77 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
77 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: docs
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sidebar_current: docs-templates-builders
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page_title: Builders - Templates
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description: |-
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Within the template, the builders section contains an array of all the
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builders that Packer should use to generate machine images for the template.
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---
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# Template Builders
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Within the template, the builders section contains an array of all the builders
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that Packer should use to generate a machine images for the template.
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Builders are responsible for creating machines and generating images from them
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for various platforms. For example, there are separate builders for EC2, VMware,
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VirtualBox, etc. Packer comes with many builders by default, and can also be
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extended to add new builders.
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This documentation page will cover how to configure a builder in a template. The
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specific configuration options available for each builder, however, must be
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referenced from the documentation for that specific builder.
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Within a template, a section of builder definitions looks like this:
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```javascript
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{
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"builders": [
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// ... one or more builder definitions here
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]
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}
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```
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## Builder Definition
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A single builder definition maps to exactly one
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[build](/docs/basics/terminology.html#term-build). A builder definition is a
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JSON object that requires at least a `type` key. The `type` is the name of the
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builder that will be used to create a machine image for the build.
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In addition to the `type`, other keys configure the builder itself. For example,
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the AWS builder requires an `access_key`, `secret_key`, and some other settings.
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These are placed directly within the builder definition.
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An example builder definition is shown below, in this case configuring the AWS
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builder:
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```json
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{
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"type": "amazon-ebs",
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"access_key": "...",
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"secret_key": "..."
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}
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```
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## Named Builds
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Each build in Packer has a name. By default, the name is just the name of the
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builder being used. In general, this is good enough. Names only serve as an
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indicator in the output of what is happening. If you want, however, you can
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specify a custom name using the `name` key within the builder definition.
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This is particularly useful if you have multiple builds defined that use the
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same underlying builder. In this case, you must specify a name for at least one
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of them since the names must be unique.
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## Communicators
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Every build is associated with a single
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[communicator](/docs/templates/communicator.html). Communicators are used to
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establish a connection for provisioning a remote machine (such as an AWS
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instance or local virtual machine).
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All the examples for the various builders show some communicator (usually SSH),
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but the communicators are highly customizable so we recommend reading the
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[communicator documentation](/docs/templates/communicator.html).
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