In this talk I'll provide a comprehensive understanding of how to effectively utilize Packer, Ansible, and Terraform in infrastructure automation. We'll start with an introductory overview of each tool, shedding light on their individual roles and strengths.

An essential aspect of the talk is the balance between image configuration and post-provisioning setups. We delve into the strategies of when to bake configurations into an image using Packer and when to apply configurations post-VM-provisioning using Ansible, including best practice guidelines for each scenario.

By the end of this talk, I hope you'll depart with the knowledge to optimize your infrastructure automation, understanding when and how to use these tools individually or in combination to achieve efficiency and scalability.