Red Hat Enterprise Linux Automation with Ansible
In this exercise, you will create a new static inventory containing hosts and groups.
Outcomes
You should be able to create default and custom static inventories.
Log in to workstation as student using student as the password.
On workstation, run the lab deploy-inventory start command. This start script ensures that the managed hosts, servera, serverb, serverc, and serverd, are reachable on the network.
[student@workstation ~]$lab deploy-inventory start
Procedure 2.1. Instructions
Modify
/etc/ansible/hoststo includeservera.lab.example.comas a managed host.Add
servera.lab.example.comto the end of the default inventory file,/etc/ansible/hosts.[student@workstation ~]$sudo vim /etc/ansible/hosts...output omitted... ## db-[99:101]-node.example.comservera.lab.example.comContinue editing the
/etc/ansible/hostsinventory file by adding a[webservers]group to the bottom of the file withserverb.lab.example.comserver as a group member. Save and exit when complete....output omitted... ## db-[99:101]-node.example.com servera.lab.example.com
[webservers]serverb.lab.example.com
Verify the managed hosts in the
/etc/ansible/hostsinventory file.Use the
ansible all --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts in the default inventory file.[student@workstation ~]$ansible all --list-hostshosts (2): servera.lab.example.com serverb.lab.example.comUse the
ansible ungrouped --list-hostscommand to list only managed hosts that do not belong to a group.[student@workstation ~]$ansible ungrouped --list-hostshosts (1): servera.lab.example.comUse the
ansible webservers --list-hostscommand to list only managed hosts that belong to thewebserversgroup.[student@workstation ~]$ansible webservers --list-hostshosts (1): serverb.lab.example.com
Create a custom static inventory file named
inventoryin the/home/student/deploy-inventoryworking directory.Information about your four managed hosts is listed in the following table. You will assign each host to multiple groups for management purposes based on the purpose of the host, the city where it is located, and the deployment environment to which it belongs.
In addition, groups for US cities (Raleigh and Mountain View) must be set up as children of the group
usso that hosts in the United States can be managed as a group.Table 2.1. Server Inventory Specifications
Host name Purpose Location Environment servera.lab.example.comWeb server Raleigh Development serverb.lab.example.comWeb server Raleigh Testing serverc.lab.example.comWeb server Mountain View Production serverd.lab.example.comWeb server London Production Create the
/home/student/deploy-inventoryworking directory, and change into it.[student@workstation ~]$mkdir ~/deploy-inventory[student@workstation ~]$cd ~/deploy-inventory[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$Create an
inventoryfile in the/home/student/deploy-inventoryworking directory. Use the Server Inventory Specifications table as a guide. Edit theinventoryfile and add the following content:[webservers] server[a:d].lab.example.com [raleigh] servera.lab.example.com serverb.lab.example.com [mountainview] serverc.lab.example.com [london] serverd.lab.example.com [development] servera.lab.example.com [testing] serverb.lab.example.com [production] serverc.lab.example.com serverd.lab.example.com [us:children] raleigh mountainview
Use variations of the
ansiblecommand to verify the managed hosts and groups in the customhost-or-group-i inventory --list-hosts/home/student/deploy-inventory/inventoryinventory file.Important
Your
ansiblecommand must include the-i inventoryoption. This makesansibleuse yourinventoryfile in the current working directory instead of the system/etc/ansible/hostsinventory file.Use the
ansible all -i inventory --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts.[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$ansible all -i inventory --list-hostshosts (4): servera.lab.example.com serverb.lab.example.com serverc.lab.example.com serverd.lab.example.comUse the
ansible ungrouped -i inventory --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts listed in the inventory file but are not part of a group. There are no ungrouped managed hosts in this inventory file.[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$ansible ungrouped -i inventory \>--list-hosts[WARNING]: No hosts matched, nothing to do hosts (0):Use the
ansible development -i inventory --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts listed in thedevelopmentgroup.[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$ansible development -i inventory \>--list-hostshosts (1): servera.lab.example.comUse the
ansible testing -i inventory --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts listed in thetestinggroup.[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$ansible testing -i inventory \>--list-hostshosts (1): serverb.lab.example.comUse the
ansible production -i inventory --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts listed in theproductiongroup.[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$ansible production -i inventory \>--list-hostshosts (2): serverc.lab.example.com serverd.lab.example.comUse the
ansible us -i inventory --list-hostscommand to list all managed hosts listed in theusgroup.[student@workstation deploy-inventory]$ansible us -i inventory --list-hostshosts (3): servera.lab.example.com serverb.lab.example.com serverc.lab.example.comYou are encouraged to experiment with other variations to confirm managed host entries in the custom inventory file.
