Managing Enterprise Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Configure the /home/student/aap2.2-bundle/inventory file for automation mesh.

1. Change to the /home/student/aap2.2-bundle directory.

   [student@workstation ~]$ cd ~/aap2.2-bundle/

2. Add the controller.lab.example.com and control2.lab.example.com hosts to the [automationcontroller] section of the inventory file. When completed, the inventory file contains the following content for the [automationcontroller] section:

   [automationcontroller]
   controller.lab.example.com
   control2.lab.example.com

3. Configure variables in the [automationcontroller:vars] section.

   • Remove the existing peers=execution_nodes line so that you can define peer connections in the [execution_nodes] section.

   • Add the node_type=control line to indicate that the control nodes should be configured as the control node type.

   • Configure the web_server_ssl_cert and web_server_ssl_key variables for each control node using Jinja2 variables. Alternatively, configure these variables in the [automationcontroller] section using the absolute path to each file.

   When completed, the inventory file contains the following content for the [automationcontroller:vars] section:

   [automationcontroller:vars]
   node_type=control
   web_server_ssl_cert=/home/student/certs/{{ inventory_hostname }}.crt
   web_server_ssl_key=/home/student/certs/{{ inventory_hostname }}.key

4. Configure variables in the [execution_nodes] section.

   • Add the exec1.lab.example.com host as an execution node and have it peer with hosts defined in the [automationcontroller] section.

   • Add the exec2.lab.example.com and exec3.lab.example.com hosts as execution nodes and have both hosts peer with the hop1.lab.example.com host.

   • Add the hop1.lab.example.com host as a hop node and have it peer with hosts defined in the [automationcontroller] section.

   When completed, the inventory file contains the following content for the [execution_nodes] section:

   [execution_nodes]
   exec1.lab.example.com peers=automationcontroller
   exec2.lab.example.com peers=hop1.lab.example.com
   exec3.lab.example.com peers=hop1.lab.example.com
   hop1.lab.example.com node_type=hop peers=automationcontroller

5. Add the hub.lab.example.com host to the [automationhub] section. When completed, the inventory file contains the following content for the [automationhub] section:

   [automationhub]
   hub.lab.example.com

6. Add the db.lab.example.com host to the [database] section. When completed, the inventory file contains the following content for the [database] section:

   [database]
   db.lab.example.com

7. Configure common variables in the [all:vars] section. All other variables should retain their original value from the inventory file.

   admin_password='redhat'
   pg_host='db.lab.example.com'
   pg_password='redhat'
   registry_url='hub.lab.example.com'
   registry_username='admin'
   registry_password='redhat'
   automationhub_admin_password='redhat'
   automationhub_pg_host='db.lab.example.com'
   automationhub_pg_password='redhat'
   custom_ca_cert=/home/student/certs/classroom-ca.pem
   automationhub_ssl_cert=/home/student/certs/hub.lab.example.com.crt
   automationhub_ssl_key=/home/student/certs/hub.lab.example.com.key
   postgres_use_ssl=True
   postgres_ssl_cert=/home/student/certs/db.lab.example.com.crt
   postgres_ssl_key=/home/student/certs/db.lab.example.com.key

   Note

   The /home/student/compreview-mesh directory contains inventory files that you can use for comparison.

Validate the automation mesh configuration defined in the /home/student/aap2.2-bundle/inventory file.

1. Use the ./setup.sh -- --tag generate_dot_file command to generate a topology file.

   [student@workstation aap2.2-bundle]$ ./setup.sh -- --tag generate_dot_file
   ...output omitted...
   TASK [debug] *******************************************************************
   ok: [controller.lab.example.com] => {
       "msg": "Ansible Mesh topology graph created at 'mesh-topology.dot'. To render your dot graph, you could run: dot -Tjpg mesh-topology.dot -o graph-topology.jpg\n"
   }
   ...output omitted...

2. Install the graphviz package. When prompted, enter student for the password and then install the package.

   [student@workstation aap2.2-bundle]$ sudo yum install graphviz
   [sudo] password for student: student
   ...output omitted...

3. Render the generated topology file using the dot command.

   [student@workstation aap2.2-bundle]$ dot -Tjpg mesh-topology.dot \
   > -o graph-topology.jpg

4. Open the /home/student/aap2.2-bundle/graph-topology.jpg file in a web browser. The graphic should look similar to the following example.

   Figure 12.2: Expected automation mesh topology

Initiate the Ansible Automation Platform installation as the root user using the /home/student/aap2.2-bundle/setup.sh script. Because the systems in the classroom environment do not meet the minimum installation requirements, you must add the -e ignore_preflight_errors=true option.

1. Use the sudo command to change to the root user, using student as the password.

   [student@workstation aap2.2-bundle]$ sudo -i
   [sudo] password for student: student
   [root@workstation ~]#

2. Change to the /home/student/aap2.2-bundle directory.

   [root@workstation ~]# cd /home/student/aap2.2-bundle/

3. Run the setup.sh script with -e ignore_preflight_errors=true set to ignore the results of checks it makes before the installation starts. (The classroom systems have less RAM than is optimal for a production installation.) The installation takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. The output of your installation might be slightly different from the following output.

   [root@workstation aap2.2-bundle]# ./setup.sh -e ignore_preflight_errors=true
   ...output omitted...
   PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
   control2.lab.example.com   : ok=246  changed=129  ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=5
   controller.lab.example.com : ok=263  changed=52   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=1
   db.lab.example.com         : ok=73   changed=12   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=1
   exec1.lab.example.com      : ok=104  changed=51   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=3
   exec2.lab.example.com      : ok=104  changed=51   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=3
   exec3.lab.example.com      : ok=104  changed=51   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=3
   hop1.lab.example.com       : ok=83   changed=36   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=2
   hub.lab.example.com        : ok=195  changed=22   ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=1
   localhost                  : ok=3    changed=1    ...  failed=0  ...  ignored=0
   
   The setup process completed successfully.
   [warn] /var/log/tower does not exist. Setup log saved to setup.log.

4. Exit from the root user session.

   [root@workstation aap2.2-bundle]# exit

Create two automation controller instance groups and assign execution nodes to the instance groups using the following table:

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

2. Navigate to Administration → Instance Groups and then click Add → Add instance group.

3. Create the first instance group using public as the name and then click Save.

4. Click the Instances tab and then click Associate.

5. Select the exec1.lab.example.com host and then click Save.

6. Navigate to Administration → Instance Groups and then click Add → Add instance group.

7. Create the second instance group using internal as the name and then click Save.

8. Click the Instances tab and then click Associate.

9. Select the exec2.lab.example.com and exec3.lab.example.com hosts and then click Save.

Use the automation controller web UI to verify the automation mesh installation and the instance groups specified in this exercise.

1. Navigate to Administration → Topology View. Your automation mesh environment should display a graphic similar to the following:

   Figure 12.3: Automation mesh topology view

   • All nodes are healthy.

   • The node type of each node matches the exercise specifications.

   • The execution nodes can communicate with the control nodes.

2. Navigate to Administration → Instance Groups. Your instance groups should match the following:

   Figure 12.4: Automation controller instance groups

   • The installer created the controlplane instance group and associated the controller.lab.example.com and control2.lab.example.com instances with the instance group.

   • The installer created the default instance group and associated the exec1.lab.example.com, exec2.lab.example.com, and exec3.lab.example.com instances with the instance group.

   • You created the internal instance group and associated the exec2.lab.example.com and exec3.lab.example.com instances with the instance group.

   • You created the public instance group and associated the exec1.lab.example.com instance with the instance group.