Summary

In this chapter, we discussed important strategies to consider when scaling Packer builds to large and complex image strategies. We built some simple tooling to prepare for automation later. The ultimate goal of Packer in a regulated environment is not to run builds manually but to have a collaborative workflow using GitOps, letting automation pipelines take care of the rest, which an entire team can observe. We also studied storage strategies and compression options for images when storage requirements grow. This will be very important in the next chapter when a single code commit may trigger multiple automation pipelines and image outputs. These topics will prepare you to use efficient image strategies and also ensure you don’t run out of storage space with redundant or inefficient artifacts and images. The next chapter applies what we learned here in a much better workflow, and selecting the right strategy for code structure and parallel operations will become more...