Build VM images with Packer

Packer is an open source tool for creating identical Virtual Machine (VM) images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. This page explains how to use Packer and FluentCI to create a VM image.

Before you begin

The instructions on this page assume that you are familiar with Packer. In addition:

• Have your source code including the Packer template handy.

Using the Packer Plugin

You can use FluentCI to build VM images using the packer plugin, no need to install Packer on your machine, FluentCI will handle everything for you.

The following command can be used to build VM image with Packer:

fluenci run --wasm packer fmt
fluenci run --wasm packer validate
fluenci run --wasm packer build

CI/CD pipeline integrations

The following examples show how to integrate FluentCI with popular CI providers to build VM images with Packer:

Github Actions

ci.yml

name: ci
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
jobs:
  tasks:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Setup Fluent CI
        uses: fluentci-io/setup-fluentci@v5
      - name: fmt
        run: fluentci run --wasm packer fmt
      - name: validate
        run: fluentci run --wasm packer validate
      - name: build
        run: fluentci run --wasm packer build
        

GitLab CI

.gitlab-ci.yml

.docker:
  image: denoland/deno:debian-1.42.4
  services:
    - docker:${DOCKER_VERSION}-dind
  variables:
    DOCKER_HOST: tcp://docker:2376
    DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY: "1"
    DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: /certs
    DOCKER_CERT_PATH: /certs/client
    DOCKER_DRIVER: overlay2
    DOCKER_VERSION: 20.10.16
    GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN: $GITLAB_ACCESS_TOKEN
.fluentci:
  extends: .docker
  before_script:
    - apt-get update
    - apt-get install -y curl tar gzip ca-certificates openssl git unzip libncursesw6
    - deno install -A -r https://cli.fluentci.io -n fluentci
    - fluentci --version
    - curl -L https://dl.dagger.io/dagger/install.sh | DAGGER_VERSION=0.12.3 sh
    - mv bin/dagger /usr/local/bin
    - dagger version
fmt:
  extends: .fluentci
  script:
    - fluentci run --wasm packer fmt
validate:
  extends: .fluentci
  script:
    - fluentci run --wasm packer validate
build:
  extends: .fluentci
  script:
    - fluentci run --wasm packer build

Circle CI

.circleci/config.yml

version: 2.1
jobs:
  job:
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run: |
          sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y curl unzip
          curl -fsSL https://cli.fluentci.io | bash
          fluentci --version
        name: Setup FluentCI
      - run: fluentci run --wasm packer fmt
        name: fmt
      - run: fluentci run --wasm packer validate
        name: validate
      - run: fluentci run --wasm packer build
        name: build
    machine:
      image: ubuntu-2004:2023.07.1
workflows:
  fluentci:
    jobs:
      - job

Azure Pipelines

azure-pipelines.yml

trigger:
  - main
pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest
steps:
  - script: |
      curl -fsSL https://cli.fluentci.io | bash
      fluentci --version
      echo "##vso[task.prependpath]${HOME}/.deno/bin
    displayName: Setup FluentCI
  - script: fluentci run --wasm packer fmt
    displayName: fmt
  - script: fluentci run --wasm packer validate
    displayName: validate
  - script: fluentci run --wasm packer build
    displayName: build
    

AWS CodePipeline

buildspec.yml

version: 0.2
phases:
  install:
    commands:
      - curl -fsSL https://cli.fluentci.io | bash
      - fluentci --version
  build:
    commands:
      - fluentci run --wasm packer fmt
      - fluentci run --wasm packer validate
      - fluentci run --wasm packer build
  post_build:
    commands:
      - echo Build completed on `date`