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docs	Amazon AMI Builder (EBS backed)	The `amazon-ebs` Packer builder is able to create Amazon AMIs backed by EBS volumes for use in EC2. For more information on the difference between EBS-backed instances and instance-store backed instances, see the storage for the root device section in the EC2 documentation.

AMI Builder (EBS backed)

Type: amazon-ebs

The amazon-ebs Packer builder is able to create Amazon AMIs backed by EBS volumes for use in EC2. For more information on the difference between EBS-backed instances and instance-store backed instances, see the "storage for the root device" section in the EC2 documentation.

This builder builds an AMI by launching an EC2 instance from a source AMI, provisioning that running machine, and then creating an AMI from that machine. This is all done in your own AWS account. The builder will create temporary keypairs, security group rules, etc. that provide it temporary access to the instance while the image is being created. This simplifies configuration quite a bit.

The builder does not manage AMIs. Once it creates an AMI and stores it in your account, it is up to you to use, delete, etc. the AMI.

Configuration Reference

There are many configuration options available for the builder. They are segmented below into two categories: required and optional parameters. Within each category, the available configuration keys are alphabetized.

Required:

access_key (string) - The access key used to communicate with AWS. If not specified, Packer will use the key from any credentials file or fall back to environment variables AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or AWS_ACCESS_KEY (in that order), if set.
ami_name (string) - The name of the resulting AMI that will appear when managing AMIs in the AWS console or via APIs. This must be unique. To help make this unique, use a function like timestamp (see configuration templates for more info)
instance_type (string) - The EC2 instance type to use while building the AMI, such as "m1.small".
region (string) - The name of the region, such as "us-east-1", in which to launch the EC2 instance to create the AMI.
secret_key (string) - The secret key used to communicate with AWS. If not specified, Packer will use the secret from any credentials file or fall back to environment variables AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY or AWS_SECRET_KEY (in that order), if set.
source_ami (string) - The initial AMI used as a base for the newly created machine.
ssh_username (string) - The username to use in order to communicate over SSH to the running machine.

Optional:

ami_block_device_mappings (array of block device mappings) - Add the block device mappings to the AMI. The block device mappings allow for keys: "device_name" (string), "virtual_name" (string), "snapshot_id" (string), "volume_type" (string), "volume_size" (integer), "delete_on_termination" (boolean), "encrypted" (boolean), "no_device" (boolean), and "iops" (integer).
ami_description (string) - The description to set for the resulting AMI(s). By default this description is empty.
ami_groups (array of strings) - A list of groups that have access to launch the resulting AMI(s). By default no groups have permission to launch the AMI. all will make the AMI publicly accessible.
ami_product_codes (array of strings) - A list of product codes to associate with the AMI. By default no product codes are associated with the AMI.
ami_regions (array of strings) - A list of regions to copy the AMI to. Tags and attributes are copied along with the AMI. AMI copying takes time depending on the size of the AMI, but will generally take many minutes.
ami_users (array of strings) - A list of account IDs that have access to launch the resulting AMI(s). By default no additional users other than the user creating the AMI has permissions to launch it.
associate_public_ip_address (boolean) - If using a non-default VPC, public IP addresses are not provided by default. If this is toggled, your new instance will get a Public IP.
availability_zone (string) - Destination availability zone to launch instance in. Leave this empty to allow Amazon to auto-assign.
enhanced_networking (boolean) - Enable enhanced networking (SriovNetSupport) on HVM-compatible AMIs. If true, add ec2:ModifyInstanceAttribute to your AWS IAM policy.
iam_instance_profile (string) - The name of an IAM instance profile to launch the EC2 instance with.
launch_block_device_mappings (array of block device mappings) - Add the block device mappings to the launch instance. The block device mappings are the same as ami_block_device_mappings above.
run_tags (object of key/value strings) - Tags to apply to the instance that is launched to create the AMI. These tags are not applied to the resulting AMI unless they're duplicated in tags.
security_group_id (string) - The ID (not the name) of the security group to assign to the instance. By default this is not set and Packer will automatically create a new temporary security group to allow SSH access. Note that if this is specified, you must be sure the security group allows access to the ssh_port given below.
security_group_ids (array of strings) - A list of security groups as described above. Note that if this is specified, you must omit the security_group_id.
spot_price (string) - The maximum hourly price to pay for a spot instance to create the AMI. Spot instances are a type of instance that EC2 starts when the current spot price is less than the maximum price you specify. Spot price will be updated based on available spot instance capacity and current spot instance requests. It may save you some costs. You can set this to "auto" for Packer to automatically discover the best spot price.
spot_price_auto_product (string) - Required if spot_price is set to "auto". This tells Packer what sort of AMI you're launching to find the best spot price. This must be one of: Linux/UNIX, SUSE Linux, Windows, Linux/UNIX (Amazon VPC), SUSE Linux (Amazon VPC), Windows (Amazon VPC)
ssh_port (integer) - The port that SSH will be available on. This defaults to port 22.
ssh_private_key_file (string) - Use this ssh private key file instead of a generated ssh key pair for connecting to the instance.
ssh_private_ip (bool) - If true, then SSH will always use the private IP if available.
ssh_timeout (string) - The time to wait for SSH to become available before timing out. The format of this value is a duration such as "5s" or "5m". The default SSH timeout is "5m", or five minutes.
subnet_id (string) - If using VPC, the ID of the subnet, such as "subnet-12345def", where Packer will launch the EC2 instance. This field is required if you are using an non-default VPC.
tags (object of key/value strings) - Tags applied to the AMI.
temporary_key_pair_name (string) - The name of the temporary keypair to generate. By default, Packer generates a name with a UUID.
token (string) - The access token to use. This is different from the access key and secret key. If you're not sure what this is, then you probably don't need it. This will also be read from the AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN environmental variable.
user_data (string) - User data to apply when launching the instance. Note that you need to be careful about escaping characters due to the templates being JSON. It is often more convenient to use user_data_file, instead.
user_data_file (string) - Path to a file that will be used for the user data when launching the instance.
vpc_id (string) - If launching into a VPC subnet, Packer needs the VPC ID in order to create a temporary security group within the VPC.

Basic Example

Here is a basic example. It is completely valid except for the access keys:

{
  "type": "amazon-ebs",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "source_ami": "ami-de0d9eb7",
  "instance_type": "t1.micro",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{timestamp}}"
}

-> Note: Packer can also read the access key and secret access key from environmental variables. See the configuration reference in the section above for more information on what environmental variables Packer will look for.

Accessing the Instance to Debug

If you need to access the instance to debug for some reason, run the builder with the -debug flag. In debug mode, the Amazon builder will save the private key in the current directory and will output the DNS or IP information as well. You can use this information to access the instance as it is running.

AMI Block Device Mappings Example

Here is an example using the optional AMI block device mappings. This will add the /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc block device mappings to the finished AMI.

{
  "type": "amazon-ebs",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "source_ami": "ami-de0d9eb7",
  "instance_type": "t1.micro",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{timestamp}}",
  "ami_block_device_mappings": [
    {
      "device_name": "/dev/sdb",
      "virtual_name": "ephemeral0"
    },
    {
      "device_name": "/dev/sdc",
      "virtual_name": "ephemeral1"
    }
  ]
}

Tag Example

Here is an example using the optional AMI tags. This will add the tags "OS_Version" and "Release" to the finished AMI.

{
  "type": "amazon-ebs",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "source_ami": "ami-de0d9eb7",
  "instance_type": "t1.micro",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "ami_name": "packer-quick-start {{timestamp}}",
  "tags": {
    "OS_Version": "Ubuntu",
    "Release": "Latest"
  }
}

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