Features

Gain productivity through standardizing automation

Packer product image

Adopt images as code

Automate image creation across clouds.

  • Images as code

    Compose Packer config files using HCL.

  • Collaborate with VCS

    Connect to VCS for image source code.

  • Parallel builds

    Create images in parallel for multiple deployment environments from a single source file.

  • Cloud providers

    Deploy images to major cloud providers from a single source file.

  • Image visibility

    View and search state of images across all workspaces.

  • Image ancestry

    View image descendants/dependencies.

  • Audit logs

    Gain visibility into HCP Packer usage and stream audit logs to Amazon CloudWatch and Datadog.

Standardize best practices across your organization

Track and govern all images throughout your infrastructure estate.

  • Artifact registry

    Publish golden images to the HCP Packer artifact registry.

  • Policy and enforcement

    Create one security and compliance workflow for images that are provisioned across multiple clouds and private infrastructure.

  • Image channels

    Reference image channels to always use the correct artifact version.

  • Channel assignment history

    See when image versions were made available and who released them.

  • Health checks

    Validate image health with Terraform continuous validation.

  • Image revocation

    Set end-of-life dates for images and automate revocation with downstream builds across image pipelines.

  • Integrator ecosystem

    Integrate with technology partners such as VMware, VirtualBox, and Docker. Use the 50+ community plugins including Ansible, Openstack, and Nutanix.

Scale for self-service, visibility, and optimization

Integrate Packer into the image workflows your team uses every day.

  • Image pipelines

    Change a golden image once and update all downstream builds.

  • Dynamic image updates

    Use the HCP provider Packer data source to manage images in Terraform.

  • Self-serve platform

    Promote artifacts for downstream consumers, query through Terraform using HCL, and deploy with no-code provisioning.

  • Inherited revocation

    Revoke just the base image or all associated downstream dependencies.

  • Channel rollback

    Choose to roll back channels to previous version as part of artifact revocation.

Integrate with your existing platforms

AWSMicrosoftGoogle Cloud ProviderDockerVagrantVMWare

Builders

Generate images for multiple platforms using builder plugins.

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Provisioners

Customize images with integrated and third-party tools to meet your application requirements.

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Common use cases for Packer

  • Automated machine images

    Create identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. By codifying commonly used base images as golden images, they can be standardized, secured, and updated using automation.

  • Golden image pipeline

    Automate updates for base images and downstream builds. Track image metadata, including parent/child ancestry relationships, to identify out-of-date builds. Extend image management to provisioning workflows with Terraform integration. Identify the correct version of images for downstream consumers to use by assigning image iterations to custom channels.

  • Image compliance

    Codify security hardening and compliance baselines to ensure golden images are consistent. Using channels in the Packer image registry, the approved version of every image is discoverable and vulnerable images can be revoked to prevent their use.

Get started with Packer

Packer standardizes and automates the process of building system images. Get started for free and pay only for what you use.