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Google Cloud Deployment Manager vs Packer: What are the differences?
Developers describe Google Cloud Deployment Manager as "Create and manage cloud resources with simple templates". Google Cloud Deployment Manager allows you to specify all the resources needed for your application in a declarative format using yaml. On the other hand, Packer is detailed as "Create identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration". Packer automates the creation of any type of machine image. It embraces modern configuration management by encouraging you to use automated scripts to install and configure the software within your Packer-made images.
Google Cloud Deployment Manager and Packer can be categorized as "Infrastructure Build" tools.
Packer is an open source tool with 9.09K GitHub stars and 2.48K GitHub forks. Here's a link to Packer's open source repository on GitHub.
I personally am not a huge fan of vendor lock in for multiple reasons:
- I've seen cost saving moves to the cloud end up costing a fortune and trapping companies due to over utilization of cloud specific features.
- I've seen S3 failures nearly take down half the internet.
- I've seen companies get stuck in the cloud because they aren't built cloud agnostic.
I choose to use terraform for my cloud provisioning for these reasons:
- It's cloud agnostic so I can use it no matter where I am.
- It isn't difficult to use and uses a relatively easy to read language.
- It tests infrastructure before running it, and enables me to see and keep changes up to date.
- It runs from the same CLI I do most of my CM work from.
Context: I wanted to create an end to end IoT data pipeline simulation in Google Cloud IoT Core and other GCP services. I never touched Terraform meaningfully until working on this project, and it's one of the best explorations in my development career. The documentation and syntax is incredibly human-readable and friendly. I'm used to building infrastructure through the google apis via Python , but I'm so glad past Sung did not make that decision. I was tempted to use Google Cloud Deployment Manager, but the templates were a bit convoluted by first impression. I'm glad past Sung did not make this decision either.
Solution: Leveraging Google Cloud Build Google Cloud Run Google Cloud Bigtable Google BigQuery Google Cloud Storage Google Compute Engine along with some other fun tools, I can deploy over 40 GCP resources using Terraform!
Check Out My Architecture: CLICK ME
Check out the GitHub repo attached
Pros of Google Cloud Deployment Manager
- Automates infrastructure deployments2
- Fast deploy and update1
- Infrastracture as a code1
- Easy to deploy for GCP1
Pros of Packer
- Cross platform builds27
- Vm creation automation9
- Bake in security4
- Good documentation1
- Easy to use1
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Cons of Google Cloud Deployment Manager
- Only using in GCP1
Cons of Packer
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What is Google Cloud Deployment Manager?
What is Packer?
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