Packer unable to pack aws image into VPC

Question

I am trying to make a packer image, but on our amazon account we DO NOT have a default VPC. It has been removed. And have been getting this error when trying to pack the image:

==> amazon-instance: Inspecting the source AMI...
==> amazon-instance: Creating temporary keypair: packer 54cfd9c9-61ef-5f8f-4091-d27e731a8a4d
==> amazon-instance: Creating temporary security group for this instance...
==> amazon-instance: No default VPC for this user (VPCIdNotSpecified)
==> amazon-instance: Deleting temporary keypair...
Build 'amazon-instance' finished.

Therefore I am supposed to specify a default VPC id or subnet id.

I have tried both,

{
  "variables": {
    "vpc_id ": "vpc-962438f4",
    "subnet_id": "subnet-1c5d5c68"
    },
  "builders": [{
    "type": "amazon-instance",
    "access_key": "somekey"
    "secret_key": "somekey"
    "account_id": "AccountIDNUMBER"
    "region": "ap-southeast-2",
    "source_ami": "ami-b7eb9e8d",
    "s3_bucket": "layer2amis",
    "x509_cert_path": "packer/cert-x509.pem",
    "x509_key_path": "packer/key-x509.pem",
    "instance_type": "t2.medium",
    "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
    "ssh_timeout": "5m",
    "ami_virtualization_type": "hvm",
    "ami_name": "layer2_stagingserver_{{timestamp}}",
    "bundle_vol_command": "sudo -n /usr/local/ec2/ec2-ami-tools-1.5.3/bin/ec2-bundle-vol -k {{.KeyPath}} -u {{.AccountId}} -c {{.CertPath}} -r {{.Architecture}} -e {{.PrivatePath}}/* -d {{.Destination}} -p {{.Prefix}} --batch --no-filter",
    "bundle_upload_command": "sudo -n /usr/local/ec2/ec2-ami-tools-1.5.3/bin/ec2-upload-bundle -b {{.BucketName}} -m {{.ManifestPath}} -a {{.AccessKey}} -s {{.SecretKey}} -d {{.BundleDirectory}} --region ap-southeast-2 --batch --retry"
  }],
}

The documentation on the web for packer just says vpc_id (string) - If launching into a VPC subnet, Packer needs the VPC ID in order to create a temporary security group within the VPC.

There's an errant space in "vpc_id ". – jzonthemtn Jul 01 '15 at 12:08 — jzonthemtn, Jul 01 '15 at 12:08

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 08 '17 at 06:26

6

Exactly as you say, there is a vpc_id option that is pointed out in the documentation of the amazon-ebs builder. You have added this option to your Packer JSON file, however, you added it in the wrong place.

The vpc_id option should be added in your builder object and not in the variables object. So it should look something like this:

{
    "variables": {},
    "builders": [{
        "vpc_id": "vpc-12345678",
        "subnet_id": "subnet-1c5d5c68",
        "type": "amazon-instance",
        "access_key": "somekey",
        "secret_key": "somekey",
        "account_id": "AccountIDNUMBER",

        [...]
    }],
}

edited Jun 08 '17 at 06:26

Community

1

answered Feb 06 '15 at 15:38

Bazze

1,511
9
10

Hi There, Thanks for the help. Yes I first tried it in the builders section. And it didnt work. I also tried using the subnet_id in the builders section and packer complained and said that these were invalid for this section. I googled around and some people had put them in the Variables section so i tried that, and didnt get an error saying the builders property was incorrect but I still got my VPC error. In the end I had to contact Amazon and get them to re-create my DEFAULT VPC which had been deleted. I am still unable to pack the images in a VPC other than the default VPC. – Daryl B Feb 08 '15 at 07:47
You need to specify associate_public_ip_address and subnet_id to make it work on a custom VPC (non-default VPC) – David Roussel Apr 27 '16 at 18:36
I never got it to work with `vpc_id` and `subnet_id` I /HAD/ to use `vpc_filter` and `subnet_filter` – Aaron McMillin Aug 23 '19 at 19:20

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 15 '15 at 09:07

adding:

    "associate_public_ip_address": "true",
    "ami_virtualization_type": "hvm",

to the manifest worked for me. Here's an example file:

{
  "variables": {
    "aws_access_key": "",
    "aws_secret_key": ""
  },
  "builders": [{
    "type": "amazon-ebs",
    "access_key": "{{user `aws_access_key`}}",
    "secret_key": "{{user `aws_secret_key`}}",
    "region": "eu-west-1",
    "source_ami": "ami-47a23a30",
    "instance_type": "t2.micro",
    "associate_public_ip_address": "true",
    "ami_virtualization_type": "hvm",
    "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
    "ami_name": "packer-exaple {{timestamp}}",
    "ami_description": "An example deployment built with Packer.io",
    "vpc_id": "vpc-XXXXX",
    "subnet_id": "subnet-XXXXX",
    "tags": {"Environment": "test",
             "name": "packer.io test"}
  }]
}

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 12 '18 at 15:30

You need to add both vpc_id and subnet_id fields in case you dont have default vpc in the account where you are trying to launch the EC2 during the AMI creation. Here is how I have achieved the same.

"variables": {
    "aws_region": "us-west-2",
    "aws_subnet_id": "subnet-xxxxx",
    "aws_vpc_id": "vpc-xxxxx",
    "aws_ami_name": "CentOS-7-HVM-EBS-{{timestamp}}",
}

"builders": [{
    "vpc_id": "{{user `aws_vpc_id`}}",
    "subnet_id": "{{user `aws_subnet_id`}}",
    "type": "amazon-ebs",
    "region": "{{user `aws_region`}}",
    "instance_type": "t2.micro",
    "ssh_username": "centos",
     "ssh_timeout" : "10m",
    "ami_name": "{{user `aws_ami_name`}}",
    "ami_description": "Latest CentOS AMI with EBS backend on HVM",
    "source_ami_filter": {
        "filters": {
             "virtualization-type": "hvm",
              "name": "ops_aws_cent_7_*",
              "root-device-type": "ebs"
                    },
        "owners": ["xxxxxxxxxxx"],
        "most_recent": true
    }
}]

Packer unable to pack aws image into VPC

3 Answers3