In this HashiQube DevOps Lab you will learn about Ansible. What it is and how to use it. Further down below I provide you with an Example Ansible Role that runs on all operating systems, and has Molecule built in.
Ansible is a Configuration in Code system. It can do a lot of things for you. Enjoy this hands on DevOps Lab!
Ansible is an open-source software provisioning, configuration management, and application-deployment tool. It runs on many Unix-like systems, and can configure both Unix-like systems as well as Microsoft Windows. It includes its own declarative language to describe system configuration in YAML.
Molecule project is designed to aid in the development and testing of Ansible roles and can speed up local development of Ansible roles and playbooks in magnetude!
Molecule provides support for testing with multiple instances, operating systems and distributions, virtualization providers, test frameworks and testing scenarios.
Molecule encourages an approach that results in consistently developed roles that are well-written, easily understood and maintained.
Molecule supports only the latest two major versions of Ansible (N/N-1), meaning that if the latest version is 2.9.x, we will also test our code with 2.8.x.
When Ansible is executed it uses site.yml as the entry point, this simply points it to the tasks directory.
Because Ansible can operate on Windows, Linux (Deb and RPM based) systems, it's wise to split the tasks up to make it more readable.
Let's first look at the main.yml
As you can see below we are using Ansible Facts to direct the different Operating Systems to their own Task file.
Let's have a look at Enterprise Linux (RPM YUM based) el.yml
Let's have a look at Debian/Ubuntu Linux (DEB based) deb.yml
Let's have a look at Windows windows.yml
Using Molecule, we can quickly test our Role or Playbook against many Operating Systems.
In our Ansible Role Example Role which supports Redhat, Centos, Ubuntu, Debian and Windows we have an example Molecule YAML file
Molecule use providers such as docker or virtualbox to create the target instances to run the playbook against.
The Targets are configured in molecule/molecule.yml
For this example we will use:
- Ubuntu 22.04
- Windows 2019
From the Hashiqube Cloned repo do:
cd ansible/roles/ansible-role-example-role && ./run.sh
An example Ansible Role that you can use which covers, Red Hat, Centos, Ubuntu, Debian and Windows Targets.
Further reading see: Ansible Role Example Role
Ansible Galaxy is the Ansible's official community hub for sharing Ansible roles. It is a community and a shared resource hub where people can download roles or Playbooks
To download community roles and playbooks from remote repositories you need a requirements.txt file foe example
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/RHEL8-CIS'
version: '1.3.0'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/RHEL7-CIS'
version: '1.1.0'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/UBUNTU22-CIS'
version: 'main'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/UBUNTU20-CIS'
version: '1.1.0'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/UBUNTU18-CIS'
version: '1.3.0'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/Windows-2016-CIS'
version: '1.2.1'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/ansible-lockdown/Windows-2019-CIS'
version: '1.1.1'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/star3am/ansible-role-win_openssh'
version: 'ssh-playbook-test'
scm: 'git'
- src: 'https://github.com/elastic/ansible-elasticsearch'
version: 'v7.17.0'
scm: 'git'You can then download them by using this command:
ansible-galaxy install -f -r ansible/galaxy/requirements.yml -p ansible/galaxy/roles/
This is an Ansible Example Role used for training and development
- M1 and M2 Mac Architectures are NOT supported at this stage
- Hyper-V is not supported at this stage
- Your Vagrant version on Windows and in WSL MUST be the same
- Installing WSL could give error:
Catastrophic failure
PS C:\Windows\system32> wsl --install
Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux
Catastrophic failure
Restart laptop, run this installation command again, and make sure nothing is downloading in the background at the same time when running the command.
- WSL Ubuntu Install could give error:
An error occurred during installation. Distribution Name: 'Ubuntu' Error Code: 0x8000ffff
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --install -d ubuntu
Installing: Ubuntu
An error occurred during installation. Distribution Name: 'Ubuntu' Error Code: 0x8000ffff
Follow this link: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1434150/wsl-ubuntu-installation-fails-with-the-error-please-restart-wsl-with-the-follo and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual#step-4---download-the-linux-kernel-update-package
Note : Run wsl --install -d Ubuntu in non administrative mode in powershell
PS C:\Users\User> wsl --shutdown
PS C:\Users\User> wsl --unregister Ubuntu
-
If you have error when creating python virtual env:
Close WSL and run Restart-Service -Name "LxssManager"as Administrator in Powershell, restart WSL and./run.shagain -
If you have error when bringing up VM:
vagrant was unable to communicate with the guest machine within the configured time period
Set WSL Ubuntu Distro to version 1: run wsl --set-version Ubuntu 1in powershell, restart WSL and run./run.shagain
💡 IMPORTANT Install these Tools first, before we start actually using Molecule to develop our Ansible Roles
- Git - https://git-scm.com
- VSCode - https://code.visualstudio.com
- Vagrant - https://www.vagrantup.com
- Virtualbox - https://www.virtualbox.org
- Python and Pip - https://www.python.org
- Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL (Windows Operating System), install as Administrator in Powershell - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
- WSL Ubuntu Distro, install as Non-Administrator in Powershell
wsl --install -d Ubuntu - Set WSL Ubuntu Distro to version 1
wsl --set-version Ubuntu 1 - SSHPass - https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-install-sshpass-on-macos-os-x/
The Role supports the following Operating Systems and versions
See: molecule/default/molecule.yml
| Name | Docker | Virtualbox | Hyper-V | Host Arch | Host OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 2016 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Windows 2019 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Redhat 7.9 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Redhat 8.3 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Centos 7.7 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Centos 8.3 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Ubuntu 18.04 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Ubuntu 20.04 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Ubuntu 22.04 | ✘ | ✓ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Debian 9 | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Debian 10 | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | amd64 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
Here is how you can get up and running quickly, this section is devided into Windows using Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL and Mac OSX (Sorry Intel Mac's only at this stage) and Linux
Install all the Tools you need in the Get Started Section
Install Python
sudo apt update && sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-dev python3-virtualenv python3-venv
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3 1 --force
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/pip pip /usr/bin/pip3 1 --forceInstall SSHPass program
sudo apt-get install -y sshpassInstall Hashicorp Package Sources
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install vagrant
echo 1 > /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/WSLInteropInstall Powershell in Ubuntu on WSL
sudo apt-get install -y wget apt-transport-https software-properties-common
wget -q "https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/$(lsb_release -rs)/packages-microsoft-prod.deb"
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y powershellNow let's run Molecule by going into the source directory where you cloned this repo, usually in Ubuntu on WSL somewhere under /mnt/c/....
and do
./run.sh
Allow all 3 types of network when set up Firewall for VirtualBox
Install all the Tools you need in the Get Started Section
Install SSHPass
brew tap esolitos/ipa
brew install esolitos/ipa/sshpass
brew install sshpassNow let's run Molecule by going into the source directory where you cloned this repo
and do
./run.sh
After Molecule bringing up the Ubuntu VM in VirtualBox, to test connection to vagrant in VM, open a new WSL Ubuntu window, and run ssh [email protected] -p 3225 or ssh vagrant@localhost -p 3225. Login with password: vagrant.
Succesful ouput should be as below:
- https://developer.hashicorp.com/vagrant/docs/other/wsl#path-modifications
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45375933/vagrant-wsl-cant-access-virtualbox
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
- https://molecule.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting-started.html
- https://www.ansible.com/hubfs//AnsibleFest%20ATL%20Slide%20Decks/Practical%20Ansible%20Testing%20with%20Molecule.pdf
- https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2018/testing-your-ansible-roles-molecule
- https://app.vagrantup.com/jborean93
- https://github.com/jborean93/packer-windoze
- https://www.ansible.com/
- https://molecule.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
fatal: [ansible-role-example-role-ubuntu-2204]: FAILED! => {"msg": "to use the 'ssh' connection type with passwords or pkcs11_provider, you must install the sshpass program"}
Did you install the SSHPass application? See Get Started Section