-installed. Potential users can then get started with your
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software by deploying it to the environment of their choice.
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Packaging up software with complex requirements has never been so easy. Or
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enjoyable, if you ask me.
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