Red Hat Ansible for Network Automation

Procedure 1.1. Instructions

1. Create and change into the ~/proj/ project directory.

   [student@workstation ~]$ mkdir ~/proj
   [student@workstation ~]$ cd ~/proj

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2. Create an Ansible hosts inventory file suitable for managing devices shown in the Lab Network Managed Resources table.

   Use your favorite text editor to create the inventory file. Ensure it has contents similar to the following:

   [leafs]
   leaf[01:02]
   
   [spines]
   spine[01:02]
   
   [cloud-services]
   cs01
   
   [ios:children]
   cloud-services
   
   [vyos:children]
   spines
   leafs
   
   [network:children]
   vyos
   ios
   
   [servers]
   server[01:03]

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3. Verify the inventory.

   [student@workstation proj]$ ansible-inventory -i inventory --graph
   @all:
      |--@network:
      |  |--@ios:
      |  |  |--@cloud-services:
      |  |  |  |--cs01
      |  |--@vyos:
      |  |  |--@leafs:
      |  |  |  |--leaf01
      |  |  |  |--leaf02
      |  |  |--@spines:
      |  |  |  |--spine01
      |  |  |  |--spine02
      |--@servers:
      |  |--server01
      |  |--server02
      |  |--server03
      |--@ungrouped:

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4. Create a local ansible.cfg file that contains your customizations.

   Use your favorite text editor to create an ansible.cfg file with contents similar to the following:

   [defaults]
   host_key_checking = False
   inventory = inventory
   ask_pass = True
   gathering = explicit
   
   [persistent_connection]
   # avoid timing out when configuring slow 102 VM
   command_timeout = 180
   connect_timeout = 100
   connect_rety_timeout = 100

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5. Create a ~/proj/group_vars directory to contain further customizations.

   [student@workstation proj]$ mkdir ~/proj/group_vars

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6. Populate the group_vars/ directory with group files that set the connection method and authentication details (ansible_user).

   Use your favorite text editor to create group_vars files for the network, vyos, and ios host groups. Create them with the following contents:

   [student@workstation proj]$ cat group_vars/network
   ansible_connection: network_cli
   [student@workstation proj]$ cat group_vars/vyos
   ansible_network_os: vyos
   ansible_user: vyos
   [student@workstation proj]$ cat group_vars/ios
   ansible_network_os: ios
   ansible_user: admin

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7. Check your work.

   [student@workstation proj]$ ansible -m debug -a "var=ansible_user" vyos
   SSH password: vyos
   leaf01 | SUCCESS -> {
       "ansible_user": "vyos"
   }
   leaf02 | SUCCESS -> {
       "ansible_user": "vyos"
   }
   spine01 | SUCCESS -> {
       "ansible_user": "vyos"
   }
   spine02 | SUCCESS -> {
       "ansible_user": "vyos"
   }
   
   [student@workstation proj]$ ansible -m ping vyos
   SSH password: vyos
   leaf01 | SUCCESS -> {
       "changed": "false"
       "ping": "pong"
   }
   leaf02 | SUCCESS -> {
       "changed": "false"
       "ping": "pong"
   }
   spine01 | SUCCESS -> {
       "changed": "false"
       "ping": "pong"
   }
   spine02 | SUCCESS -> {
       "changed": "false"
       "ping": "pong"
   }

   A hosts inventory, configuration file, and group variables supporting this particular inventory form a collection that provides an operational foundation for future automation projects. This would be a good time to commit and push it to a Git repository.

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