Network Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

From the automation controller web UI, create the GitLab Projects source control credential resource. Configure the credential to use authentication information for the git.lab.example.com server.

1. Navigate to https://controller.lab.example.com and log in as admin using redhat as the password.

2. Navigate to Resources → Credentials and click Add. If you do not see the Resources menu, then click the main menu icon at the upper left of the page. Create the credential with the following settings:

   Field	Value
   Name	GitLab Projects
   Organization	Default
   Credential Type	Source Control
   Username	student
   SCM Private Key	Content of the /home/student/.ssh/gitlab_rsa file.

   Note

   If you choose to browse for the file, then right-click anywhere in the directory navigation and select Show Hidden Files. With this option enabled you can see the .ssh directory in the /home/student directory.

3. Click Save.

Create the Managed Nodes machine credential such that it contains authentication information for the devices in the lab environment.

1. Navigate to Resources → Credentials and click Add. Create the credential with the following settings and then click Save:

   Field	Value
   Name	Managed Nodes
   Organization	Default
   Credential Type	Machine
   Username	student
   SSH Private Key	Content of the /home/student/.ssh/lab_rsa file.

Create the Comprehensive Review project resource and configure the project to pull files from the git@git.lab.example.com:student/compreview Git repository.

1. Navigate to Resources → Projects and click Add. Create the project with the following settings and then click Save:

   Field	Value
   Name	Comprehensive Review
   Organization	Default
   Source Control Type	Git
   Source Control URL	git@git.lab.example.com:student/compreview
   Source Control Branch/Tag/Commit	main
   Source Control Credential	GitLab Projects
   Options	Delete
   	Allow Branch Override

2. After you click Save, automation controller immediately attempts to synchronize the project. Verify that the Last Job Status field updates to indicate that the project synchronization succeeded.

Create the Common Nodes inventory resource and add the Project Inventory source to the inventory. Synchronize the inventory source and verify that the inventory contains the expected hosts and host groups.

1. Navigate to Resources → Inventories and then click Add → Add inventory. Create the inventory with the following settings:

   Field	Value
   Name	Common Nodes
   Organization	Default

2. Click Save.

3. From the Sources tab, click Add. Create the inventory source with the following settings:

   Field	Value
   Name	Project Inventory
   Source	Sourced from a Project
   Project	Comprehensive Review
   Inventory file	inventory-controller.yaml

   Important

   Although the inventory-controller.yaml file does not appear in the Inventory file list, you can type the name of the file. After typing the file name, press the Enter key rather than the Tab key.

4. Click Save.

5. Click Sync to synchronize the inventory source. The Last Job Status field updates to indicate that the synchronization succeeded.

6. Click the Back to Sources tab and then click the Details tab. The Details page for the Common Nodes inventory does not define the ansible_user and ansible_ssh_private_key_file variables.

   Important

   If the Common Nodes inventory defines the ansible_user and ansible_ssh_private_key_file variables, then you entered the inventory.yaml file as the source. Update the Project Inventory source so that it uses the inventory-controller.yaml file. You might also need to update the variables defined for the Common Nodes inventory to remove the undesired variables.

7. From the Details page for the Common Nodes inventory, click the Hosts tab to display the imported hosts. Click the Groups tab to display the imported groups. The inventory source imported the following hosts and host groups:

   Host	Host group
   arista1.lab.example.com	eos
   arista2.lab.example.com	eos
   iosxe1.lab.example.com	ios
   iosxe2.lab.example.com	ios
   junos1.lab.example.com	junos
   junos2.lab.example.com	junos
   workstation.lab.example.com	Ungrouped

Create a job template named Configure Interfaces that uses the config_interfaces.yml playbook to configure interface descriptions.

1. Navigate to Resources → Templates and then click Add → Add job template. Create the job template with the following settings and then click Save:

   Field	Value
   Name	Configure Interfaces
   Inventory	Common Nodes
   Project	Comprehensive Review
   Playbook	config_interfaces.yml
   Credentials	Managed Nodes

Create a job template named Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog that uses the deploy.yml playbook to add DNS, NTP, and Syslog servers.

1. Navigate to Resources → Templates and then click Add → Add job template. Create the job template with the following settings and then click Save:

   Field	Value
   Name	Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog
   Inventory	Common Nodes
   Project	Comprehensive Review
   Playbook	deploy.yml
   Credentials	Managed Nodes

Create a job template named Create Backups that uses the net_backup.yml playbook to generate new backup files.

1. Navigate to Resources → Templates and then click Add → Add job template. Create the job template with the following settings and then click Save:

   Field	Value
   Name	Create Backups
   Inventory	Common Nodes
   Project	Comprehensive Review
   Playbook	net_backup.yml
   Credentials	Managed Nodes

Create a workflow template named Configure & Back up that belongs to the Default organization and uses the Common Nodes inventory.

1. Navigate to Resources → Templates and then click Add → Add workflow template. Create the workflow template with the following settings and then click Save:

   Field	Value
   Name	Configure & Back up
   Organization	Default
   Inventory	Common Nodes

Add a Project Sync node named Project Sync to synchronize the Comprehensive Review project.

1. In the visualizer, click Start.

2. On the Add Node page, select Project Sync in the Node Type list.

3. Select the Comprehensive Review project.

4. Enter Project Sync in the Node Alias field and then click Save.

Add an Inventory Source Sync node named Inventory Sync that synchronizes the Project Inventory source if the Project Sync node succeeds.

1. In the visualizer, hover over the Project Sync node and click the + icon to add a new node.

   Note

   You might need to increase the display resolution on the workstation machine, decrease the web browser zoom, or both, to see the entire visualizer display screen.

   If your mouse has a scroll wheel, then you can use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out of the visualizer.

2. On the Run type page, select the On Success condition and then click Next.

3. On the Node type page, select Inventory Source Sync in the Node Type list.

4. Select the Project Inventory source.

5. Enter Inventory Sync in the Node Alias field and then click Save.

Add a Job Template node that launches the Configure Interfaces job template to configure interface descriptions if the Inventory Sync node succeeds.

1. In the visualizer, hover over the Inventory Sync node and click the + icon to add a new node.

2. On the Run type page, select the On Success condition and then click Next.

3. On the Node type page, select the Configure Interfaces job template.

4. Click Save.

Add a Job Template node that launches the Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog job template to add DNS, NTP, and Syslog servers if the Inventory Sync node succeeds.

1. In the visualizer, hover over the Inventory Sync node and then click the + icon to add a new node.

2. On the Run type page, select the On Success condition and then click Next.

3. On the Node type page, select the Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog job template.

4. Click Save.

Add a job template node that launches the Create Backups job template to generate new backup files if both the Configure Interfaces and Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog nodes succeed.

1. In the visualizer, hover over the Configure Interaces node and then click the + icon to add a new node.

2. On the Run type page, select the On Success condition and then click Next.

3. On the Node type page, select the Create Backups job template.

4. Select All from the Convergence menu and then click Save. This convergence setting indicates that all parent nodes that point to the Create Backups node must match their defined conditions.

   Notice that the icon for the Create Backups node contains the word ALL to indicate the convergence setting.

5. Hover over the Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog node and then click the Link to an available node icon.

6. Hover over the Create Backups node. The visualizer displays a dashed line with an arrow pointing to the node. Click the Create Backups node.

7. Click Save to accept the default On Success condition.

8. Click Save again in the upper-right corner to save this workflow template.

   After this step, the completed workflow template should appear as follows:

   Figure 8.2: Completed workflow template

Add a survey to the Config & Back up workflow template, which prompts for a location to store the backup files.

1. Navigate to Resources → Templates and click the Configure & Back up link.

2. Click the Survey tab and then click Add to begin. Create the survey question with the following settings:

   Field	Value
   Question	Enter an absolute path to the backup directory:
   Answer variable name	backup_store
   Answer type	Text
   Required	(selected)
   Minimum length	2
   Maximum length	100
   Default Answer	/backups

   Note

   The net_backup.yml playbook (used by the Create Backups node) includes the net_backup role. This role creates the directory defined by the value of the backup_store variable.

3. Click Save.

4. Enable the survey for the Config & Back up job template. Click Survey Disabled and verify that the label changes to Survey Enabled.

Launch the Configure & Back up workflow template and observe the result.

1. Navigate to Resources → Templates.

2. Click the Launch Template icon for the Configure & Back up workflow template.

3. Enter /compreview as the response to the survey question and then click Next.

4. Click Launch to launch the workflow template with /compreview as the value for the backup_store variable.

5. Monitor the workflow. All nodes in the workflow succeed.

Verify that the /compreview directory exists on the workstation machine and that the directory contains a backup file for each managed node in the ios and junos inventory host groups.

1. List the contents of the /compreview directory:

   [student@workstation ~]$ ls -1 /compreview
   iosxe1.lab.example.com.cfg
   iosxe2.lab.example.com.cfg
   junos1.lab.example.com.cfg
   junos2.lab.example.com.cfg

2. (Optional) Inspect one or more of the backup files for changes made by the Configure Interfaces and the Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog job templates.

   The Configure Interfaces job template added the Managed by Ansible description to some interfaces on the managed nodes.

   The Deploy DNS, NTP, & Syslog job template added the following servers:

   Server type	Added servers
   DNS	172.25.250.220 and 172.25.240.220
   NTP	172.25.23.240 and 172.25.23.230
   Syslog	192.168.10.10 and 192.168.11.10