AMI Automation with Packer
Automated Amazon Machine Image creation pipeline using Packer and Ansible — producing hardened, pre-configured AMIs that cut EC2 provisioning time and serve as the foundation for security patch automation.
AMI Automation with Packer
Every EC2 instance at GoGuardian starts from a custom AMI. This project is the pipeline that builds, validates, and publishes those images — so new instances come pre-configured, pre-hardened, and ready to join the fleet without manual setup.
Why Custom AMIs
Using AWS base AMIs directly means every new EC2 instance needs post-launch configuration: package installs, agent setup, kernel patches, security tooling. That’s slow, inconsistent, and hard to audit.
Custom AMIs bake all of that in at build time. Launch an instance from the AMI and it’s already configured — CloudWatch agent running, security packages installed, kernel at the right version.
The Pipeline
Packer orchestrates the build:
- Spins up a temporary EC2 instance from the AWS base AMI
- Runs an Ansible playbook to install packages, configure agents, apply kernel settings
- Snapshots the instance into a new AMI
- Runs basic validation (service checks, package version assertions)
- Tags and publishes the AMI for use in launch configs and Terraform modules
Connection to Security Automation
The kernel upgrade automation project (Python + AWS SSM) targets the running fleet. Packer handles the other half — ensuring newly launched instances start from a current, patched baseline. Together they close the gap: existing instances get patched in-place, new instances launch already patched.