Post-processor

You can add a post-processor section to your Packer templates. In this case add a Vagrant to an Ubuntu AMI build

"post-processors": ["vagrant"]

So you end with base-aws.tovagrant.json

{
  "variables": {
    "aws_access_key": "{{env `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`}}",
    "aws_secret_key": "{{env `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`}}",
    "aws_session_token": "{{env `AWS_SESSION_TOKEN`}}",
    "build_number": "{{env `BUILD_NUMBER`}}",
    "aws-region": "{{env `AWS_REGION`}}",
    "instance_type": "t2.micro"
  },
  "builders": [
    {
      "type": "amazon-ebs",
      "access_key": "{{user `aws_access_key`}}",
      "secret_key": "{{user `aws_secret_key`}}",
      "token": "{{user `aws_session_token`}}",
      "region": "{{user `aws_region`}}",
      "source_ami_filter": {
        "filters": {
          "virtualization-type": "hvm",
          "name": "RHEL-7.6_HVM_GA-*",
          "root-device-type": "ebs"
        },
        "owners": ["309956199498"],
        "most_recent": true
      },
      "instance_type": "{{ user `instance_type` }}",
      "ssh_username": "ec2-user",
      "ami_name": "RHEL-BASE-v{{user `build_number`}}-{{timestamp}}-AMI",
      "ami_description": "RHEL base AMI",
      "ami_virtualization_type": "hvm",
      "ami_users": "{{ user `ami_users` }}",
      "temporary_key_pair_name": "rhel-packer-{{timestamp}}",
      "vpc_id": "{{user `vpc_id`}}",
      "subnet_id": "{{user `subnet_id`}}",
      "associate_public_ip_address": true,
      "run_tags": {
        "Name": "rhel-base-packer",
        "Application": "base"
      },
      "tags": {
        "OS_Version": "RedHat7",
        "Version": "{{user `build_number`}}",
        "Application": "Base Image",
        "Runner": "EC2"
      }
    }
  ],
  "post-processors": ["vagrant"]
}

When you run this template with this section added:

packer build .\base-aws.tovagrant.json

amazon-ebs output will be in this color.

==> amazon-ebs: Prevalidating AMI Name: RHEL-BASE-v-1553515786-AMI
    amazon-ebs: Found Image ID: ami-0202869bdd0fc8c75
==> amazon-ebs: Creating temporary keypair: rhel-packer-1553515786
==> amazon-ebs: Creating temporary security group for this instance: packer_5c98c50d-5cea-f8fa-e4f9-190bbb536434
==> amazon-ebs: Authorizing access to port 22 from 0.0.0.0/0 in the temporary security group...
==> amazon-ebs: Launching a source AWS instance...
==> amazon-ebs: Adding tags to source instance
    amazon-ebs: Adding tag: "Application": "base"
    amazon-ebs: Adding tag: "Name": "rhel-base-packer"
    amazon-ebs: Instance ID: i-03777753ff9da5a90
==> amazon-ebs: Waiting for instance (i-03777753ff9da5a90) to become ready...
==> amazon-ebs: Using ssh communicator to connect: 54.229.138.43
==> amazon-ebs: Waiting for SSH to become available...
==> amazon-ebs: Connected to SSH!
==> amazon-ebs: Stopping the source instance...
    amazon-ebs: Stopping instance, attempt 1
==> amazon-ebs: Waiting for the instance to stop...
==> amazon-ebs: Creating unencrypted AMI RHEL-BASE-v-1553515786-AMI from instance i-03777753ff9da5a90
    amazon-ebs: AMI: ami-09e36b5de41d52201
==> amazon-ebs: Waiting for AMI to become ready...
==> amazon-ebs: Modifying attributes on AMI (ami-09e36b5de41d52201)...
    amazon-ebs: Modifying: description
==> amazon-ebs: Modifying attributes on snapshot (snap-03c17a67bf38f946f)...
==> amazon-ebs: Adding tags to AMI (ami-09e36b5de41d52201)...
==> amazon-ebs: Tagging snapshot: snap-03c17a67bf38f946f
==> amazon-ebs: Creating AMI tags
    amazon-ebs: Adding tag: "Version": ""
    amazon-ebs: Adding tag: "Application": "Base Image"
    amazon-ebs: Adding tag: "Runner": "EC2"
    amazon-ebs: Adding tag: "OS_Version": "RedHat7"
==> amazon-ebs: Creating snapshot tags
==> amazon-ebs: Terminating the source AWS instance...
==> amazon-ebs: Cleaning up any extra volumes...
==> amazon-ebs: No volumes to clean up, skipping
==> amazon-ebs: Deleting temporary security group...
==> amazon-ebs: Deleting temporary keypair...
==> amazon-ebs: Running post-processor: vagrant
==> amazon-ebs (vagrant): Creating Vagrant box for 'aws' provider
    amazon-ebs (vagrant): Compressing: Vagrantfile
    amazon-ebs (vagrant): Compressing: metadata.json
Build 'amazon-ebs' finished.

==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are:
--> amazon-ebs: AMIs were created:
eu-west-1: ami-09e36b5de41d52201

--> amazon-ebs: 'aws' provider box: packer_amazon-ebs_aws.box

You get your regular AMI made plus you'll notice that the last few lines are different, instead of the usual build and output it leaves you you with a binary file packer_amazon-ebs_aws.box.

This can be added to your Vagrant with:

vagrant box add fancy-box packer_amazon-ebs_aws.box

vagrant box add fancy
-box packer_amazon-ebs_aws.box
==> box: Box file was not detected as metadata. Adding it directly...
==> box: Adding box 'fancy-box' (v0) for provider:
    box: Unpacking necessary files from: file://C:/code/book/Image-Creation-using-Packer/packer-ami/amazon-ebs/linux/packer_amazon-ebs_aws.box
    box: Progress: 100% (Rate: 349k/s, Estimated time remaining: --:--:--)
==> box: Successfully added box 'fancy-box' (v0) for 'aws'!

Amazing!