Using Packer and Ansible for Hardening

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Using Packer and Ansible for Hardening

This lab facilitates learning by doing by utilizing Packer to create an AMI file that is staged in Amazon AWS. The Packer tool is used to run an Ansible role against the OS image to harden the image. The resulting AMI would then be available to specify when creating or upgrading Kubernetes clusters using installers such as kops.

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Lab Info

Level

Beginner

Last updated

Sep 25, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Grab the AWS Keys and Install the Ansible Role
1. Verify the files in your home directory.
2. Verify that Ansible is installed.
3. Display the AWS credentials for your lab and copy to the clipboard for later use.
  
  IMPORTANT: DO NOT STORE THESE KEYS ANYWHERE BUT ON YOUR PRIVATE CLIENT SYSTEM.
4. Generate an RSA key for use by the Ansible playbook to harden the OS system.
5. Hit Enter on the configuration prompts to save the RSA key to the default directory.
6. Create a default vpc for your lab instance.
7. Use the anisible-galaxy script to install the sample playbook we will use in this lab.
Challenge

Add the Keys to the Packer Script and Run the Packer Job
1. Edit the ksac-packer-build.sh file and paste in the previously copied AWS credentials as environmental variables.
2. Save and exit the file.
3. Execute the Packer build.
4. Once provisioned, log into the AWS Management Console to view the created AMIs using the lab credentials provided.
5. Navigate to the EC2 dashboard.
6. On the left menu, select Instances. Packer Builder now has an instance state of terminated.
7. On the left menu under Images, select AMIs. The newly created ksac-ubuntu-hard image now appears.

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