github.com/kaixiang/packer@v0.5.2-0.20140114230416-1f5786b0d7f1/website/source/intro/getting-started/parallel-builds.html.markdown (about) 1 --- 2 layout: "intro" 3 page_title: "Parallel Builds" 4 prev_url: "/intro/getting-started/provision.html" 5 next_url: "/intro/getting-started/vagrant.html" 6 next_title: "Vagrant Boxes" 7 --- 8 9 # Parallel Builds 10 11 So far we've shown how Packer can automatically build an image and provision it. 12 This on its own is already quite powerful. But Packer can do better than that. 13 Packer can create multiple images for multiple platforms _in parallel_, all 14 configured from a single template. 15 16 This is a very useful and important feature of Packer. As an example, 17 Packer is able to make an AMI and a VMware virtual machine 18 in parallel provisioned with the _same scripts_, resulting in near-identical 19 images. The AMI can be used for production, the VMware machine can be used 20 for development. Or, another example, if you're using Packer to build 21 [software appliances](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_appliance), 22 then you can build the appliance for every supported platform all in 23 parallel, all configured from a single template. 24 25 Once you start taking advantage of this feature, the possibilities begin 26 to unfold in front of you. 27 28 Continuing on the example in this getting started guide, we'll build 29 a [DigitalOcean](http://www.digitalocean.com) image as well as an AMI. Both 30 will be near-identical: bare bones Ubuntu OS with Redis pre-installed. 31 However, since we're building for both platforms, you have the option of 32 whether you want to use the AMI, or the DigitalOcean snapshot. Or use both. 33 34 ## Setting Up DigitalOcean 35 36 [DigitalOcean](https://www.digitalocean.com/) is a relatively new, but 37 very popular VPS provider that has popped up. They have a quality offering 38 of high performance, low cost VPS servers. We'll be building a DigitalOcean 39 snapshot for this example. 40 41 In order to do this, you'll need an account with DigitalOcean. 42 [Sign up for an account now](https://www.digitalocean.com/). It is free 43 to sign up. Because the "droplets" (servers) are charged hourly, you 44 _will_ be charged $0.01 for every image you create with Packer. If 45 you're not okay with this, just follow along. 46 47 <div class="alert alert-block alert-warn"> 48 <strong>Note!</strong> I want to repeat, in case you didn't see above: 49 You <em>will</em> be charged $0.01 by DigitalOcean per image created with Packer 50 because of the time the "droplet" is running. 51 </div> 52 53 Once you sign up for an account, grab your client ID and API key from 54 the [DigitalOcean API access page](https://www.digitalocean.com/api_access). 55 Save these values somewhere, you'll need them in a second. 56 57 ## Modifying the Template 58 59 We now have to modify the template to add DigitalOcean to it. Modify the 60 template we've been using and add the following JSON object to the `builders` 61 array. 62 63 <pre class="prettyprint"> 64 { 65 "type": "digitalocean", 66 "api_key": "{{user `do_api_key`}}", 67 "client_id": "{{user `do_client_id`}}" 68 } 69 </pre> 70 71 You'll also need to modify the `variables` section of the template 72 to include the access keys for DigitalOcean. 73 74 <pre class="prettyprint"> 75 "variables": { 76 ... 77 "do_api_key": "", 78 "do_client_id": "" 79 } 80 </pre> 81 82 The entire template should now [look like this](https://gist.github.com/pearkes/cc5f8505eee5403a43a6). 83 84 Additional builders are simply added to the `builders` array in the template. 85 This tells Packer to build multiple images. The builder `type` values don't 86 even need to be different! In fact, if you wanted to build multiple AMIs, 87 you can do that as well. 88 89 Validate the template with `packer validate`. This is always a good practice. 90 91 <div class="alert alert-block alert-info"> 92 <strong>If you're looking for more DigitalOcean configuration options</strong>, 93 you can find them on the <a href="/docs/builders/digitalocean.html">DigitalOcean 94 Builder page</a> in the documentation. The documentation is more of a reference 95 manual that contains a listing of all the available configuration options. 96 </div> 97 98 ## Build 99 100 Now run `packer build` with your user variables. The output is too verbose to include 101 all of it, but a portion of it is reproduced below. Note that the ordering 102 and wording of the lines may be slightly different, but the effect is the 103 same. 104 105 ``` 106 $ packer build \ 107 -var 'aws_access_key=YOUR ACCESS KEY' \ 108 -var 'aws_secret_key=YOUR SECRET KEY' \ 109 -var 'do_api_key=YOUR API KEY' \ 110 -var 'do_client_id=YOUR CLIENT ID' \ 111 example.json 112 ==> amazon-ebs: amazon-ebs output will be in this color. 113 ==> digitalocean: digitalocean output will be in this color. 114 115 ==> digitalocean: Creating temporary ssh key for droplet... 116 ==> amazon-ebs: Creating temporary keypair for this instance... 117 ==> amazon-ebs: Creating temporary security group for this instance... 118 ==> digitalocean: Creating droplet... 119 ==> amazon-ebs: Authorizing SSH access on the temporary security group... 120 ==> amazon-ebs: Launching a source AWS instance... 121 ==> digitalocean: Waiting for droplet to become active... 122 ==> amazon-ebs: Waiting for instance to become ready... 123 ==> digitalocean: Connecting to the droplet via SSH... 124 ==> amazon-ebs: Connecting to the instance via SSH... 125 ... 126 ==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are: 127 --> amazon-ebs: AMIs were created: 128 129 us-east-1: ami-376d1d5e 130 --> digitalocean: A snapshot was created: packer-1371870364 131 ``` 132 133 As you can see, Packer builds both the Amazon and DigitalOcean images 134 in parallel. It outputs information about each in different colors 135 (although you can't see that in the block above) so that it is easy to identify. 136 137 At the end of the build, Packer outputs both of the artifacts created 138 (an AMI and a DigitalOcean snapshot). Both images created are bare bones 139 Ubuntu installations with Redis pre-installed.