Packer is just a single executable file that can be placed in any folder and executed from there. Open Source – Packer is an open-source software which means it is completely free to use which makes it, even more, a must to try out.īefore we get into the how-to of using Packer, are you interested in other awesome automation content for VMware? Check out our latest eBook – PowerCLI: An Aspiring Automaters Guide! How to Install Packer.This allows us to store our template configuration in source control which provides easier management and tracking against all changes made to templates. Infrastructure as Code for Templates – Packer allows IT pro’s to take their template builds and define it in code.Automated Template Management – Instead of manually running Windows Updates on templates each month, the entire process can now be automated and a Packer image rebuild can be run on a scheduled task.Faster Deployments – Including as much as possible into the image build instead of running a customization script upon deployment creates a much faster VM deployment.This greatly reduces the time spent on maintaining images for each environment as well as ensures that each image is consistent. Platform Agnostic– Packer can be used to deploy the same image and configuration to not only VMware environments, but also public cloud providers like AWS and Azure as well.Using Packer in your VMware environment can provide the following benefits: It automates the process of standing up a completely fresh VM and incorporates custom build scripts to customize the VM on the fly and then convert back to a template to use for deployments in either the cloud or on-premise. With the rise of hybrid cloud environments, it is quickly becoming one of the top recommended utilities for managing multiple VM images for each platform under one tool. Packer is an application created by Hashicorp that gives IT Pros the ability to automate their VM template builds.

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