86 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
86 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
---
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description: |
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The SSH communicator uses SSH to upload files, execute scripts, etc. on
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the machine being created.
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layout: docs
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page_title: Communicators - SSH
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sidebar_title: SSH
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---
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# SSH Communicator
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Communicators are the mechanism Packer uses to upload files, execute scripts,
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etc. on the machine being created, and are configured within the
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[builder](/docs/templates/builders) section.
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The SSH communicator does this by using the SSH protocol. It is the default
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communicator for a majority of builders.
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If you have an SSH agent configured on the host running Packer, and SSH agent
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authentication is enabled in the communicator config, Packer will automatically
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forward the SSH agent to the remote host.
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## Getting Ready to Use the SSH Communicator
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The SSH communicator is the default communicator for a majority of builders, but
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depending on your builder it may not work "out of the box".
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If you are building from a cloud image (for example, building on Amazon), there
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is a good chance that your cloud provider has already preconfigured SSH on the
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image for you, meaning that all you have to do is configure the communicator in
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the Packer template.
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However, if you are building from a brand-new and unconfigured operating system
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image, you will almost always have to perform some extra work to configure SSH
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on the guest machine. For most operating system distributions, this work will
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be performed by a [boot command](/docs/builders/vmware-iso#boot-configuration)
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that references a file which provides answers to the normally-interactive
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questions you get asked when installing an operating system. The name of this
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file varies by operating system; some common examples are the "preseed" file
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required by Debian, the "kickstart" file required by CentOS or the
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"answer file", also known as the Autounattend.xml file, required by Windows.
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For simplicity's sake, we'll refer to this file as the "preseed" file in the
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rest of the documentation.
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If you are unfamiliar with how to use a preseed file for automatic
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bootstrapping of an image, please either take a look at our
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[quick guides](/guides/automatic-operating-system-installs) to
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image bootstrapping, or research automatic configuration for your specific
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guest operating system. Knowing how to automatically initalize your operating
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system is critical for being able to successfully use Packer.
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## SSH Communicator
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The SSH communicator connects to the host via SSH. If you have an SSH agent
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configured on the host running Packer, and SSH agent authentication is enabled
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in the communicator config, Packer will automatically forward the SSH agent to
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the remote host.
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The SSH communicator has the following options:
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@include "helper/communicator/SSH-not-required.mdx"
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~> Note: SSH communicator options: `ssh_keypair_name`, `ssh_agent_auth`,
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`temporary_key_pair_name` and `ssh_private_key_file` are also supported by
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the communicator. But they may not be supported for every builder. Please check
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the builder specific documentation for additional SSH supported options.
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### SSH Communicator Details
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Packer will only use one authentication method, either `publickey` or if
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`ssh_password` is used packer will offer `password` and `keyboard-interactive`
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both sending the password. In other words Packer will not work with _sshd_
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configured with more than one configured authentication method using
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`AuthenticationMethods`.
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Packer supports the following MACs:
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- hmac-sha1
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- hmac-sha1-96
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- hmac-sha2-256
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- `hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com`
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For more information on the ciphers that Packer supports, check the docs for
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the [ssh_ciphers](/docs/communicators/ssh#ssh_ciphers) template option.
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