HashiCorp Packer is a powerful automation tool that lets you build highly customized machine images consistently across multiple platforms. This blog walks you through how to use Packer to create AWS AMIs that come preconfigured with a Prometheus Node Exporter running as a Linux service. It explains how templated image builds streamline deployments, improve reliability, and maintain consistent observability stacks. You will also learn how Prometheus is deployed as a Docker container and begins scraping metrics from both the node and prometheus itself, immediately after launch. The post emphasizes best practices for operational efficiency and repeatability, helping readers to adopt production-grade image automation with confidence. By following the steps, users gain practical insights into building optimized, monitoring-ready infrastructure using Packer in a real-world AWS scenario.

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