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Adding Packer Plugins

HashiCorp Packer allows users to create identical, cross-platform machine images by writing templates that leverage our existing infrastructure tools; however, Packer doesn't always offers native support for everything we require. In this hands-on lab, we'll prepare our desired Packer setup by installing some Packer plugins.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Beginner
Duration
Clock icon 15m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 30, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Add the Windows Update Plugin

    1. Locate the appropriate binary from the plugin repository and download it:

      wget https://github.com/rgl/packer-provisioner-windows-update/releases/download/v0.9.0/packer-provisioner-windows-update-linux.tgz

    2. Expand the file:

      tar zxvf packer-provisioner-windows-update-linux.tgz

    3. Make binary executable:

      chmod +x packer-provisioner-windows-update

    4. Create the necessary plugins directory:

      mkdir -p ~/.packer.d/plugins

    5. Move the binary:

      mv packer-provisioner-windows-update ~/.packer.d/plugins/

  2. Challenge

    Add ARM Builder Dependencies

    1. The ARM Builder plugin is a Go module; install a version of Go newer than 1.11.0:

      wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.18.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz

      sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.18.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz

      export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin

    2. Install the other module dependencies:

      sudo apt install kpartx qemu-user-static

  3. Challenge

    Add the ARM Builder Plugin

    1. Pull down the repository:

      git clone https://github.com/solo-io/packer-builder-arm-image.git

      cd packer-builder-arm-image

    2. Build the module:

      go mod download

      go build

    3. Move the resulting binary:

      mv packer-plugin-arm-image ~/.packer.d/plugins/

    4. Clean up your home directory when finished:

      cd

      rm -rf packer*

      sudo rm -rf go*
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