github.com/aspring/packer@v0.8.1-0.20150629211158-9db281ac0f89/website/source/docs/templates/communicator.html.md (about) 1 --- 2 layout: "docs" 3 page_title: "Templates: Communicators" 4 description: |- 5 Communicators are the mechanism Packer uses to upload files, execute scripts, etc. with the machine being created. 6 --- 7 8 # Templates: Communicators 9 10 Communicators are the mechanism Packer uses to upload files, execute 11 scripts, etc. with the machine being created. 12 13 Communicators are configured within the [builder](/docs/templates/builders.html) 14 section. Packer currently supports three kinds of communicators: 15 16 * `none` - No communicator will be used. If this is set, most provisioners 17 also can't be used. 18 19 * `ssh` - An SSH connection will be established to the machine. This is 20 usually the default. 21 22 * `winrm` - A WinRM connection will be established. 23 24 In addition to the above, some builders have custom communicators they can 25 use. For example, the Docker builder has a "docker" communicator that uses 26 `docker exec` and `docker cp` to execute scripts and copy files. 27 28 ## Using a Communicator 29 30 By default, the SSH communicator is usually used. Additional configuration 31 may not even be necesssary, since some builders such as Amazon automatically 32 configure everything. 33 34 However, to specify a communicator, you set the `communicator` key within 35 a build. Multiple builds can have different communicators. Example: 36 37 ```javascript 38 { 39 "builders": [{ 40 "type": "amazon-ebs", 41 "communicator": "ssh" 42 }] 43 } 44 ``` 45 46 After specifying the `communicator`, you can specify a number of other 47 configuration parameters for that communicator. These are documented below. 48 49 ## SSH Communicator 50 51 The SSH communicator connects to the host via SSH. If you have an SSH 52 agent enabled on the machine running Packer, it will automatically forward 53 the SSH agent to the remote host. 54 55 The SSH communicator has the following options: 56 57 * `ssh_host` (string) - The address to SSH to. This usually is automatically 58 configured by the builder. 59 60 * `ssh_port` (int) - The port to connect to SSH. This defaults to 22. 61 62 * `ssh_username` (string) - The username to connect to SSH with. 63 64 * `ssh_password` (string) - A plaintext password to use to authenticate 65 with SSH. 66 67 * `ssh_private_key_file` (string) - Path to a PEM encoded private key 68 file to use to authentiate with SSH. 69 70 * `ssh_pty` (bool) - If true, a PTY will be requested for the SSH connection. 71 This defaults to false. 72 73 * `ssh_timeout` (string) - The time to wait for SSH to become available. 74 Packer uses this to determine when the machine has booted so this is usually 75 quite long. Example value: "10m" 76 77 * `ssh_handshake_attempts` (int) - The number of handshakes to attempt with 78 SSH once it can connect. This defaults to 10. 79 80 * `ssh_disable_agent` (bool) - If true, SSH agent forwarding will be disabled. 81 82 * `ssh_bastion_host` (string) - A bastion host to use for the actual 83 SSH connection. 84 85 * `ssh_bastion_port` (int) - The port of the bastion host. Defaults to 22. 86 87 * `ssh_bastion_username` (string) - The username to connect to the bastion host. 88 89 * `ssh_bastion_password` (string) - The password to use to authenticate 90 with the bastion host. 91 92 * `ssh_bastion_private_key_file` (string) - A private key file to use 93 to authenticate with the bastion host. 94 95 ## WinRM Communicator 96 97 The WinRM communicator has the following options. 98 99 * `winrm_host` (string) - The address for WinRM to connect to. 100 101 * `winrm_port` (int) - The WinRM port to connect to. This defaults to 5985. 102 103 * `winrm_username` (string) - The username to use to connect to WinRM. 104 105 * `winrm_password` (string) - The password to use to connect to WinRM. 106 107 * `winrm_timeout` (string) - The amount of time to wait for WinRM to 108 become available. This defaults to "30m" since setting up a Windows 109 machine generally takes a long time.