Developing Advanced Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Procedure 9.3. Instructions

1. The lab start builder-validate command set up a test playbook, ~/builder-validate/motd-test.yml, which uses the exercise.motd.banner role in the exercise.motd Ansible Content Collection. Review the test playbook and the inventory file provided by the lab command.

   1. Change into the ~/builder-validate/ directory.

      [student@workstation ~]$ cd ~/builder-validate/
      [student@workstation builder-validate]$

   2. Review the contents of the motd-test.yml playbook.

      ---
      - name: Test banner role from exercise.motd collection
        hosts: all
        collections:
          - exercise.motd
        roles:
          - name: exercise.motd.banner

      The playbook calls the banner role from the exercise.motd content collection. Notice that the single play targets all inventory hosts.

   3. Review the inventory file.

      [servers]
      serverc
      serverd

2. Display the existing messages of the day for the serverc machine.

   1. Use the ssh command to connect to the serverc machine as the student user.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ssh student@serverc
      Activate the web console with: systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket 
      
      Register this system with Red Hat Insights: insights-client --register 
      Create an account or view all your systems at https://red.ht/insights-dashboard

      	The /etc/motd.d/cockpit file contains the message to activate the web console.
      	The /etc/motd.d/insights-client file contains the Red Hat Insights message.

   2. Use the logout command to return to the workstation machine.

      [student@serverc ~]$ logout
      Connection to serverc closed.
      [student@workstation builder-validate]$

3. Run the ~/builder-validate/motd-test.yml playbook. Try the default automation execution environment selected by ansible-navigator first, and when that fails, test the custom ee-motd-minimal automation execution environment that includes the exercise.motd collection. (This custom automation execution environment is the same as the one you created in the preceding guided exercise, but has been prepared by the lab command.)

   1. Attempt to run the motd-test.yml playbook using the ansible-navigator command. The attempt fails because the exercise.motd.banner role from the custom exercise.motd collection is not installed on the workstation machine.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ansible-navigator run motd-test.yml \
      > -m stdout
      ERROR! the role 'exercise.motd.banner' was not found in exercise.motd:ansible.legacy:/home/student/builder-validate/roles:/home/runner/.ansible/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles:/home/student/builder-validate
      
      The error appears to be in '/home/student/builder-validate/motd-test.yml': line 7, column 7, but may
      be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.
      
      The offending line appears to be:
      
        roles:
          - name: exercise.motd.banner
            ^ here

   2. List the local container images.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ podman images
      REPOSITORY                 TAG         IMAGE ID      ...
      localhost/ee-motd-minimal  latest      77c649cc9312  ...
      ...output omitted...

      Note

      Your machine might display additional images, and the image ID for the localhost/ee-motd-minimal container image might be different.

   3. Use the ansible-navigator command with the following options to run the motd-test.yml playbook. The SSH connection password is redhat.

      Option	Purpose
      --eei localhost/ee-motd-minimal	Select the custom container image for the execution environment.
      --pp never	Do not attempt to download the container image from a container image repository.
      --pae false	Disable the creation of playbook artifacts. This option also allows prompting for passwords.
      -k	Prompt for the SSH connection password.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ansible-navigator run motd-test.yml \
      > --eei localhost/ee-motd-minimal --pp never --pae false -k -m stdout
      SSH password: redhat
      
      PLAY [Test banner role from exercise.motd collection] **************************
      
      TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
      ok: [serverc]
      ok: [serverd]
      
      TASK [exercise.motd.banner : Ensure /etc/motd.d/ exists] ***********************
      ok: [serverc]
      ok: [serverd]
      
      TASK [exercise.motd.banner : Create custom motd banner] ************************
      changed: [serverc]
      changed: [serverd]
      
      PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
      serverc                    : ok=3    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0  ...
      serverd                    : ok=3    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0  ...

4. Verify that the playbook run configured the serverc machine to include an additional message of the day (MOTD) message.

   1. Use the ssh command to connect to the serverc machine as the student user.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ssh student@serverc
      Activate the web console with: systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket
      
      Register this system with Red Hat Insights: insights-client --register
      Create an account or view all your systems at https://red.ht/insights-dashboard
      ================================================================================
      ================================================================================
      ==                                                                            ==
      ==                     This system is managed by Ansible.                     ==
      ==                                                                            ==
      ================================================================================
      ================================================================================
      ...output omitted...

      In addition to the previous web console and Red Hat Insights messages, there is a new message indicating that the system is managed by Ansible. This new message comes from the /etc/motd.d/banner file.

   2. Use the logout command to return to the workstation machine.

      [student@serverc ~]$ logout
      Connection to serverc closed.
      [student@workstation builder-validate]$

5. Publish the tested localhost/ee-motd-minimal execution environment to the container registry on the classroom private automation hub.

   1. Use the podman tag command to add the hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal label to the localhost/ee-motd-minimal image. The command does not produce any output.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ podman tag localhost/ee-motd-minimal \
      > hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal

   2. Use the podman login command to log in to private automation hub at hub.lab.example.com:

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ podman login hub.lab.example.com
      Username: student
      Password: redhat123
      Login Succeeded!

   3. Push the hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal container image to private automation hub.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ podman push \
      > hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal
      ...output omitted...
      Writing manifest to image destination
      Storing signatures

      Note

      In some cases, the entire container image is not pushed to private automation hub. If the podman push command produces an error, then try rerunning the command.

   4. Open a web browser and navigate to https://hub.lab.example.com. Log in with student as the username and redhat123 as the password.

   5. From the private automation hub web UI, navigate to Execution Environments → Execution Environments. The Execution Environments page lists the ee-motd-minimal container repository.

6. Verify that the image can be retrieved from the container registry on the classroom private automation hub and that it works.

   1. Display the existing MOTD messages for the servere machine.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ssh student@servere
      Activate the web console with: systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket
      
      Register this system with Red Hat Insights: insights-client --register
      Create an account or view all your systems at https://red.ht/insights-dashboard

   2. Use the logout command to return to the workstation machine.

      [student@servere ~]$ logout
      Connection to servere closed.
      [student@workstation builder-validate]$

   3. Add servere to the existing inventory file.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ echo "servere" >> inventory

   4. Rerun the motd-test.yml playbook using the ansible-navigator run command and use the following options. The SSH connection password is redhat.

      Option	Purpose
      --eei hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal	Select the custom container image for the execution environment.
      --pp always	Always download the container image from the container image repository.
      --pae false	Disable the creation of playbook artifacts. This option also allows prompting for passwords.
      -k	Prompt for the SSH connection password.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ansible-navigator run motd-test.yml \
      > --eei hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal --pp always --pae false -k \
      > -m stdout
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Execution environment image and pull policy overview
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Execution environment image name:     hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal:latest
      Execution environment image tag:      latest
      Execution environment pull arguments: None
      Execution environment pull policy:    always
      Execution environment pull needed:    True
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Updating the execution environment
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Running the command: podman pull hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal:latest
      Trying to pull hub.lab.example.com/ee-motd-minimal:latest...
      Getting image source signatures
      Copying blob c64247c247c3 skipped: already exists
      ...output omitted...
      Writing manifest to image destination
      Storing signatures
      778e5596d50c79db2d2e67e7534b7c37ba48a8c8afa6bc7a375bb6b700f91379
      SSH password: redhat
      
      ...output omitted...

   5. Verify that the servere machine now contains the additional MOTD message.

      [student@workstation builder-validate]$ ssh student@servere
      Activate the web console with: systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket
      
      Register this system with Red Hat Insights: insights-client --register
      Create an account or view all your systems at https://red.ht/insights-dashboard
      ================================================================================
      ================================================================================
      ==                                                                            ==
      ==                     This system is managed by Ansible.                     ==
      ==                                                                            ==
      ================================================================================
      ================================================================================
      ...output omitted...

   6. Use the logout command to return to the workstation machine.

      [student@servere ~]$ logout
      Connection to servere closed.
      [student@workstation builder-validate]$