Create a Windows AMI with packer and ansible on AWS

Question

I want to create an aws windows AMI with packer and ansible. I have tried many configuration, but I have still a problem of connection to the instance. Here is my packer conf : ``` { "builders": [{ "type": "amazon-ebs", "access_key": "{{user `aws_access_key`}}", "secret_key": "{{user `aws_secret_key`}}", "region": "eu-west-1", "source_ami": "ami-58a1a73e", "instance_type": "m3.medium", "ami_name": "aaa-windows-ami {{timestamp}}", "user_data_file":"./test.ps", "communicator": "winrm", "winrm_username": "Administrator", "winrm_use_ssl": true, "winrm_insecure": true }], "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./playbook.yml", "extra_arguments": [ "--extra-vars", "ansible_user=Administrator ansible_connection=winrm ansible_ssh_port=5986 ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None" ] }, { "type": "powershell", "script": "./init.ps1" } ] } ``` The User data script is activating winrm on the AWS instance. ``` <power…

Accepted Answer

You need follow the instructions in the documentation for using the ansible provisioner with WinRM. This is a working example running Windows 2016 Server Base: ``` { "builders": [ { "type": "amazon-ebs", "region": "eu-west-1", "instance_type": "m3.medium", "source_ami": "ami-0983b56f", "ami_name": "packer-demo-{{timestamp}}", "user_data_file": "windows-userdata.txt", "communicator": "winrm", "winrm_username": "Administrator" }], "provisioners": [ { "type": "ansible", "playbook_file": "./win-playbook.yml", "extra_arguments": [ "--connection", "packer", "-vvv", "--extra-vars", "ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None" ] }] } ``` windows-userdata.txt ``` winrm quickconfig -q winrm set winrm/config/winrs '@{MaxMemoryPerShellMB="300"}' winrm set winrm/config '@{MaxTimeoutms="1800000"}' winrm set winrm/config/service '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}' winrm set winrm/config/service/auth '@{Basic="true"}' netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="WinRM 5985" protocol=TCP dir=in localport=5985 action=allow netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="WinRM 5986" protocol=TCP dir=in localport=5986 action=allow net stop winrm sc config winrm start=auto net start winrm Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope LocalMachine ``` win-playbook.yml ``` --- - hosts: all tasks: - win_ping: #- ping: ``` connection_plugins/packer.py ``` from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function) __metaclass__ = type from ansible.plugins.connection.ssh import Connection as SSHConnection class Connection(SSHConnection): ''' ssh based connections for powershell via packer''' transport = 'packer' has_pipelining = True become_methods = [] allow_executable = False module_implementation_preferences = ('.ps1', '') def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs) ``` Unfortunatley there seems to be a problem with the latest (2.3.0) version Ansible and Packer, see #4904

Create a Windows AMI with packer and ansible on AWS

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