Packer user variables This is documented here:. I use this simplified version to stress that the problem is at the template file parsing phase, not to distract that fact with glory details. Related topics Topic Replies Views Activity; Using codebuild variables in packer properties. Lets take a In order to set a user variable, you must define it either within the variable definition of your template, or using the command-line -var or -var-file flags. You can overwrite these variables in the file, in a variable file or via commandline. json variable set to packer, depending on what's changing (for example, I have a base_config-us-west-1. As of v1. pkr. The use of environment variables with HCL can be a little tricky because they are referenced differently from what they are named. 7, HCL2 support is no longer in beta, and is the preferred way to write Packer configuration. hcl. Input variables may have defaults, but those defaults can be overridden using command line options, environment variables, or variable It is missing variable declaration. 2. Path }}". The logs contain log messages from Packer as well as any plugins that are being used. Feature Request packer validate foo. // Packer will wait for a default of 5 minutes until the virtual machine is shutdown. (the background ot this variable packer_ip is: i run packer in a container and . HTTPIP }}, {{ . Whilst the question is not very clear I surmise from the title that you wish to run a PowerShell script under packer passing parameters to it. If the default value is null, then the user variable will be required. It seems that generic function should now be usable from the variables block to help code reuse, especially with how many resource names th type Config struct { shell. REPL commands. Please let me know if renaming the file works as expected for you. json template. What is the format of the JSON file to accomplish this? You signed in with another tab or window. It would be nic type CloneConfig struct { // The name of the source virtual machine to clone. $ packer build -var-file=var-file. If I changed packer build command and pass a folder path where files are I get an error: Error: Undefined -var variable A "client_id" variable was passed in the command line but was not found in known variables. json. {{ env `my_var` }} becomes ${var. So I'm trying to use Packer to create an AWS image and specify some user data via user_data_file. variable "instance_type" {} # and base_ami_region if you want to use it in hcl file variable "base_ami_region" {} Variable blocks declare the variable name (docker_image), the data type (string), and the default value (ubuntu:jammy). All examples are authored in the HashiCorp Configuration Language ("HCL2"). Objective is my provision. object it would just need to set the user variable metadata to an object so it could be used by object types in the packer. By allowing environment variables only within default values for input variables, input variables remain as the single source of input to a template that a user can easily discover You can use the env variables in the packer file. 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. This would be helpful when I want to switch to a different version of RHEL for instance, would love to see interpolated user variables at some point. hcl extension to have the variable file auto-loaded upon running packer build . If I am using HCL template, what method should I be using to access secrets from AWS Secrets Manager? I’d like to retrieve the secret and set an environment variable MY_SECRET with the value of the secret? There are multiple documents referencing examples on how to retrieve secrets but I am a bit confused on the difference between locals, function Packer variables allow you re-use same Packer template file multiple times within different vSphere environments. Packer does support this but only for inline scripts. Since I need to now the RDS instance URL when starting the EC2 instance, I tried to read them inside the user_data script and set them as environment variables. 4. As a workaround, you could first generate a JSON -var-file using values from your environment, and then provide that file to Packer during the build process. json -var-file env. Alternatively you can add the auto. Name }} within the boot_command string. Redistributable license Clone my repo here -> GitHub — mikaelrepo/packer. I am trying to migrate my docker builds to Packer 1. 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. In this case, you would obtain the ids from the This of course implies that each service template has variable declarations for each of the variables it needs to load from the shared variables fie. mod file . My app tries to read these environment variables and can connect to the db. Packer HCL2 supports environment variables through input variables. 5/HCL2 (in the hope so I can split up the single monolithic scripts and share the provisioners between my other scripts building ami images). Defaults to false. This is a specific convention that the previous person apparently used to stub default arguments with useless values for whatever reason (perhaps to validate Packer templates without inputting variables or variable files, or for some other reason). Operating system and Environment details. Usage What I am trying to do is create an AMI instance with a packer for which I am writing the above script as a provisioner. You aren't referencing those defined variables elsewhere in your config -- in your shell provisioner you're trying to access the env variables again instead of using the user variables that you defined at the top of your config from the env variables. In the previous part of this series we had a look on building a bare Debian VM with the bare minimum packages installed to run a web server. Now I need to do the same but for a server with multiple disks. the vault function is available only within the default value of a user variable, However, the output of the newly stored local variable will be filtered from the Packer build output, and replaced with the value <sensitive>. hcl extension and there is docker builder in it, and it fails the same way. Now we want to take this a step further and we're trying to configure a couple of user I have AWS_ACCESS_KEY and AWS_SECRET_KEY key/value pairs defined in my environment (I see them via env command on same terminal I run Packer), and I want Packer to use them in a build script. hcl), you cannot use other variables to define a variable. The easiest thing to do is try the automated conversion: packer hcl2_upgrade -output-file=template-converted. User variables Variables can be easily added to the packer script by adding following JSON. This is a way of running Packer with a more restrictive set of permissions than your user. Could packer make these pre-defined variables able to be inserted into strings during user variable declaration? Some of the packer template variables can take a list, for eg: ami_regions. The packer box template file: **template. It will also use the default credential lookup strategy used This is the default VMX template used if no other template is given. 2 Packer doesn't allow variables to be interpolated into other variables. A lot of these variables are required for the build but do not have default values. hcl), you can use existing variables to define new variables as described in daks' answer. DiskSize int64 `mapstructure:"disk_size"` // Create the virtual machine as a If I were to use any of my variables in the builders, I cannot check for them being set. In this case packer will search for environment variables starting with PKR_VAR_, e. iso packerio. packer build -var "iso_url=c:\debian. 11 and is the official dependency management solution for Go. If you can save and retrieve your root password from your Secret Manager tool, you can do a script, I'd recommend you to use your CI/CD pipelines if you have one, to pull the root password from your Secrets Manager and Inject it in your KS file You must still have one of the valid credential resources explained above, and your user must have permission to assume the role in question. Therefore, you may use user variables and template functions in this field. The env function is available only within the default value of a user variable, allowing you to default a user variable to an environment variable. 0 User variable in the ami. Variables: Variables block contains any user provided variables that packer uses to create image. Template string `mapstructure:"template"` // The size of the disk in MB. // -> **Note:** Only the primary disk size can be specified. Which is When filing a bug, please include the following headings if possible. "PACKER-DEMO-1. This can be useful for setting variables in a script or CI/CD pipeline. However if I move them to separate JSON file and pass -var-file myfile. In this video series we will take deep dive into automation with Hashicorp Packer. I’ve now got the same packer build in my gitlab environment and set to run on a local runner as a scheduled pipeline. Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. variables - prints a list of all variables read into the console from the -var option, -var-files option, and template. Vars }} // can be used to inject I have a Packer build that I am using to create Golden Templates in a vSphere environment. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. HTTPPort), but I’m not sure how to substitute user variables in the same way. json or. This only means that packer can access them in the template with {{user `aws_access_key`}}. This helps our maintainers find and focus on the active issues. You switched accounts on another tab or window. Builder implementation that builds Oracle Bare Metal Cloud Services (OCI) images. Note: The packer. Use Case(s) Being able to utilize standard env vars from your system without having to set some packer specific environment variable such as PKR_VAR_BLAH would be more than beneficial. Where template_name comes from the same variables yml-file where the boot_command is defined (and could be hardcoded, no problem) and packer_ip comes from outside via -var. I wish I could tell Packer: "This variable can be set through command line, or environment, but it has to be set one way or another!" Just to recap, I am not suggesting changing Packer's way of handling user variables in a backward incompatible way. However, the value of a user variables will default to a blank string if the referenced environment variable is not set. I am struggling to pass input parameter to packer provisioning script. But in your build (e. I have tried various options but no joy. If you have found a problem that seems similar to this, please open a new issue and complete the issue template so we can capture all the details necessary to investigate further. So basically I If this is set to `true`, Packer // *will not* halt the virtual machine but will assume that the VM will shut itself down // when it's done, via the preseed. HTTP Binding¶. Go template functions. exit - exits the console. A good way to solve this is to create an EC2 Instance Profile which is authorised to access the EFS api and reference it with iam_instance_profile. // // If undefined, the value will either be `1`, or the product of // `sockets * cores * threads` // // If this is defined in conjunction with any topology specifier (sockets, // cores and/or threads), the smallest of the two will be used. 2) I am trying to make the variables. Packer. HTTPIP is just an internal ip which cannot be seen by the VM/the http client) Packer injects some environmental variables by default into the environment, as well, which are covered in the section below. // Either `clone_vm` or `clone_vm_id` must be specifed. I am trying to use a vagrantfile. Reload to refresh your session. hcl file as well as any values then set for those variables in the user variables file. In this part we will have a look on how we can improve our packer script with user variables and how to use the file and shell provisioner. UserData string `mapstructure:"user_data" required:"false"` // Path to a file that will be used for the user data when launching the // instance. packer version: 0. Could you test writing only the value of variable system_name directly to see if Packer is able to interpolate {{user 'environment'}}? Like: i’m trying to pass multi string variable in variable file (var. Packer version. This is extremely helpful if we want to use same JSON template to build images on different vCenter servers I recommend going with the last version since Json escaping soon gets tricky for even very short scripts. This function can be used in any value but type within the template: in builders, You can use input variables to serve as parameters for a Packer build, allowing aspects of the build to be customized without altering Packer template. There are multiple ways use variables with Packer Templates. 1-{{user `app_name` }}", Build Proxmox templates with Packer. main file (packer. Overview of the Issue Jenkins sets AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY and AWS_ACCESS_Key shell variables and exports them Packer c Local variables assign a name to an expression that you can use multiple times There are two kinds of variables in HCL Packer templates: Input variables, sometimes simply called , for referencing user input data within a data source is to use the variable block. Consul and Vault: Variables can Learn how to use environment variables when running Packer that configure global behaviors. var. exe instead of powershell. g. User variables are key/value strings that defines user variables included in packer template file. 6. " Packer is easy to use and automates the creation of any type of machine image. g. - hashicorp/packer Skip to content Navigation Menu Variables in the Packer template. I’m building a google compute image with Packer and Ansible-Remote provisioner. The different between each AMI is configured by passing a different base-config. In the HCL2 Packer templates, we must always pre-define our variables in the HCL equivalent of the "variables" stanza. Hi, good question! Unfortunately, split won’t work on user variables because the template engine can’t nest functions. In order to avoid this and make the timestamp consistent across all plugins, set it as a user variable and then access the user variable within your plugins. Packer will not // automatically wait for a user script to finish before shutting down the // instance this must be handled in a provisioner. User variables must first be defined in a variables section within your template. I Hi @brianpham thanks for reaching out. json build-hh-jenkins-prod-base. User variables allow to pass different parameters to Packer template file. The following is an example where instead of providing hard-coded values, you can take input from the user when executing the code. path. Additional // disks are not supported. json). type QemuSMPConfig struct { // The number of virtual cpus to use when building the VM. However, per-instance data can be passed in through Packer user variables, which can be passed on the command line: $ packer build \ -var 'aws_access_key=foo' \ -var 'aws_secret_key=bar' \ template. We didn't really consider using it for user variables, since you can always just create another user variable in your variables I am building a custom AMI in AWS using packer and bash + salt provisioning. // // If the cpu count is the only thing specified, qemu's The proper way to do this is described at the JSON template user variables page. There are two kinds of variables in HCL Packer templates: Input User variables allow your templates to be further configured with variables from the command-line, environment variables, or files. Defaults to `false`. It is not possible right now to specify the regions to copy an AMI to as a user variable. Even if you want a user variable to default to an This page introduces input variables and local variables as a way to parameterize a configuration. exe. iterationID variable is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Packer. If you want a vm_name key to have a value like "win2019 + imagename" it should be something like: { "variables": Using codebuild variables in packer properties. json template to the file in user_data_file. pkr files, such as variables. However the user variables do not seem to w Packer injects some environmental variables by default into the environment, as well, which are covered in the section below }}"{{ . cfg or your final provisioner. lock-passwd: false solves this. It's been a few years - wondering if this is entering the road map any time soon. hcl with correct user info into ubuntu_user and ubuntu_user_secret variables, plain text; run command mkpasswd --method=SHA-512 --rounds=4096 to get hash, paste into user-data, line 26, replacing hashed password info; make sure to update the user info in user-data as well; if using ssh key instead of password, look ast This is the default VMX template used if no other template is given. DiskSize int64 `mapstructure:"disk_size"` // Create VM as a linked clone from latest snapshot. hcl2_upgrade will do its best to transform your Go template calls to HCL2, here is the list of calls that should get transformed: {{ user `my_var` }} becomes ${var. json>. User variables are used by calling the {{user}} function in the form of {{user 'variable'}}. Config `mapstructure:",squash"` // The name of the VM Packer should clone and build from. The "official" way that is recommended by Hashicorp is to use their product Atlas as a "middleman" between the two. 0 Variables. HashiTalks 2025 Learn about unique use cases, homelab setups, and best practices at scale at our 24-hour virtual knowledge sharing event Packer will only treat slashes / as path separators, and treat backslashes as plain text. json looks like: Packer does support using Environment Variables in your User Variables. - lkubb/packer-proxmox-templates User variables: User variables are used to parameterize the Packer configuration file template so we can keep secret, environment variables, and other parameters out of the template. The subnet_ocid is the subnet where the instance is provisioned until the custom image is built. There was a bug for this #950 opened before. I am using ansible-local provisioner for installing the required tools. Recent versions of Debian, Rocky Linux and Fedora. Packer unable to communicate with AWS Instance. This function can be used in any value but type within the template: in builders, provisioners, anywhere outside the Environment: packer version = v1. I'm going to lock this issue because it has been closed for 30 days ⏳. LinkedClone bool `mapstructure:"linked_clone"` // Set the network in which the VM will be connected to. You will see a couple of examples of variables that have default, type and sensitive options set to give you an idea of some of the use cases. timestamp}, the local Packer user variables allow your templates to be further configured with variables from the command-line, environment variables, Vault, or files. HCP Packer Versions should be accessed with their fingerprint instead. However, I am in need of being able to pass some variables from my local environment to the build system and I don't really know how to do that when building using "ebp" ("eb . For distributions that do not support a secondary CD-ROM the floppy_content option is used. json The sethvargo changed the title packer validate does not accept blank user variable Packer validate does not accept blank user variable Feb 25, 2015. Note the addition of env before {{ . Environment variables can be used within your template using user variables. Environment variables are passed to the variables set at the top of By default, it will go in the packer cache, with a hash of // the original filename as its name. {{ timestamp }} becomes ${local. I'm trying to use packer with the "profile" variable (without needing to supply static access keys) which I am configuring using the aws configure sso command - but AWS user_data with Packer. The value of this is treated as template engine. This lets you parameterize your templates so The variable declaration file is a pkr. Golden Image Creation: With packer, you can template the configurations required for a golden VM image Add user variables to variables in the "variables" section. Feature Request: I saw that clean_ami_name has been generified into clean_resource_name by #7456. The intention of the split function was to allow you to parse variables that are created by the builder itself, like build_name. CloneVM string `mapstructure:"clone_vm" required:"true"` // The ID of the VM Packer should clone and build from. json User Defined Variables. Input variable and local variable Input variables are parameters for Packer modules. 11. The basic run was. If you need to define a specific IPv4 address from your host for Packer's built-in HTTP server, modify the common_http_ip variable from null to a Currently we are deploying images with packer (In a build pipeline which is located in Azure DevOps) within our AWS domain with success. The contents of this file needs to be run when the instance boots as it will be unique each time. cwd: the directory from where Packer Keep templates as generic as possible, and use User Variables. Template string `mapstructure:"template"` // The size of the primary disk in MiB. There are two kinds of variables in HCL Packer templates: Input variables, sometimes simply called "variables", and Local variables, also known as "locals". // Proxmox VMIDs are limited to the range 100-999999999. packer build base. See docs for more info. (To avoid a warning, the variable could be defined with empty default. Default Environmental Variables. This is because the user variables can only be strings. While the variable type and default values are optional, we recommend you define these attributes when creating new variables. This means that the user must specify a value for this variable or template validation will fail. If you wish to use a custom template please do so by specifying in the builder configuration. To declare variable "client_id", place this block in one of your . Default Extra Variables. "If the default value is null, then the user variable will be required. I execute the below command packer build -force -var The solution is to replace the single quote with double or leave the quotes out. This page covers all path variables. hcl . Packer Use Cases. json Failed to parse template: 8 error(s) occurred: * Unknown user variables: log_volume_size * Unknown user variables: jenkins_volume_size * Unknown user variables: environment * Unknown user variables: aws_region * Unknown user variables: base_ami * Unknown user variables Hi @vikas027 thanks for reaching out. I don't think that any of our template functions like being nested in this way. For the old-style I pre-configured my AMI using Packer, and referenced the custom AMI in my Terraform file. If the field already supports the list syntax, just supply the user variable syntax `{ user varname }` and it will unpack it as an array if you quote each individual element inside the user variable. The '{{ . user - Specifies a user variable. hcl file used to declare any variables you will be using as part of your configuration, be it user defined or environment variables. Add the following to your packer-build. This is a subnet that must be reachable from the host running Packer. hcl Packer injects some environmental variables by default into the environment, as well, which are covered in the section below. If you use another env variable to hold the log path and then use its value for PACKER_LOG_PATH and the build variable does it solve your problem? In PowerShell: I guess this link is the current version of the link initially posted : User Variables - Templates | Packer by HashiCorp. Specifically, the playbooks will run as a non-root user as mentioned in the script ("ssh_username": "cloud_user")But, the actual problem is, while I’m running this packer script via Jenkins pipeline, the jobs were running as a root user and could not consume the exported environment variables. { "variables": { "provisioner": "" } } This is outlined in the documentation here. hcl file. sh should accept input parameter which I send during packer build. In addition, Packer variables are User variables are the single source of configurable input. help - displays help text for Packer console. This syntax in question is not HCL2 syntax. I am having a packer code that creates an image on azure. For example `user@pve` to use the local Proxmox realm. Potential configuration. I'm trying to pass ami_regions list as an user variables and I'm unsuccessfully. SkipCertValidation bool `mapstructure:"insecure_skip_tls_verify"` // Username when authenticating to Proxmox, including // the realm. 0. packer validate -var 'do_api_token=123' do2. my_var}. HTTPPort }}, and {{ . My Pa Using Variables and Parameterization in Templates Variables in Packer templates allow you to dynamically insert values Use user variables and builders that can be parameterized to adapt to Teams. PKR_VAR_vcenter_server. Before installing the In variable definitions (*. I am using user_data_file to setup wimrm and add a user to the administrator group. hcl more readable besides having 25-30 variables def There are multiple ways to define a user variable, by calling the packer build command with the -var flag (see end of answere) define the user variables in the box-template file. 5. use_pwsh (boolean) - Run pwsh. The Packer plugin's cd_content option is used when selecting disk unless the distribution does not support a secondary CD-ROM. These default values would all need to be overridden during actual P. In addition, there are two available extra Update variables. json) is refereeing the variable file but facing problem that multiline strings are not parsing var file :-1: { “changes”: " “US I was wondering if it is possible to apply a user variable into the Autounattend. pr. Packer file provisioner doesn't copy. Variables helps to apply different parameters to same JSON file. You'd use the Atlas post-processor in Packer to record the artifacts (AMI ids, in your case) and then use the atlas_artifact resource in Terraform to read the ids back out again for use in Terraform. the key thing is to ensure that the script runs from the building I don't see the benefit of specifying a user variable during validation, for example. This is hardcoded here. The following are the main use cases for Packer. Provisioner `mapstructure:",squash"` // ** DEPRECATED: USE INLINE INSTEAD ** // ** Only Present for backwards compatibility ** // Command is the command to execute Command string // The command used to execute the script. sethvargo added stage/waiting-reply Variables {{function}} The result of the function {{env `VARIABLE`}} Environment variable named VARIABLE {{user `variable`}} User variable named variable. Learn more about Teams Note: Packer can also read the access key and secret access key directly from environmental variables instead of being set as user variables. Where the contents a fields with a `mapstructure:,squash` tag are bubbled up. // The timeout can be changed using the `shutdown_timeout` option. TargetPath string `mapstructure:"target_path" required:"false"` // This is the name of the OVF file for the new virtual // machine, without the file extension. Specific to Amazon builders: clean_resource_name - AMI names can only contain certain characters. You can parameterize the packer template by configuring variables from the command line, I would like to move my boot_command value up into my packer user variables section, but I need to be able to reference {{ . json, the values are not being correctly interpreted; I believe both keywords are of type list(map(string)), but please correct me if that's not accurate. 0. variables. But the solution to it was actually to add ssh-key to the cloud-init, and this way it works directly, given that password authentication is disabled by default over ssh anyway (which I need to use with packer in order It is // often more convenient to use user_data_file, instead. iso" packerio. Cannot be used with `linked_clone`. 1: 336: September 9, 2021 Variable Interpolation. Join Chris O&#39;Dell for an in-depth discussion in this video, Using build variables, part of Learning HashiCorp Packer. - lkubb/packer-proxmox-templates You are just setting these as Packer user variables. 1: 338: September 9, 2021 Note: This page is about HCL2 Packer templates. Note: If you are using a large number of builders, provisioners or post-processors, the isotime may be slightly different for each one because it is from when the plugin is launched not the initial Packer process. json, and select one, to populate the vpc_id, subnet_id & security_group_id fields). Path is optional. uuid - Returns a random UUID. Variable blocks are provided within User variables are used by calling the {{user}} function in the form of {{user 'variable'}}. json You are nesting the array. We can then use that info to iterate. is it possible to handle objects in user variables? For example using the chef-solo provisioner I would like to pass the json attributes as a user variable. Potentially allow for a ${env. When your templates are generic and accept user variables, you can pass variables to the Packer template via the command In my templates I have a number of variables set from my local environment. Packer is a tool that allows us to create custom images across various pla The actual packer HCL2 config file that I tested first has the . This page covers configuration syntax for variables. json When trying to express network_adapters and storage blocks using variables in a file named var. Normally you wouldn’t want to create development instances with a public IP, as there is no reason for them to be exposed to the internet, and doing so just creates security concerns. json and base_config-us-east-2. json should issue a warning if the template contains {{user bar}} but bar is not in variables. packer build -var role=abc test. Host, Port, User and Password: The host, port, user, and password that Packer uses to access the machine. I am able to download and unzip maven and gradle but the env variables are not getting exported. See Local Values for more details. Could this be regression or am I doing something wrong ? Packer version: 1. json packer build -var-file fedora. In your variable definition file (e. For example packer build -var-file=variables. As part of the work to improve the variables experience I will be sure to include some example structures of what works and what does not work. It does not matter if the parameter is an environment variable or direct entry. x plugins = vsphere(v1. json -var 'region=eu-west-1' From a file. 1. 2 target platform = vCenter (vSphere) v7. ) I misspelled a variable name in my type CloneConfig struct { // Name of source VM. json I believe access_key and secret_key are not as required as the docs make them out to be. If they are set from variables section, it works properly: they are being correctly evaluated to the value from the environment variables or set empty if there is no such variable. . HashiTalks 2025 Learn about unique use cases, homelab setups, and best practices at scale at our 24-hour virtual knowledge sharing event. If we would hardcode all settings inside template file, like we did in my previous post , we would then have to create User variables allow your templates to be further configured with variables from the command-line, environment variables, Vault, or files. Treat Packer variables as constants — you cannot update them during run time. example: -var-file myvars. 7. Below is an example of how the environment variables are passed to the packer template (this is for a service principal). In order to set a user variable, you must define it either within thevariables section within your template, or using the command-line -var or-var-fileflags. Works fine - but not very elegant and can lead to the temp file lying around Build Proxmox templates with Packer. The only real reason to chose the former option is if you need interpolation of (Packer) user variables in the startup script. packer build -var iso_url=c:\debian. Please note that you cannot use the split function on user variables, because we can’t nest the functions currently. ProxmoxURLRaw string `mapstructure:"proxmox_url"` // Skip validating the certificate. Even if you want a user variable to default to an empty string, it must be defined. Which could lead to pathing errors. Details. Vars }}. Well the integration between you Secrets Manager and packer is probably where you need to focus on. json fi You signed in with another tab or window. json Where the env. I’m creating RHEL servers from a script using PACKER + kickstart file. Path }}' variable // should be used to specify where the script goes, {{ . Q&A for work. I’ve mapped accounts and passwords as Hi there @tking2096 the env PACKER_LOG_PATH is specific to Packer and is processed specifically for debug logging, and not evaluated in the context of a Packer build template. xml file that is used to automate the using a hacky solution of pre-transforming a templated autounattend file into a temp file that is reference from the packer build command. variable "cloud_base_filter_name" {type = string default = "cloud-hvm-2. Any example text in this template can be deleted. You signed out in another tab or window. The variable file in your example would be called variables. This function is indended to be used on builder variables like build_name. export PKR_VAR_IAM_ROLE=jonny-test Environment variables: Variables can also be set as environment variables, which Packer will automatically detect and use. When building, we’ll pass in aws_access_key and aws_secret_key as user variables, Full docs can be found here: User Variables - Templates | Packer by HashiCorp but the tl;dr is that the later-specified variables, whether from -var or -var-file, override earlier-specified ones. timeout (duration) - If the provisioner takes more than for example 1h10m1s or 10m to finish, the provisioner will timeout and fail. Ok, so the issue was that cloud-init actually locks password login by default, while it doesn’t disable the user’s account. FlatConfig is an auto-generated flat version of Config. Secrets can be read from Vault and used within your template as user variables. For environment variables we need to set them with a PKR_VAR prefix e. We felt that having environment variables used anywhere in a configuration would confuse the user about the possible inputs to a template. This will cause detailed logs to appear on stderr. This is most Converting Packer templates from json to HCL for Packer version 1. 1 Like. I am able to get the user variable in json file however I am unable to pass it provision script. This means that the user must specify a value for this variable or template validation will fail. In addition to being able to specify extra arguments using the extra_arguments configuration, the provisioner automatically defines certain commonly useful Ansible variables: packer_build_name is set to the name of the build that You signed in with another tab or window. If you still want to define variables in *. Learn how to use environment variables when running Packer that configure global behaviors. In addition to being able to specify custom environmental variables using the environment_vars configuration, the provisioner automatically defines certain commonly useful environmental variables: PACKER_BUILD_NAME is set to the name of the build that Packer is running. By default this is packer-BUILDNAME, // where "BUILDNAME" is the name of the build. FlatMapstructure returns a new FlatConfig. Usage Examples - repl session ( JSON ) FlatMapstructure returns a new FlatConfig. Foo} setting within the variable block, such as: // Can also be set via the `PROXMOX_URL` environment variable. These variables are defined in variables section like following: -var-file - Set template variables from a file. HTTPIP and . pkrvars. Packer has detailed logs which can be enabled by setting the PACKER_LOG environmental variable to any value but "" (empty string) and "0" like this PACKER_LOG=1 packer build <config. 1: 368: Package oci contains a packersdk. This is a template engine. The point of Packer seems to be to eliminate human intervention from the build process in order to make deployment consistent. AssumeRoleConfig lets users set configuration options for assuming a special role when executing Packer. auto. upper - Uppercases the string. Works great for a one disk server. HCL2 templates were first introduced as a beta feature into Packer version 1. From cmd line. This repository provides opinionated infrastructure-as-code examples to automate the creation of virtual machine images and their guest operating systems on Proxmox using HashiCorp Packer and the Packer Plugin for Proxmox (proxmox-iso builder). type Config struct { proxmoxcommon. packer build -var-file ubuntu. Reproduction Steps Declare user variables in my original json for packer it was easy to assemble variables which reference other variables. build. The declared variables can be accessed using “{{user `variable-name`}}” syntax. This explicitness helps reduce Input variables serve as parameters for a Packer build, allowing aspects of the build to be customized without altering the build's own source code. Now that packer recommends to use hcl2 i am wondering how to use this pattern (or antipattern in hcl2) . I’me able to run my build fine on a local machine in my environment with all my variables set in my variable file. hcl template. hcl using other variables, you can use the following workaround:. Lets take a look at a few examples of declared variables in the variables. json to packer, it fails as follows: If you set it to null it will force it to be a required variable. I would remove those properties from the builder and — as long as the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variables are exported — the builder should pick them up. Can I use variables defined in my web-packer. S. The Go module system was introduced in Go 1. See the configuration reference in the section above for more information on what environmental variables Packer will look for. hcl — Declares variables and Sensitive variables can also be defined as local user environment variables so it’s not Variables may not be used here. I just tested this with a simple packer build one. template file as per the packer spec here: Vagrant Post-Processor | Integrations | Packer | HashiCorp Developer I have configured a variable in my packer file like so: { "variables": { "some_variable": "some_value" }, // other configurations } configuring my vagrant post provisioner like this: post-processor "vagrant" { The variable block, also called the input-variable block, defines variables within your Packer configuration. json** "variables": [ "using_provision_system": "puppet" ] Hey all, does anyone know if there is any documentation or examples for plugging user variables into a boot_command using the VirtualBox provisioner? I know Packer has a couple magic variables for serving up things like kickstart files (. Valid go. See the Packer documentation on user variables for details. kbvxv ntn ovkx wwte nbishrl tbj uiej jyvbq venlz sdks