Packer Universal Image Builder

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Packer Universal Image Builder, is an Ansible playbook which creates a packer template for Docker or any cloud provider with any operating system. The template is generated by just one command and it can be provisioned by Shell or Ansible.

Overview

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Requirements

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• OS Centos or Ubuntu
• Ansible 2.8.4
• Packer 1.4.2
• Docker 19.03.1

Source code structure

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.
├── docker                   <-- Docker role to install Docker on your machine
│   ├── tasks
│   │   └── main.yml
│   └── vars
│       └── main.yml
├── image_builder
│   ├── tasks
│   │   └── main.yml         <--This create a folder in the root user with the generated template
│   ├── templates
│   │   └── template.json.j2 <--This is the dynamic template
│   └── vars
│       └── main.yml         <-- This is where you have to put your cloud provider credentials
└── packer                   <-- Packer role to install Packer on your machine
    ├── tasks
    │   └── main.yml
    └── vars
        └── main.yml

Installation

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First, you need to install Ansible on your machine.

DEBIAN

apt-get update
apt-get install software-properties-common
apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible
apt-get update
apt-get install ansible

REHL

yum install epel-release
yum install Ansible

Mac OS

brew install ansible

With pip

pip install ansible

Then, you need to install Packer.

wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/packer/1.4.2/packer_1.4.2_linux_amd64.zip
unzip packer_1.4.2_linux_amd64.zip
mv packer /usr/local/bin
rm -f packer_1.4.2_linux_amd64.zip

Finally, you need to install Docker.

DEBIAN

apt-get update
apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2 software-properties-common
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
add-apt-repository "deb[arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
apt-get update
apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

REHL

yum install -y yum-utils device-mapper-persistent-data lvm2
yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
systemctl start docker

You can also install Packer and Docker by running the playbook deploy_installation.yaml after installing Ansible.

ansible-playbook deploy_installation.yaml

Likewise, you can download Puib docker image with Packer and Ansible already installed. However, Docker can not run because a container don't have a systemd.

docker pull aminetity/puib:0.1
docker run -it aminetity/puib:0.1

Usage

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The playbook use only one variable mytemplate which refer to the type of image and operating system that you would like to build. You can find bellow the different options that you may use. Nonetheless, feel free to add any other cloud provider or operating system that are supported by packer.

After choosing the value of mytemplate you can enter your credentials and the path of the Ansible playbook that you would like to use for provisioning execute this command to generate your template and build it.

This is an example of building an Azure centos image, please run these commands as root:

git clone https://github.com/Wefactorit/ANS_puib.git
cd ans_puib
ansible-playbook deploy_image_builder.yaml --extra-vars "mytemplate=azure-centos"

Variables

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GENERAL

Name	Description	Type	Default	Required
mytemplate	Variable to point the type of the template and the OS	string	-	yes
vm_type_name	The property type name	string	-	yes
image_type	The builder type name	string	-	yes
provisioners_type_shell	Shell provisioner type	string	shell	yes
provisioners_type_ansible	Ansible provisioner type	string	ansible-local	yes
provisioners_playbook	The path of the ansible playbook designated for provisioning	string	-	yes
provisioners_extravars	The extra variables for the ansible playbook	string	-	no
command_rehl	List of commands used for provisioning for a Rehl OS	string	-	yes
command_debian	List of commands used for provisioning for a Debian OS	string	-	yes

AZURE

Name	Description	Type	Default	Required
template_azure	The object variable	string	-	yes
client_id	The client key of the Azure service account	string	-	yes
client_secret	The secret password of the Azure service account	string	-	yes
subscription_id	The subscription id of the Azure account	string	-	yes
tenant_id	The tenant id of the the Azure service account	string	-	yes
resource_group	The resource group name where the template will be deployed	string	-	yes
packer_image_name	The name of the customized image	string	-	yes
vm_size	The type of the Azure virtual machine	string	-	yes
azure_tag_dept	Tag to organize your Azure resources	string	-	no
azure_tag_task	Tag to organize your Azure resources	string	-	no
os_type	Azure VM OS type	string	-	yes
image_publisher	Azure VM image publisher	string	-	yes
image_offer	Azure VM image offer	string	-	yes
image_sku	Azure VM image sku	string	-	yes
resource_group_shared_gallery	Shared gallery resource group	string	-	no
gallery_name	Shared image gallery name	string	-	no
image_definition	Shared image gallery image definition	string	-	no
replication_regions	Shared image gallery replication regions	string	-	no
share	Variable to allow the use of Azure shared image gallery	boolean	false	no

GOOGLE

Name	Description	Type	Default	Required
account_file	Google credentials Json file	string	-	yes
project_id	Google project id	string	-	yes
source_image	The source image name	string	-	yes
machine_type	Google VM type name	string	-	yes
gcp_ssh_username	Google ssh username	string	-	yes
zone	Google project zone	string	-	yes
gcp_region	Google project region	string	-	yes
gcp_image_description	Google image tag description	string	-	no
gcp_name_image	Google packer image name	string	-	yes
disk_size	VM storage disk size	string	-	yes
state_timeout	Image building timeout	string	-	no

AMAZON

Name	Description	Type	Default	Required
access_key	Amazon account access key	string	-	yes
secret_key	Amazon account secret key	string	-	yes
ami_name	Amazon image name	string	-	yes
instance_type	Amazon instance type name	string	t2.micro	yes
region	Amazon Region, e.g eu-west-3	string	-	yes
virtualization_type	Amazon virtualization type name	string	-	yes
image_name	Amazon source image name	string	-	yes
root_device_type	Amazon root device type name	string	-	yes
owners	Amazon account id	string	-	yes
aws_ssh_username	Amazon ssh username	string	-	yes
most_recent	The last version of the source image	boolean	-	yes
security_groups	a comma separated lists of security group IDs	string	-	yes
subnet_id	A external subnet id	string	-	yes
vpc_id	VPC ID	string	-	yes

DOCKER

Name	Description	Type	Default	Required
image	Docker source image, e.g centos	string	-	yes
image_tag	Docker source image tag	string	-	yes
commit	Commits the container to an image	boolean	-	yes
postprocessors_type	Docker post processors type name	string	-	yes
docker_repo	Docker hub repository name	string	-	yes
docker_tag	Docker image tag	string	-	yes

Contributing

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Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

You can add another cloud provider or another operating system by following the same structure as bellow:

template_google: #This is the object
  - vm_type_name: google-centos #This is property.It should match with mytemplate variable
    image_type: googlecompute #the builder type name in packer
    account_file: "path_to_your_json_file"
    project_id: imagebuilder
    source_image: centos-7-v20190813
    machine_type: n1-standard-1
    gcp_ssh_username: packer
    zone: europe-west1-b
    gcp_region: europe-west
    gcp_image_description: custom machine image
    gcp_name_image: img-packer
    disk_size: 10
    state_timeout: 20m

Next improvements

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• Add more cloud providers and operating systems.
• Include ssh features for each cloud provider.
• Add uploading files feature.
• Add parallel builder.

Author

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• Amine Kahlaoui, DevOps engineer.

Acknowlegement

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I would like to thank Mr Pincemail Sebastien, DevOps Architect, for helping me to get this project done.