Developing Advanced Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

On the workstation machine, clone the https://git.lab.example.com/student/review-cr1.git repository into the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/ directory, and create a branch named student/inventory-edits.

1. Clone the repository to the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/ directory:

   [student@workstation ~]$ mkdir -p git-repos/review-cr1
   [student@workstation ~]$ git clone \
   > https://git.lab.example.com/student/review-cr1.git \
   > /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/

2. Change to the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/ directory. Create a branch named student/inventory-edits and switch to it:

   [student@workstation ~]$ cd /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/
   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git checkout -b student/inventory-edits
   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git status
   On branch student/inventory-edits
   nothing to commit, working tree clean

Configure Git to ignore any files with the .log file extension, and the .ssh/ and collections/ansible_collections/ directories. Git should not track or commit these files or directories.

1. Create a /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/.gitignore file with the following content:

   *.log
   .ssh/
   collections/ansible_collections

Retrieve a token from https://hub.lab.example.com, logging in as the student user with the password redhat123, and then use it to update the token option in the ansible.cfg file. Use the ansible-galaxy command to install the collections. The collections must be available to the execution environment, so they must be installed in the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/collections/ directory.

1. Log in to the private automation hub at https://hub.lab.example.com as the student user and using redhat123 as the password.

2. Navigate to Collections → API token management and then click Load token. Copy the API token.

3. Using the copied token, update the token line in the ansible.cfg file. Your token is probably different from the one that is displayed in this example.

   ...output omitted...
   
   [galaxy_server.community_repo]
   url=https://hub.lab.example.com/api/galaxy/content/community/
   token=f41f07130d6eb6ef2ded63a574c161b509c647dd

4. Use the ansible-galaxy command to install the community.mysql content collection into the collections/ directory.

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ ansible-galaxy collection install \
   > -r collections/requirements.yml
   Starting galaxy collection install process
   ...output omitted...
   Installing 'community.mysql:3.5.1' to '/home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/collections/ansible_collections/community/mysql'
   community.mysql:3.5.1 was installed successfully

5. Automation content navigator should use the ee-supported-rhel8:latest image as the default automation execution environment and should not generate playbook artifacts. Create the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/ansible-navigator.yml file with the following content:

   ---
   ansible-navigator:
     execution-environment:
       image: ee-supported-rhel8:latest
     playbook-artifact:
       enable: false

Remove the variables from the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/haproxy.yml playbook to make it more flexible.

1. Edit the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/haproxy.yml playbook and remove the vars: section. The completed playbook should contain the following content:

   ---
   - name: Deploy haproxy
     hosts: haproxy
     become: true
   
     tasks:
   ...output omitted...

2. Create the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/group_vars/{haproxy,web,db} directories:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ mkdir -p \
   > /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/group_vars/{haproxy,web,db}

3. Create the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/group_vars/haproxy/vars.yml file and add the lb_service and firewall_services variables into it:

   ---
   lb_service: haproxy
   firewall_services:
     - http
     - https

4. Create the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/group_vars/web/vars.yml file and add the web_service and firewall_services variables to it:

   ---
   web_service: httpd
   firewall_services:
     - http
     - https

5. Create the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/group_vars/db/vars.yml file and add the db_service and db_port variables to it:

   ---
   db_service: mariadb
   db_port: 3306/tcp

6. Add the db group to the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/inventory/inventory-static.yml inventory file with the single host serverd.lab.example.com:

   web:
     hosts:
       serverb.lab.example.com:
       serverc.lab.example.com:
   
   db:
     hosts:
       serverd.lab.example.com:

Use automation content navigator to run the playbooks.

1. Verify that automation content navigator is installed, and if not, install it.

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ rpm -q ansible-navigator
   ansible-navigator-2.1.0-1.el8ap.noarch

   Note

   You might need to install automation content navigator:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ sudo yum install ansible-navigator
   [sudo] password for student: student
   ...output omitted...

2. The /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/haproxy.yml playbook runs against the haproxy group that is defined in the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/inventory/inventory-dynamic.py dynamic inventory file. This inventory file must have execute permissions before it can be used:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ chmod 755 inventory/inventory-dynamic.py

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

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ podman login hub.lab.example.com
   Username: student
   Password: redhat123
   Login Succeeded!

4. Run the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/haproxy.yml playbook:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ ansible-navigator run -m stdout haproxy.yml
   ...output omitted...

5. Run the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/webapp.yml playbook:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ ansible-navigator run -m stdout webapp.yml
   ...output omitted...

6. Run the /home/student/git-repos/review-cr1/db.yml playbooks:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ ansible-navigator run -m stdout db.yml
   ...output omitted...

Verify that the web application is up:

[student@workstation review-cr1]$ curl http://servera.lab.example.com
This is the server serverc and the database is up
[student@workstation review-cr1]$ curl http://servera.lab.example.com
This is the server serverb and the database is up

Push your changes to the student/inventory-edits branch.

1. List all modified and untracked files:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git status
   On branch student/inventory-edits
   Changes not staged for commit:
     (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
     (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
           modified:    ansible.cfg
           modified:    haproxy.yml
           modified:    inventory/inventory-dynamic.py
           modified:    inventory/inventory-static.yml
   
   Untracked files:
     (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
           .gitignore
           ansible-navigator.yml
           group_vars/
   
   no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

2. Add the files you created and edited to the staging area:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git add --all

3. Commit the staged files to the local repository:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git commit -m 'updating inventory'
   ...output omitted...

4. Push the changes from the local repository to the student/inventory-edits branch on the remote repository. If prompted, use Student@123 as the Git password.

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git push -u origin student/inventory-edits
   Password for 'https://student@git.lab.example.com': Student@123
   ...output omitted...

5. Verify that your changes were pushed to the student/inventory-edits branch:

   [student@workstation review-cr1]$ git status
   On branch student/inventory-edits
   Your branch is up to date with 'origin/student/inventory-edits'.
   
   nothing to commit, working tree clean