I am in a similar situation as Brian. Having the exact build process for the CentOS AMIs would allow us to not only replicate the process but also verify the origin state for all images which use the base image as a starting point.
Using Packer, we have a relatively streamlined build process for Vagrant, Openstack, XenServer, QEMU, Docker, and VirtualBox We're able to use a standardized kickstart to build all of our base images. We've built a blue printing tool that calculates the state of a running machine. We use the output of this, in conjunction with the kickstart file, Packer configurations, and install media to create a release artifact.
With both Openstack and AWS, instead of using kickstart to create the image, we start with a image and make modifications to this image. However in the case of Openstack, we are able to build a QEMU image first, then upload that to Openstack. This allows us to continue to pair the kickstart with the release, which is very helpful for ensuring completeness when replicating builds in other environments.
While there are other options we have pursued to achieve the ensure the known state of an AMI, in the epistemological sense, having the build process used and approved by CentOS would be immensely helpful. Our preference is to begin with an official CentOS release, whether it be an ISO or an AMI in this case. However the AMI is not only behind in releases, requiring a more intensive update, but is also not as transparent as the minimal 1503 release ISO.
Finally, in regards to the EULA, there is no seamless way to accept the EULA, that I havbe found, without logging in through the web portal. This is a small issue but generally more disruptive than desired for unattended build systems.
Hopefully this adds a little more insight into how some of us are consuming the AMI's and perhaps some of the issues currently presented when trying to achieve parity across the releases.
Thank you,
Joseph F. Reynolds
On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 10:03 AM, Karanbir Singh mail-lists@karan.org wrote:
On 28/07/15 14:58, Brian Lalor wrote:
I’d like to be able to create my own AMIs from scratch and customize
them as I see fit. I’ve solved the problem for my own infrastructure, but I’d like to see how CentOS is doing it, and the process should be laid out for other users to see and expand on. I think this is especially important since the AMI IDs aren’t published directly and the AMIs that are on the marketplace are rather old (and also require you to sign a EULA to use them).
tell me more about this EULA thing, you are using ec2 at that point - and you should not need anything more than that, right ?
-- Karanbir Singh +44-207-0999389 | http://www.karan.org/ | twitter.com/kbsingh GnuPG Key : http://www.karan.org/publickey.asc _______________________________________________ CentOS-devel mailing list CentOS-devel@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-devel