Packer ansible pass variable. But there is a problem when I .

Packer ansible pass variable yml --extra-vars "version=1. Be sure to quote variables if they contain equal signs (for example: "{{var}}"). SSH tunnel your local Vault connection to the VM that your provisioning script runs on. To specify a password for sudo, run ansible-playbook with --ask-become-pass (-K for short). There many different examples for different type of Linux and Windows The Basics: --extra-vars Ansible allows variables to be overridden on the command line using the --extra-vars option. md ├── play. I have created an autoscaling group for Amazon EC2 and I have added my public key when I created the AMI with packer, I can run ansible-playbook and ssh to the hosts. Does anyone have an example? we have about 10 roles and they all are generating configuration file and first run script that goes and pulls down ssl certs from the vault on start up. Input variables are parameters for Packer modules. yml -e '@vault/secrets. You can do either! Oct 11, 2017 · I ended up using win_shell module simply because I was not able to pass %computername% variable in win_find patterns. ] Why extra variables? Why Apr 16, 2021 · My Friday brain is really struggling to convert an Ansible command line into the format my Packer . You cannot define these variables. Avoid variable names that overwrite Jinja2 global functions listed in Working with playbooks, such as lookup, query, q, now, and undef. yml └── roles ├── bootstrap_server │ └── tasks │ └── main. 0) to Ansible (2. ini or ansible. Type: amazon-ebs Artifact BuilderId: mitchellh. Multiple instances can be started from a single AMI with 4 days ago · Ansible Configuration Settings Ansible supports several sources for configuring its behavior, including an ini file named ansible. Otherwise your not passing them but rather just declaring you want to pass the variable. Configure your repository as a source of truth to automatically tag your builds and update your artifact channels. To pass an object requires a giver and receiver. To pass a variable requires a parameter declaration and a usage of the parameter. In this comprehensive 2500+ word guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know as a Linux user to leverage extra vars in your Ansible automation. Dec 1, 2017 · Objective is my provision. Build image with command line flag Ansible defines certain variables internally. Jan 14, 2021 · Overview of the Issue Using multi-line arguments in extra_arguments does not work. Nov 27, 2023 · type Config struct { common. The built-in Windows Firewall is completely disabled at this stage. I have to make a decision based on the input parameter. hcl template. The EC2 inventory script automatically sets up various groups that you can use to refer to hosts. Feb 19, 2014 · The docs strongly recommend against setting the sudo password in plaintext: As a reminder passwords should never be stored in plain text. If you run a playbook utilizing become and the playbook seems to hang, most likely it is stuck at the privilege escalation prompt. So we have planned to use –extra-vars option to pass additional variables as key value pair. // Please note that Packer expects Command to be a path Feb 3, 2020 · Using a JSON file to pass parameters to an Ansible playbook is a great way of testing (parameter-driven) changes to your code without having to worry about your version control system wanting to check in changes to your variable definitions. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible. Learn how to use SSH options to fix this problem. Part of the image creation process involves provisioning the machine, which can be done with a variety of provisioners, including Ansible. Installation To install this plugin, copy and paste this code into your Packer configuration, then run packer init. You can pass the AWS credentials using the packer variable declaration as well. By Oct 28, 2024 · Learn how to include variables in Ansible effectively to customize your configuration and streamline repetitive tasks with these examples. Turns out the simplest configuration was the one that worked, there were multiple variables at play: ansible-remote uses a local proxy, so the connection must go to 127. Variable blocks declare the variable name (ami_prefix), the data type (string), and the default value (learn-packer-linux-aws-redis). I’ve been exploring DevOps tooling for immutable Examples, Tips and notes. By May 20, 2024 · Mastering Packer: A Comprehensive Guide to Automated Machine Image Creation Introduction to Packer What is Packer? Packer is an open-source tool designed by HashiCorp for creating identical Use the HCL2 syntax for your Packer templates. Jan 23, 2016 · I see that files can supply variables to Ansible through the command line using --extra-vars "@some_file. Nov 22, 2017 · The ansible Packer provisioner runs Ansible playbooks. There are a number of reasons you might want to move tasks into separate files when using Ansible: Refactoring - chop up unfeasibly large playbooks into smaller files to make them easier to comprehend Conditionally including tasks - you may wish to run groups of tasks conditionally based on some host-specific The Packer tool itself honors the standard env vars of HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY. I need that script to do the following: Get a Windows AVD image from the Azur… Jan 5, 2023 · Note: If you are setting up Packer on your workstation for debugging or testing purposes, you need the AWS access and secret keys for Packer to interact with AWS services. When your templates are generic and accept user variables, you can pass variables to the Packer template via the command line. I tried something like "provisioners": { "type": "shell 2 I have a harness to build VMs using Packer that in turn calls Ansible (in local mode) to do the heavy lifting. hcl file with source and other sections where I want to use variables defined in another file like this May 3, 2016 · 66 I want to use Ansible as part of another Python software. stdout_lines can be used in combication with the archive module to tar the files in result? Thanks in advance. yml This is the related yml snippet: The Ansible multi-component plugin can be used with HashiCorp Packer to create custom images. I need to pass the variable to packer code via playbook so Im passing through extra arguments like below: command: “packer build -var ‘parameter1=test’ -var ‘parame… Type: ansible-local The ansible-local Packer provisioner will execute ansible in Ansible's "local" mode on the remote/guest VM using Playbook and Role files that exist on the guest VM. 4 days ago · Working with dynamic inventory Inventory script example: Cobbler Other inventory scripts Using inventory directories and multiple inventory sources Static groups of dynamic groups If your Ansible inventory fluctuates over time, with hosts spinning up and shutting down in response to business demands, the static inventory solutions described in How to build your inventory will not serve your Sep 29, 2024 · In this article, we discussed how to pass a variable to an Ansible playbook from the command line using the -e option of ansible-playbook. // Please note that Packer expects Command to be a path Jul 12, 2021 · How to pass password to Ansible from environment variable There is an idea that passing secrets via environment variables is more safe, than passing it via command line. Jun 24, 2021 · With Ansible, users have the flexibility to accept external input while executing their Ansible playbooks without changing the Ansible playbook content. Use the `shell` provisioner to install and configure software on a machine. pck. Here is an example play: The `ssh` communicator establishes an SSH connection so that Packer can perform actions, such as upload files and execute scripts, on the machine it creates. cfg, environment variables, command-line options, playbook keywords, and variables. json file as a template for its build process. I want to send { {host}} value using packer build or using packer variable. Variable values can be set in several ways Nov 12, 2019 · What's the correct approach for handling the need for host bounded variables in packer and its ansible provisioner? Packer uses ansible provisioner but for CentOS8 / RHEL8 it must set ansible_python_interpreter on the CentOS8 host to the platform-python. Here are the steps: 1. 04 cloud image in my example but it needs modifying for the example to work due to this other bug hashicorp/packer-plugin-virtualbox#108 but I expect any base image will work given the problem is in the ansible builder. The `env` function retrieves environment values for input variables. Nov 29, 2024 · Ansible-playbook hangs can be caused by high latency and long-running tasks. Ansible is then run on the guest machine in local mode Oct 22, 2013 · This is for @kelseyhightower and the ansible-local provisioner: ansible-playbook has an option to pass extra variables along from the command line: -e EXTRA_VARS, --extra-vars=EXTRA_VARS set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON Nov 29, 2018 · I have one variable in ansible script like - host: { {host}} I want to send { {host}} variable value from packer script. Make sure to add this variable to Packer’s sensitive_variables list. Here's what we're doing in a nutshell: The base shell script installs Ansible The ansible builder uploads the Ansible files to the server and runs them on the server Ansible-local runs them locally within the server. Discover how to configure and troubleshoot Ansible sudo password issues, ensuring your playbooks run seamlessly with the necessary permissions. May 31, 2019 · If you’re running your Production Virtual machines in AWS, chances are you’ve encountered scenarios where you need to build your custom Amazon Machine Images (AMI). May 20, 2024 · Mastering Packer: A Comprehensive Guide to Automated Machine Image Creation Introduction to Packer What is Packer? Packer is an open-source tool designed by HashiCorp for creating identical Packer user variables allow your templates to be further configured with variables from the command-line, environment variables, Vault, or files. g. May 20, 2016 · I am trying to pass a single variable from Packer (0. domain-name. Nov 24, 2018 · From the top of the ansible provisioner documentation: The ansible Packer provisioner runs Ansible playbooks. hcl, without the need to pass the file via the command line. json - main config file for production environment vars/default. To achieve this, the plugin comes with multiple builders, data sources, and a post-processor to build the AMI depending on the strategy you want to use. json I am able to get the user variable in json file however I am unable to pass it provision script. After playing with some of them, I decided that Ansible was a good mix of The easiest way should be to set a user variable from the build command and pass this variables from packer to the shell provisioner script which detects the value of the user variable and calls the appropriate provisioner script e. This post will be focused setting up Ansible so that I can setup my development environment just the way I like it. Packer will Dec 10, 2019 · Using Dynamic Inventory for Better Ansible Provisioning with Packer and WinRM I wrote this blog real quick, errors may exist, YMMV. aws/credentials. If I run this playbook without extra vars: ` Feb 23, 2021 · Retrieve the secret in your Packer template and pass it to your script as an env-var. Contribute to maroskukan/packer-cookbook development by creating an account on GitHub. Instead of using the --vault-password-file command line option, you can use the ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE environment variable. 8. If you would like to provide a more complex command, // for example, something that sets up a virtual environment before calling // ansible, take a look at the ansible wrapper guide below for inspiration. Mar 3, 2017 · Cloud DevOps: Using Packer, Ansible/SSH and AWS command line tools to create and DBA manage EC2 Cassandra instances in AWS. When I add the file on the command line like this: ansible-playbook myplay. yml. Some of the most important ones being the connection credentials to vsphere. The most common method is passing a space-separated list of key=value pairs. I’m a beginner and ready to tackle regex I really appreciate your help. Feb 26, 2017 · You can then run ansible-playbook with –ask-vault-pass, so yaml var files will get decrypted on the fly when running the playbook. Jun 11, 2021 · Converting Packer templates from json to HCL for Packer version 1. This feature is available when using the Ansible CLI or Ansible Tower. ControlPersist and paramiko By default, Ansible uses native OpenSSH, because it supports ControlPersist (a performance feature), Kerberos, and options in ~/. Jul 26, 2023 · Hi @smaruyama this sounds like a bug with the plugin loading logic introduced in version 1. 6 Simplified Packer Buildfile I'm using the Ubuntu 22. Is it possible to do both? And if so The ansible-local Packer provisioner will execute ansible in Ansible's "local" mode on the remote/guest VM using Playbook and Role files that exist on the guest VM. Jan 2, 2006 · 1 Based on my test, the pipeline variables indeed couldn't pass to the powershell environment variable. For the full list of available features for this plugin see docs. These can be set in GitLab’s CI/CD variables at the project or group level and things just work. yml - default variables passed to Ansible vars/prod. But how can I include this encrypted variables file in inventory. But there is a problem when I May 9, 2023 · Variable Block This would define some variables that we can pass in during invocation either in the command line or using a variable file. What is WinRM? WinRM Setup Enumerate Listeners Create Listener Remove Listener WinRM Authentication Basic Certificate NTLM Kerberos and Negotiate CredSSP Non-Administrator Accounts WinRM Encryption HTTPS Certificate The Vagrant Ansible provisioner allows you to provision the guest using Ansible playbooks by executing "ansible-playbook" from the Vagrant host. Make your Vault server accessible to the VM that your provisioning script runs on. Jan 17, 2020 · In this case I would think that your ansible playbook would have to be setup to read the values from the environment variable {{ lookup('env','VERSION') }}. This maximizes the portability of the template. sh should accept input parameter which I send during packer build. 0) and am having no luck. Surely knowing how to reference the variables passed in part of knowing how to pass parameters. Note, this means that any remote 4 days ago · Connection methods and details This section shows you how to expand and refine the connection methods Ansible uses for your inventory. ovf) into the build. Sometimes I use Ansible together with other tools under the same repository. 7 ansible 2. Nov 25, 2024 · Automatic template creation with Packer and deployment with Ansible in a VMware vSphere environment Knowledge: Complexity: Reading time: 30 minutes Prerequisites, Assumptions, and General Notes A vSphere environment is available, and a user with granted access An internal web server to store files Web access to the Rocky Linux repositories An ISO of Rocky Linux An Ansible environment is 5 # Helps clear issues of not finding Ansible package, 6 # perhaps due to updates running when server is first spun up 7 sleep 10 Type: vsphere-iso Artifact BuilderId: jetbrains. You can learn more about how to do this as well as about Ansible in general by reading Managing Windows Server with Ansible. Mar 11, 2023 · When it comes to troubleshooting HashiCorp’s Packer builds, Packer offers 2 ways: More detailed logging that’s activated by setting the PACKER_LOG environment variable to a value that’s not "" nor 0 -> PACKER_LOG=1 and Running Packer build in debug mode with packer build -debug The good: this is ideal for remote builds with cloud providers like Amazon Web Services AMIs The bad: disables The Amazon plugin can be used with HashiCorp Packer to create custom images on AWS. That‘s where Ansible extra vars come in handy! Extra vars allow you to parameterize your playbooks by passing dynamic variables at runtime. when trying to use extra-vars i'm getting a error of on nginx. . I can pass an external variables files and also a simple variable such as the example below. sh: Aug 17, 2021 · I'm trying to figure out how to pass values from a packer var-file to a ansible playbook. However, in order to use these proxies with Ansible (for use during package installation or binary download), we need to pass them via JSON 4 days ago · Windows Remote Management Unlike Linux/Unix hosts, which use SSH by default, Windows hosts are configured with WinRM. Oct 25, 2016 · Keep templates as generic as possible, and use User Variables. Reproduction Steps I have the following Ansible provisioner block: When the --extra-vars arguments are arranged as Jul 18, 2019 · The Ansible script is being executed as part of a Packer template by using the "ansible_local" provisioner and specifying the playbook . ├── README. Variable values can be set in several ways Feb 3, 2020 · Using a JSON file to pass parameters to an Ansible playbook is a great way of testing (parameter-driven) changes to your code without having to worry about your version control system wanting to check in changes to your variable definitions. This lets you parameterize your templates so that you can keep secret tokens, environment-specific data, and other types of information out of your templates. json wants. This is to enable you to troubleshoot the build by manually SSH'ing into the instance. json For environment variables we need to set them with a PKR_VAR prefix e. Packer-by-example is a collection of Scripts, Ansible, Makefiles and Packer files to help build images in the Public Cloud. 1 in playbook. puppet, salt, Mar 14, 2014 · In my previous post on provisioning a development environment with Packer I walked through getting a server setup with an operating system installed. More specifically, the PKR_VAR prefix is needed to tell Packer that it is an environment variable it should know about, but when you reference the variable you have to drop the PKR_VAR prefix. Could you enable debug logging to see if it is discover PACKER_LOg=1 packer build main. They provide the means to run the same playbook in multiple scenarios without extensive modifications. Dec 11, 2014 · Thanks! I cant get it to behave as a ‘normal’ list though, so obviously I’m doing something wrong. 5 has not been officially released, please clone the Ansible repo from GitHub and checkout to the devel branch. The Ansible: ansible-playbook playbook. packer build -var role=abc test. Ansible-remote would run them on the host server via SSH. Make sure you have the AWS access keys set on the file ~/. json", or variables can be set in strings as key=value. yml -e @env/users/user01. Apr 3, 2020 · Prior to making my ansible call I have uploaded and run the ConfigureRemotingForAnsible. Sep 29, 2024 · In this article, we discussed how to pass a variable to an Ansible playbook from the command line using the -e option of ansible-playbook. Provisioners: ansible - The Packer provisioner runs Ansible playbooks. auto. This means Ansible must be installed on the remote/guest VM. The easiest thing to do is try the automated conversion: packer hcl2_upgrade -output-file=template-converted. Packer will start the VM using this OVF file. DigitalOcean The `winrm` communicator establishes a WinRM connection, letting Packer upload files or execute scripts on the machine it creates. 0. [ Download now: A system administrator's guide to IT automation. Sep 17, 2025 · Files: build. Instead you should be using --ask-become-pass on the command line when running ansible-playbook. Is there a way to pass the user / pass of the SSH connection to the Ansible ad-hoc command or write it in any file in encrypted way? Or do i understand it all wrong, and the only way to do it is with SSH certification? Nov 15, 2025 · Packer lets us create machine images for a variety of platforms through code. vsphere This builder starts from a guest operating system ISO file and builds a virtual machine image on a vSphere cluster or an ESXi host using the vSphere API. In most cases, you can use the short plugin name winrm. Also, by any chance the values in results. Apr 19, 2023 · I would like to take a variable that's defined in a variable file in packer and pass it into Ansible. in that software I have a hosts list with their user / password. Learn how to use the provisioner with WinRM and SSH communicators. Simple variables Simple variables combine a variable name with a single value. Learn how to correctly set a variable as a `list` in Packer when using Ansible, and avoid common pitfalls with step-by-step guidance! ---more This page introduces input variables and local variables as a way to parameterize a configuration. May 20, 2025 · Thank you. Sep 25, 2020 · Packer a Complete Guide with Example What is Packer? Packer is easy to use and automates the creation of any type of machine image. ": you can pass a JSON formatted string to extra-vars. SO far the template has worked and now I am trying to add PowerShell provisioner to the template to download a script from github & then run it during the provisioning process. It is not mandatory to have a credentials file. Nov 25, 2024 · Rather than having to hard code values into the ansible. You can override the values of input variables at run time using command line Dec 4, 2021 · What is Packer? Packer is an Open Source tool that can be used to create identical images Tagged with tutorial, gitlab. 1 (hosts: 127. yml - Ansible playbook for provisioning vars/prod. Oct 3, 2022 · What I can do is combine our normal Ansible automation pipeline with Packer and pre-build the cloud instances so they already have the application installed, and are configured and ready to go as soon as it boots. 45 " Where as ansible_env_vars are environment variables that will get set before calling Ansible. This article is useful for developers and DevOps/DBA staff who want to create AWS AMI images and manage those EC2 instances with Ansible. Feb 3, 2022 · The filenamepath is found by the . PackerConfig `mapstructure:",squash"` // The command to invoke ansible. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the process of setting up AWS Systems Manager (SSM) and HashiCorp Packer, with two different approaches: one using Ansible and one without. This builder builds an AMI by launching an EC2 instance from a Jun 24, 2021 · I don't follow why you're escaping the " inside of a ' string, but you will want to switch away from the KEY=VALUE syntax because in that form, ansible splits on whitespace -- by leading with the { it informs ansible that the --extrav-vars is in fact JSON and stops using the key-value parser Run ad-hoc commands with --ask-pass to prompt for SSH passwords Use --ask-become-pass to prompt for sudo passwords in playbooks Store SSH and sudo passwords in inventory as variables for automation Fix common issues like timeouts and privilege failures Automating passwords makes Ansible much less disruptive and more convenient to use daily. cfg it is possible to entirely use ENV variables. 9. This way you can pass multiple variables to Jinja2 Include statement - (by splitting variables by comma inside With statement): {% with var_1=123, var_2="value 2", var_3=500 %} I have my directory structure as this . When you run with the -debug flag this ephemeral key is saved into the current working directory. enc with some credential definitions. Contribute to vmware/packer-examples-for-vsphere development by creating an account on GitHub. It's designed to work with CI/CD systems such as Travis CI, CircleCI and Jenkins, or even at your console. The Ansible plugin allows users to execute as a provisioner during a Packer build. The warning message as you said indicates that the bundled version of Docker is being loaded and not the custom plugin sitting in the current directory. Heads up, I solved the problem. Learn how to use the `file` provisioner and about the Packer provisioner workflow. Automate and scale Packer builds across your organization with Packer, HCP Packer, and GitHub actions. Prerequisites Before we begin, ensure you have the following: An AWS account with appropriate permissions AWS CLI installed and configured Packer is a tool that lets you create identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source template. The `shell` Packer provisioner runs shell scripts on the machine Packer builds. Playbooks and Roles can be uploaded from your build machine (the one running Packer) to the vm. builtin. hcl file with: variable "iam_role" { type hello, I am writing a Packer template which will provision an AMI image in AWS. 23. JSON files provide a clean and structured alternative. Apr 6, 2019 · This article explains the process of automating configuration and change management using Packer to build machine image & Ansible as a provisioner to the Packer script. Packer Examples for vSphere. If your control machine uses an older version of OpenSSH that does Apr 22, 2021 · First, create a YAML file in vars/ folder (it can be in any folder, host_vars or group_vars are also valid, depending of what type of variables you're keeping) containing your variables. We’ll also cover the setup of the necessary IAM instance profile. You can use this syntax, and the syntax for lists and dictionaries shown below, in a variety of The easiest way should be to set a user variable from the build command and pass this variables from packer to the shell provisioner script which detects the value of the user variable and calls the appropriate provisioner script e. Set the value in Json file. ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD to provide the encryption password for Ansible Vault? Solution Create a file as a Shell script, e. json - main file with configuration for packer playbook. Learn how to debug issues with Packer builds and plugins using `packer build`, logs, and other troubleshooting tools. This topic covers how to configure and use WinRM with Ansible. 5 or devel The packer-windoze repo cloned down to a local folder As of writing this, Ansible 2. For information on encrypting your passwords and other secrets with Ansible Vault, see Encrypting content with Ansible Vault. ps1 script which completes successfully. yml --ask-vault --ask- To answer your first question, "How can I pass YAML array to --extra-vars in Ansible playbook. ssh/config such as Jump Host setup. I'd like to be able to parameters to Packer (got that), which is passes to Ansible as extra vars. I'm going to close this issue as it has been resolved. In the below example, I am passing the source path for the base image (C:\packer\output-window2012r2-basewin2012r2-base. It will pass information into it to cloud-init via an attached floppy disk as defined in packer. export PKR_VAR_IAM_ROLE=jonny-test Then that can be defined in the template. Feb 25, 2016 · We have an requirement to pass the host variables defined in a file under host_vars directory as an argument to the ansible playbook. Learn how to use the input variable syntax for Packer templates written in HCL. key But what you wrote above looks more elegant I think. yml ├── create_new_user │ └── tasks │ 4 days ago · Note This connection plugin is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. enc' --ask-vault-pass it works perfectly. However, for extensive variables, this can become unwieldy and error-prone. The `powershell` Packer provisioner runs PowerShell scripts on Windows machines. Can you help me find the magic syntax? - hosts: somehost vars: - container_commands: ops_registry_1: -e SOMEVAR='122' -e bla='123' -e another='1233' - container_name: ops_registry_1 tasks: - name: run docker Dec 5, 2024 · I have a vault file in vault/secrets. Inside the file, you need to define provisioners, builders, and post-processors (at a minimum) which will help build, configure, and compress and save your VM image. On accessing the in-progress VM build I can see that it has created a cert and configured WinRM, with WinRM listening on Ports 5985 and 5986. vault. Stop it with CTRL-c, then execute the playbook with -K and the appropriate password. Nov 19, 2015 · The trick is to use Ansible's group variable mechanisms to automatically pass along the correct SSH key file for the machine you're working with. yml - variables to pass to Ansible for production environment Jan 17, 2020 · The extra_arguments config, as you specified above, is what you are looking for. It embraces modern configuration management by encouraging you Jul 22, 2023 · Windows VM: Passing HCL variables to PowerShell script that has required parameters I am trying to pass variable values to a Packer script. 7. Is it possible to pass through the current user as a v… Nov 23, 2017 · Ansible >= 2. Workaround: You could try to use the Replace Token task to pass the pipeline value to Json file. Mar 14, 2014 · In my previous post on provisioning a development environment with Packer I walked through getting a server setup with an operating system installed. The ask is really quite simple, in the variable file I define a number of items. Jan 4, 2024 · You can use the Ansible include_tasks module to import tasks from other files. The export command can be used to temporarily define the ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE environment variable. An AMI provides the information required to launch an instance, which may include Base Operating system, application dependencies, and other runtime libraries required. Learn about arguments and blocks, comments, and multi-line strings. Defaults to // `ansible-playbook`. hcl? Locally, I am able to reproduce the issue it finds Packer user variables allow your templates to be further configured with variables from the command-line, environment variables, Vault, or files. This can be done via the ability to pass extra variables to an Ansible playbook. /packer-build-image. 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. Jun 5, 2015 · The expanded answer helped me. After playing with some of them, I decided that Ansible was a good mix of Ansible defines certain variables internally. Learn how to use the `env` function in Packer templates. Let's call it vars/git-data. Note: Any remote_user defined in tasks will be ignored. Aug 11, 2021 · I’m wondering how I can pass a ansible variables file to the Ansible provisioner? I’m trying to avoid having to define 80 variables in the extra-args part of the provider. cfg, so that I don’t need to add it on each CLI invocation? I tried setting vars_files, but could Jun 11, 2015 · Ansible expects a dictionary of groups (each group having a list of hosts, and group variables in the group's vars dictionary), and a _meta dictionary that stores host variables for all hosts individually (inside a hostvars dictionary). winrm for easy linking to the plugin documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same connection plugin name. pkr. puppet, salt, Packer will automatically load any variable file that matches the name *. Although this article is part of a series about setting up the Cassandra Database images and doing DevOps/DBA with Cassandra clusters Packer templates can be parameterized using variables. hcl here : Nov 4, 2021 · In this note i will show how to make the ansible-playbook command prompt for a password at a runtime and how to pass the password non-interactively during automated deployment. There are several formats that we can use with the -e option. Oftentimes, you may well be provisioning Packer images for that same Ansible workstation; in this lab, we'll explore how to use your existing Ansible setup to provision your Mar 13, 2021 · Although Ansible with packer always connects as the default user, my scripts have a need to refer to that user as a var, which is different for the multiple builds. amazonebs The amazon-ebs Packer builder is able to create Amazon AMIs backed by EBS volumes for use in EC2. May 27, 2020 · The use of environment variables with HCL can be a little tricky because they are referenced differently from what they are named. Packer supports many different methods for provisioning. All arguments passed to extra_arguments will be passed to the the Ansible command at run `ansible-playbook sample. You can use this syntax, and the syntax for lists and dictionaries shown below, in a variety of The `file` Packer provisioner uploads files to machines built by Packer. hcl line Mar 31, 2014 · Vagrant VirtualBox Packer Ansible Setting up a Packer JSON template Packer uses a simple . See Controlling how Ansible behaves: precedence rules for details on the relative precedence of each source. Then, encrypt it using Vault with: Jul 30, 2025 · type Config struct { common. While the variable type and default values are optional, we recommend you define these attributes when creating new variables. sh and exported as an environment variable CENTOS_VBOX_ISO_TO_OVF_FILENAMEPATH into Packer. Jun 23, 2013 · Issue 1: Setting environmental variables differs widely between Windows and Unix, and while Packer doesn't fully support Windows right now, I want it to, so I don't want to add features that make it not work on Windows. pkrvars. It dynamically creates an Ansible inventory file configured to use SSH, runs an SSH server, executes ansible-playbook, and marshals Ansible plays through the SSH server to the machine being provisioned by Packer. Packer can create golden images to use in image pipelines. I just stumbled onto ansible facts and this seems to also work in the “/path” statement path: /tmp/ { { ansible_facts [‘hostname’] }}. If these variables are set and exported, they will be honored if Packer needs to download an ISO during a build. 2. Apr 17, 2023 · Hi, I’m trying to use packer using ansible playbook. May 27, 2015 · A variable inserted a new parameter into the module args. Ansible Vault Encryption Password from Environment Variable Problem How to use an Environment Variable (EnvVar) e. Jan 23, 2024 · I am new to packer and need help to understand the variables usage so I have a main build. 10. yml) to connect to the remote host, or do the opposite and set use_proxy = false for ansible provisioner and set hosts: all in playbook. Previous versions of Ansible have Dec 21, 2019 · Unless Packer is given a private SSH with the ssh_private_key_file Packer creates an ephemeral that is only kept in memory while Packer is running. Become connection variables You can define different become options for each managed May 19, 2023 · Plugin and Packer version Packer v1. wxirr lvvbkb wqxdv wnvl azh gvswsy dzi brvij yair myij vszxqd djk jyljzs axuxikz lsb