mariusvw/ansible-summary.md

## ansible-summary.md

      
    Raw
  

              ansible-summary.md
            
          
    An Ansible summary

Patterns


all (or *)
hostname: foo.example.com
groupname: webservers
or: webservers:dbserver
exclude: webserver:!phoenix
intersection: webservers:&staging

Patterns can be variable substitutions: {{foo}}, wildcards: *.example.com, and regular expressions: ~(web|db).*\.example\.com
Inventory files

'INI-file' structure, blocks define groups. Hosts alowed in more than one group. Non-standard SSH port can follow hostname seperated by ':' (but see also ansible_ssh_port below).
Hostname ranges: www[01:50].example.com, db-[a:f].example.com
Per-host variables: foo.example.com foo=bar baz=wibble
Speial sections:


[foo:children]: new group foo contaning all members if included groups
[foo:vars]: variable definitions for all members of group foo

Variable files:

YAML; given inventory file at .../hosts:

...group_vars/foo: variable definitions for all members of group foo
...host_vars/foo.example.com: variable definitions for foo.example.com

Behavorial inventory parameters:


ansible_ssh_host
ansible_ssh_port
ansible_ssh_user
ansible_ssh_pass
ansible_sudo_pass
ansible_connection
ansible_ssh_private_key_file
ansible_python_interpreter
ansible\_\*\_interpreter

Playbook example structure

Playbooks are a YAML list of one or more plays. Plays look like this - most (all?) keys are optional:
---
- include: playbook.yml
- name: example
  hosts: webservers
  gather_facts: no
  vars:
    http_port: 80
  vars_file:
    - "vars.yml"
    - [ "try-first.yml", "try-second-.yml" ]
  vars_prompt:
    - name: "my_password2"
      prompt: "Enter password2"
      default: "secret"
      private: yes
      encrypt: "md5_crypt"
      confirm: yes
      salt_size: 7
  remote_user: root
  sudo: yes
  sudo_user: postgress
  pre_tasks:
    - shell: echo 'pre'
    - <more tasks>
  roles:
    - common
    - { role: foo, dir: '/opt/a', port: 5000, when: "bar == 'Baz'" }
    - <more roles>
  tasks:
    - include: tasks.yml foo=bar baz=wibble
    - include: other-tasks.yml
    - name: example task
      vars:
        foo: bar
        baz:
          - one
          - two
      template: src=template.j2 dest=/etc/foo.conf
      when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
      register: var
      notify:
        - restart apache
      remote_user: apache
      sudo: yes
      ignore_errors: True
    - <more tasks>  
  post_tasks:
    - shell: echo 'post'
    - <more tasks>
  handlers:
    - include: handlers.yml
    - name: restart apache
      service: name=httpd state=restarted
    - <more handlers>
  - <more plays>

Modules

List all installed modules with
ansible-doc --list

Document a particular module with
ansible-doc <module>

Show playbook snippet for specified module
ansible-doc -i <module>

Variables

Names: letters, digits, underscores; starting with a letter.
Substitution examples:


{{ var }}
{{ var["key1"]["key2"]}}
{{ var.key1.key2 }}
{{ list[0] }}

Souces:


Highest priority:

--extra-vars on the command line


General:

vars component of a playbook
From files referenced by vars_file in a playbook
From included files (incl. roles)
Paameters passed to includes
Facts (see below)
Any /etc/ansible/facts.d/filename.fact on managed machines (sets variables with `ansible_local.filename. prefix)
register: in tasks


Lower priority:

Inventory (set on host or group)


Lowest priority

Role defaults (from defaults/main.yml)


Built-in:


hostvars (e.g. hostvars[other.example.com][...])
group_names (groups containing current host)
groups (all groups and hosts in the inventory)
inventory_hostname (current host as in inventory)
inventory_hostname_short (first component of inventory_hostname)
play_hosts (hostnames in scope for current play)
inventory_dir (location of the inventory)
inventoty_file (name of the inventory)

Facts:

Run ansible hostname -m setup, but in particular:

ansible_distribution
ansible_distribution_release
ansible_distribution_version
ansible_fqdn
ansible_hostname
ansible_os_family
ansible_pkg_mgr
ansible_default_ipv4.address
ansible_default_ipv6.address

Content of 'registered' variables:


.rc
.stdout
.stdout_lines
.changed
.msg
.results (when used in a loop)

Additionally available in templates:


ansible_managed: string containing the information below
template_host: node name of the templateâx128x153s machine
template_uid: the owner
template_path: absolute path of the template
template_fullpath: the absolute path of the template
template_run_date: the date that the template was rendered

Filters


{{ var | to_nice_json }}
{{ var | to_json }}
{{ var | from_json }}
{{ var | to_nice_yml }}
{{ var | to_yml }}
{{ var | from_yml }}
{{ result | failed }}
{{ result | changed }}
{{ result | success }}
{{ result | skipped }}
{{ var | manditory }}
{{ var | default(5) }}
{{ list1 | unique }}
{{ list1 | union(list2) }}
{{ list1 | intersect(list2) }}
{{ list1 | difference(list2) }}
{{ list1 | symmetric_difference(list2) }}
{{ path | basename }}
{{ path | dirname }}
{{ path | expanduser }}
{{ path | realpath }}
{{ var | b64decode }}
{{ var | b64encode }}
{{ filename | md5 }}
{{ var | bool }}
{{ var | int }}
{{ var | quote }}
{{ var | md5 }}
{{ var | fileglob }}
{{ var | match }}
{{ var | search }}
{{ var | regex }}

See also default jinja2 filters. In YAML, values starting { must be quoted.
Lookups


{{ lookup('file', '/etc/foo.txt') }}
{{ lookup('password', '/tmp/passwordfile chars=ascii') }}
{{ lookup('env','HOME') }}
{{ lookup('pipe','date') }}
{{ lookup('redis_kv', 'redis://localhost:6379,somekey') }}
{{ lookup('dnstxt', 'example.com') }}
{{ lookup('template', './some_template.j2') }}

Conditions

when:

var == "Vaue", var >= 5, etc.
var, where var coreces to boolean (yes, true, True, TRUE)
var is defined, var is not defined
<condition1> and <condition2> (also or?)

Combined with with_items, the when statement is processed for each item.
when can also be applied to includes and roles.
Loops

Standard:

- user: name={{ item }} state=present groups=wheel
  with_items:
    - testuser1
    - testuser2
   
  with_items:
    - { name: 'testuser1', groups: 'wheel' }
    - { name: 'testuser2', groups: 'root' }

  with_items: somelist

Nested:

- mysql_user: name={{ item[0] }} priv={{ item[1] }}.*:ALL                
                           append_privs=yes password=foo
  with_nested:
    - [ 'alice', 'bob', 'eve' ]
    - [ 'clientdb', 'employeedb', 'providerdb' ]

Over hashes:

Given
---
users:
  alice:
    name: Alice Appleworth
    telephone: 123-456-7890
  bob:
    name: Bob Bananarama
    telephone: 987-654-3210
    
tasks:
  - name: Print phone records
    debug: msg="User {{ item.key }} is {{ item.value.name }} 
                     ({{ item.value.telephone }})"
    with_dict: users

Fileglob:

- copy: src={{ item }} dest=/etc/fooapp/ owner=root mode=600
  with_fileglob:
    - /playbooks/files/fooapp/*

With content of file:

(see example for authorized_key module)
- authorized_key: user=deploy key="{{ item }}"
  with_file:
    - public_keys/doe-jane
    - public_keys/doe-john

Parallel stes of data:

Given
---
alpha: [ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd' ]
numbers:  [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

- debug: msg="{{ item.0 }} and {{ item.1 }}"
  with_together:
    - alpha
    - numbers

Subelements:

Given
---
users:
  - name: alice
    authorized:
      - /tmp/alice/onekey.pub
      - /tmp/alice/twokey.pub
  - name: bob
    authorized:
      - /tmp/bob/id_rsa.pub

- authorized_key: "user={{ item.0.name }} 
                   key='{{ lookup('file', item.1) }}'"
  with_subelements:
     - users
     - authorized

Integer sequence:

Decimal, hexadecimal (0x3f8) or octal (0600)
- user: name={{ item }} state=present groups=evens
  with_sequence: start=0 end=32 format=testuser%02x
      
  with_sequence: start=4 end=16 stride=2
      
  with_sequence: count=4

Randon choice:

- debug: msg={{ item }}
  with_random_choice:
     - "go through the door"
     - "drink from the goblet"
     - "press the red button"
     - "do nothing"

Do-Until:

- action: shell /usr/bin/foo
  register: result
  until: result.stdout.find("all systems go") != -1
  retries: 5
  delay: 10

Results of a local program:

- name: Example of looping over a command result
  shell: /usr/bin/frobnicate {{ item }}
  with_lines: /usr/bin/frobnications_per_host 
                       --param {{ inventory_hostname }}

Indexed list:

- name: indexed loop demo
  debug: msg="at array position {{ item.0 }} there is 
                                     a value {{ item.1 }}"
  with_indexed_items: some_list

Flattened list:

---
# file: roles/foo/vars/main.yml
packages_base:
  - [ 'foo-package', 'bar-package' ]
packages_apps:
  - [ ['one-package', 'two-package' ]]
  - [ ['red-package'], ['blue-package']]
  
- name: flattened loop demo
  yum: name={{ item }} state=installed
  with_flattened:
    - packages_base
    - packages_apps      

First found:

- name: template a file
  template: src={{ item }} dest=/etc/myapp/foo.conf
  with_first_found:
    - files:
        - {{ ansible_distribution }}.conf
        - default.conf
      paths:
         - search_location_one/somedir/
         - /opt/other_location/somedir/

Roles

Directory structure:
playbook.yml
roles/
   common/
     tasks/
       main.yml
     handlers/
       main.yml
     vars/
       main.yml
     meta/
       main.yml
     defaults/
       main.yml
     files/
     templates/

See documentation for role dependancies.
Tags

Both plays and tasks support a âx128x156tags:âx128x157 attribute.
- template: src=templates/src.j2 dest=/etc/foo.conf
  tags:
    - configuration

Tags can be applied to roles and includes (effectivly taggaing all included tasks)
roles:
    - { role: webserver, port: 5000, tags: [ 'web', 'foo' ] }

- include: foo.yml tags=web,foo

To select by tag:
ansible-playbook example.yml --tags "configuration,packages"
ansible-playbook example.yml --skip-tags "notification" 

Command lines

ansible

Usage: ansible <host-pattern> [options]

Options:
  -a MODULE_ARGS, --args=MODULE_ARGS
                        module arguments
  -k, --ask-pass        ask for SSH password
  --ask-su-pass         ask for su password
  -K, --ask-sudo-pass   ask for sudo password
  --ask-vault-pass      ask for vault password
  -B SECONDS, --background=SECONDS
                        run asynchronously, failing after X seconds
                        (default=N/A)
  -C, --check           don't make any changes; instead, try to predict some
                        of the changes that may occur
  -c CONNECTION, --connection=CONNECTION
                        connection type to use (default=smart)
  -f FORKS, --forks=FORKS
                        specify number of parallel processes to use
                        (default=5)
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INVENTORY, --inventory-file=INVENTORY
                        specify inventory host file
                        (default=/etc/ansible/hosts)
  -l SUBSET, --limit=SUBSET
                        further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern
  --list-hosts          outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute
                        anything else
  -m MODULE_NAME, --module-name=MODULE_NAME
                        module name to execute (default=command)
  -M MODULE_PATH, --module-path=MODULE_PATH
                        specify path(s) to module library
                        (default=/usr/share/ansible)
  -o, --one-line        condense output
  -P POLL_INTERVAL, --poll=POLL_INTERVAL
                        set the poll interval if using -B (default=15)
  --private-key=PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
                        use this file to authenticate the connection
  -S, --su              run operations with su
  -R SU_USER, --su-user=SU_USER
                        run operations with su as this user (default=root)
  -s, --sudo            run operations with sudo (nopasswd)
  -U SUDO_USER, --sudo-user=SUDO_USER
                        desired sudo user (default=root)
  -T TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
                        override the SSH timeout in seconds (default=10)
  -t TREE, --tree=TREE  log output to this directory
  -u REMOTE_USER, --user=REMOTE_USER
                        connect as this user (default=jw35)
  --vault-password-file=VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE
                        vault password file
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
                        connection debugging)
  --version             show program's version number and exit

ansible-playbook

Usage: ansible-playbook playbook.yml

Options:
  -k, --ask-pass        ask for SSH password
  --ask-su-pass         ask for su password
  -K, --ask-sudo-pass   ask for sudo password
  --ask-vault-pass      ask for vault password
  -C, --check           don't make any changes; instead, try to predict some
                        of the changes that may occur
  -c CONNECTION, --connection=CONNECTION
                        connection type to use (default=smart)
  -D, --diff            when changing (small) files and templates, show the
                        differences in those files; works great with --check
  -e EXTRA_VARS, --extra-vars=EXTRA_VARS
                        set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON
  -f FORKS, --forks=FORKS
                        specify number of parallel processes to use
                        (default=5)
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INVENTORY, --inventory-file=INVENTORY
                        specify inventory host file
                        (default=/etc/ansible/hosts)
  -l SUBSET, --limit=SUBSET
                        further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern
  --list-hosts          outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute
                        anything else
  --list-tasks          list all tasks that would be executed
  -M MODULE_PATH, --module-path=MODULE_PATH
                        specify path(s) to module library
                        (default=/usr/share/ansible)
  --private-key=PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
                        use this file to authenticate the connection
  --skip-tags=SKIP_TAGS
                        only run plays and tasks whose tags do not match these
                        values
  --start-at-task=START_AT
                        start the playbook at the task matching this name
  --step                one-step-at-a-time: confirm each task before running
  -S, --su              run operations with su
  -R SU_USER, --su-user=SU_USER
                        run operations with su as this user (default=root)
  -s, --sudo            run operations with sudo (nopasswd)
  -U SUDO_USER, --sudo-user=SUDO_USER
                        desired sudo user (default=root)
  --syntax-check        perform a syntax check on the playbook, but do not
                        execute it
  -t TAGS, --tags=TAGS  only run plays and tasks tagged with these values
  -T TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
                        override the SSH timeout in seconds (default=10)
  -u REMOTE_USER, --user=REMOTE_USER
                        connect as this user (default=jw35)
  --vault-password-file=VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE
                        vault password file
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
                        connection debugging)
  --version             show program's version number and exit

ansible-vault

Usage: ansible-vault [create|decrypt|edit|encrypt|rekey] [--help] [options] file_name

Options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

See 'ansible-vault <command> --help' for more information on a specific command.

ansible-doc

Usage: ansible-doc [options] [module...]

Show Ansible module documentation

Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -M MODULE_PATH, --module-path=MODULE_PATH
                             Ansible modules/ directory
  -l, --list            List available modules
  -s, --snippet         Show playbook snippet for specified module(s)
  -v                    Show version number and exit

ansible-galaxy

Usage: ansible-galaxy [init|info|install|list|remove] [--help] [options] ...

Options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

  See 'ansible-galaxy <command> --help' for more information on a
  specific command 

ansible-pull

Usage: ansible-pull [options] [playbook.yml]

ansible-pull: error: URL for repository not specified, use -h for help