builder/amazon: support auto spot price discovery [GH-1465]

builder/amazon/common/run_config.go

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ type RunConfig struct {
 	RunTags                  map[string]string `mapstructure:"run_tags"`
 	SourceAmi                string            `mapstructure:"source_ami"`
 	SpotPrice                string            `mapstructure:"spot_price"`
+	SpotPriceAutoProduct     string            `mapstructure:"spot_price_auto_product"`
 	RawSSHTimeout            string            `mapstructure:"ssh_timeout"`
 	SSHUsername              string            `mapstructure:"ssh_username"`
 	SSHPrivateKeyFile        string            `mapstructure:"ssh_private_key_file"`
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ func (c *RunConfig) Prepare(t *packer.ConfigTemplate) []error {
 		"iam_instance_profile":    &c.IamInstanceProfile,
 		"instance_type":           &c.InstanceType,
 		"spot_price":              &c.SpotPrice,
+		"spot_price_auto_product": &c.SpotPriceAutoProduct,
 		"ssh_timeout":             &c.RawSSHTimeout,
 		"ssh_username":            &c.SSHUsername,
 		"ssh_private_key_file":    &c.SSHPrivateKeyFile,
@@ -97,6 +99,13 @@ func (c *RunConfig) Prepare(t *packer.ConfigTemplate) []error {
 		errs = append(errs, errors.New("An instance_type must be specified"))
 	}
 
+	if c.SpotPrice == "auto" {
+		if c.SpotPriceAutoProduct == "" {
+			errs = append(errs, errors.New(
+				"spot_price_auto_product must be specified when spot_price is auto"))
+		}
+	}
+
 	if c.SSHUsername == "" {
 		errs = append(errs, errors.New("An ssh_username must be specified"))
 	}

builder/amazon/common/run_config_test.go

@@ -47,6 +47,19 @@ func TestRunConfigPrepare_SourceAmi(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRunConfigPrepare_SpotAuto(t *testing.T) {
+	c := testConfig()
+	c.SpotPrice = "auto"
+	if err := c.Prepare(nil); len(err) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	c.SpotPriceAutoProduct = "foo"
+	if err := c.Prepare(nil); len(err) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRunConfigPrepare_SSHPort(t *testing.T) {
 	c := testConfig()
 	c.SSHPort = 0

builder/amazon/common/step_run_source_instance.go

@@ -2,15 +2,18 @@ package common
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
+	"strconv"
+	"time"
+
 	"github.com/mitchellh/goamz/ec2"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/multistep"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
-	"io/ioutil"
 )
 
 type StepRunSourceInstance struct {
 	AssociatePublicIpAddress bool
-	SpotPrice                string
 	AvailabilityZone         string
 	BlockDevices             BlockDevices
 	Debug                    bool
@@ -18,12 +21,15 @@ type StepRunSourceInstance struct {
 	InstanceType             string
 	IamInstanceProfile       string
 	SourceAMI                string
+	SpotPrice                string
+	SpotPriceProduct         string
 	SubnetId                 string
 	Tags                     map[string]string
 	UserData                 string
 	UserDataFile             string
-	spotRequest              *ec2.SpotRequestResult
+
 	instance    *ec2.Instance
+	spotRequest *ec2.SpotRequestResult
 }
 
 func (s *StepRunSourceInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepAction {
@@ -68,8 +74,52 @@ func (s *StepRunSourceInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepActi
 		return multistep.ActionHalt
 	}
 
-	var instanceId []string
-	if s.SpotPrice == "" {
+	spotPrice := s.SpotPrice
+	if spotPrice == "auto" {
+		ui.Message(fmt.Sprintf(
+			"Finding spot price for %s %s...",
+			s.SpotPriceProduct, s.InstanceType))
+
+		// Detect the spot price
+		startTime := time.Now().Add(-1 * time.Hour)
+		resp, err := ec2conn.DescribeSpotPriceHistory(&ec2.DescribeSpotPriceHistory{
+			InstanceType:       []string{s.InstanceType},
+			ProductDescription: []string{s.SpotPriceProduct},
+			AvailabilityZone:   s.AvailabilityZone,
+			StartTime:          startTime,
+		})
+		if err != nil {
+			err := fmt.Errorf("Error finding spot price: %s", err)
+			state.Put("error", err)
+			ui.Error(err.Error())
+			return multistep.ActionHalt
+		}
+
+		var price float64
+		for _, history := range resp.History {
+			log.Printf("[INFO] Candidate spot price: %s", history.SpotPrice)
+			current, err := strconv.ParseFloat(history.SpotPrice, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Printf("[ERR] Error parsing spot price: %s", err)
+				continue
+			}
+			if price == 0 || current < price {
+				price = current
+			}
+		}
+		if price == 0 {
+			err := fmt.Errorf("No candidate spot prices found!")
+			state.Put("error", err)
+			ui.Error(err.Error())
+			return multistep.ActionHalt
+		}
+
+		spotPrice = strconv.FormatFloat(price, 'f', -1, 64)
+	}
+
+	var instanceId string
+
+	if spotPrice == "" {
 		runOpts := &ec2.RunInstances{
 			KeyName:                  keyName,
 			ImageId:                  s.SourceAMI,
@@ -91,14 +141,14 @@ func (s *StepRunSourceInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepActi
 			ui.Error(err.Error())
 			return multistep.ActionHalt
 		}
-		instanceId = []string{runResp.Instances[0].InstanceId}
+		instanceId = runResp.Instances[0].InstanceId
 	} else {
 		ui.Message(fmt.Sprintf(
 			"Requesting spot instance '%s' for: %s",
-			s.InstanceType, s.SpotPrice))
+			s.InstanceType, spotPrice))
 
 		runOpts := &ec2.RequestSpotInstances{
-			SpotPrice:                s.SpotPrice,
+			SpotPrice:                spotPrice,
 			KeyName:                  keyName,
 			ImageId:                  s.SourceAMI,
 			InstanceType:             s.InstanceType,
@@ -142,10 +192,10 @@ func (s *StepRunSourceInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepActi
 			ui.Error(err.Error())
 			return multistep.ActionHalt
 		}
-		instanceId = []string{spotResp.SpotRequestResults[0].InstanceId}
+		instanceId = spotResp.SpotRequestResults[0].InstanceId
 	}
 
-	instanceResp, err := ec2conn.Instances(instanceId, nil)
+	instanceResp, err := ec2conn.Instances([]string{instanceId}, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		err := fmt.Errorf("Error finding source instance (%s): %s", instanceId, err)
 		state.Put("error", err)

builder/amazon/ebs/builder.go

@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook, cache packer.Cache) (packe
 			Debug:                    b.config.PackerDebug,
 			ExpectedRootDevice:       "ebs",
 			SpotPrice:                b.config.SpotPrice,
+			SpotPriceProduct:         b.config.SpotPriceAutoProduct,
 			InstanceType:             b.config.InstanceType,
 			UserData:                 b.config.UserData,
 			UserDataFile:             b.config.UserDataFile,

builder/amazon/instance/builder.go

@@ -207,6 +207,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook, cache packer.Cache) (packe
 		&awscommon.StepRunSourceInstance{
 			Debug:                    b.config.PackerDebug,
 			SpotPrice:                b.config.SpotPrice,
+			SpotPriceProduct:         b.config.SpotPriceAutoProduct,
 			InstanceType:             b.config.InstanceType,
 			IamInstanceProfile:       b.config.IamInstanceProfile,
 			UserData:                 b.config.UserData,

website/source/docs/builders/amazon-ebs.html.markdown

@@ -124,8 +124,13 @@ each category, the available configuration keys are alphabetized.
   to create the AMI. It is a type of instances that EC2 starts when the maximum
   price that you specify exceeds the current spot price. Spot price will be
   updated based on available spot instance capacity and current spot Instance
-  requests. It may save you some costs. For example, it takes only "0.001" to
-  launch a spot "m3.medium" instance while "0.07" needed for on-demand.
+  requests. It may save you some costs. You can set this to "auto" for
+  Packer to automatically discover the best spot price.
+
+* `spot_price_auto_product` (string) - Required if `spot_price` is set to
+  "auto". This tells Packer what sort of AMI you're launching to find the best
+   spot price. This must be one of: `Linux/UNIX`, `SUSE Linux`, `Windows`,
+   `Linux/UNIX (Amazon VPC)`, `SUSE Linux (Amazon VPC)`, `Windows (Amazon VPC)`
 
 * `ssh_port` (integer) - The port that SSH will be available on. This defaults
   to port 22.

website/source/docs/builders/amazon-instance.html.markdown

@@ -162,8 +162,13 @@ each category, the available configuration keys are alphabetized.
   to create the AMI. It is a type of instances that EC2 starts when the maximum
   price that you specify exceeds the current spot price. Spot price will be
   updated based on available spot instance capacity and current spot Instance
-  requests. It may save you some costs. For example, it takes only "0.001" to
-  launch a spot "m3.medium" instance while "0.07" needed for on-demand.
+  requests. It may save you some costs. You can set this to "auto" for
+  Packer to automatically discover the best spot price.
+
+* `spot_price_auto_product` (string) - Required if `spot_price` is set to
+  "auto". This tells Packer what sort of AMI you're launching to find the best
+   spot price. This must be one of: `Linux/UNIX`, `SUSE Linux`, `Windows`,
+   `Linux/UNIX (Amazon VPC)`, `SUSE Linux (Amazon VPC)`, `Windows (Amazon VPC)`
 
 * `ssh_port` (integer) - The port that SSH will be available on. This defaults
   to port 22.