From aa42141246fe7c36c200eae13a2e89c080eb7c93 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mitchell Hashimoto Date: Sat, 8 Jun 2013 10:13:53 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] website: what is packer, in progress --- .../source/docs/what-is-packer.html.markdown | 47 +++++++++++++++++++ website/source/layouts/docs.erb | 2 +- 2 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) create mode 100644 website/source/docs/what-is-packer.html.markdown diff --git a/website/source/docs/what-is-packer.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/what-is-packer.html.markdown new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0fb2e9f1d --- /dev/null +++ b/website/source/docs/what-is-packer.html.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +--- +layout: "docs" +--- + +# What is Packer? + +Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms +from a single source configuration. Packer is lightweight, runs on every major +operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for +multiple platforms in parallel. + +A _machine image_ is a single static unit that contains a pre-configured operating +system and installed software which is used to quickly create new running machines. +Machine image formats change for each platform. Some examples include +[AMIs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Machine_Image) for EC2, +VMDK/VMX files for VMware, OVF exports for VirtualBox, etc. + +Historically, creating +these images has been a predominantly manual process. Any existing automated tools were able to +create only one type of image. Packer, on the other hand, is able to automatically +create any type of image, all from a single source configuration. + +Pre-baked machine images have a lot of advantages, but we've been unable to +benefit from them because they have been too tedious to create and manage. +Packer tears down this barrier, allowing the benefits of pre-baked machine +images to become available to everyone. Some benefits include: + +* Super fast infrastructure deployment. Packer images allow you to launch +completely provisioned and configured machines in seconds, rather than +several minutes or hours. This benefits not only production, but development as well, +since development virtual machines can also be launched in seconds, without waiting +for a typically much longer provisioning time. + +* Multi-provider portability. Because Packer creates identical images for +multiple platforms, you can run production in AWS, staging/QA in a private +cloud like OpenStack, and development in desktop virtualization solutions +such as VMware or VirtualBox. Each environment is running an identical +machine image, giving ultimate portability. + +* Improved stability. Packer installs and configures all the software for +a machine at the time the image is built. If there are bugs in these scripts, +they'll be caught early, rather than several minutes after a machine is launched. + +* Improved testability. After a machine image is built, that machine image +can be quickly launched and smoke tested to verify that things appear to be +working. If they are, you can be confident that any other machines launched +from that image will function properly. diff --git a/website/source/layouts/docs.erb b/website/source/layouts/docs.erb index b7509c001..f3d380d58 100644 --- a/website/source/layouts/docs.erb +++ b/website/source/layouts/docs.erb @@ -24,7 +24,7 @@