[DISCUSSION] More automatic way to build and update AMI (e.g. via Packer)

[JiaweiZhuang]

If the manual AMI creation is getting annoying and repetitive, there are many ways to automate the process. For example, Packer is a popular way to build virtual machine images, just like Docker for building container images.

Useful materials:

• Packer tutorial: Build an Image
• Packer Amazon AMI Builder
• Packer Tutorial For Beginners – Automate AMI Creation
• Packer AMI Builder examples

It looks pretty easy to use. The Packer template completely defines the AMI content. You basically just need source_ami to specify which base AMI id to start with, the shell commands you want to run on top of this AMI specified in script (for long scripts) or inline (for short commands), and additional security settings like the AWS key.

@yantosca This might be worth taking a look at.

[JiaweiZhuang]

There is also a new "EC2 Image Builder" service that could be useful: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/automate-os-image-build-pipelines-with-ec2-image-builder/

[yantosca]

Closing this issue