1. Getting Started

2. Preparing your workstation

2.1. Red Hat subscriptions

  • Some deployments would require a Red Hat Customer Portal account that has appropriate subscriptions. This is not required for the playbook themselves.

Note
Red Hat employee subscriptions can be used

2.2. AgnosticD with Execution Environment

It is possible to run agnosticd with containers. This way you just need a container runtime, usually podman for Linux and Docker for mac. The tools/execution_environments directory contains builds scripts for our supported Execution Environment (EE).

Ansible Execution environments
Naming convention

Supported Execution environments for agnosticd should be named using one of the following conventions:

  • ee-<python virtualenv> - Execution Environments for legacy python virtualenvs available on ../virtualenvs Ex: ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-11-30

  • ee-<purpose> - execution environment customized for a particular purpose. For example, the <purpose> string could be to support a particular version of a cloud provider different from what is included in the multi-cloud environment. Ansible version should be 2.9+ and python version should be 3.6+. Ex: ee-multicloud. Version can be added as tag using semantic versioning.

Requirement:

  • podman or docker installed and configured on your workstation.

  • ansible-navigator installed, see below for instructions

Available public images are listed on Quay here:

Private Images (reference only)

Requirement:

Supported images, based on supported Execution Environments, are available in the private registry image-registry.apps.open.redhat.com.

To login to the registry, get a token using the OCP client as follows:

podman login -u unused -p $(oc whoami -t) image-registry.apps.open.redhat.com

List of support EE can be found on the production clusters by looking at images in the agnosticd namespace.

As of 2022-03-07, the list is:

oc get is -n agnosticd
NAME                                                 IMAGE REPOSITORY                                                                                                                               TAGS            UPDATED
ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-01-22                   default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps.ocp-us-west-2.infra.open.redhat.com/agnosticd/ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-01-22                   latest          6 hours ago
ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-11-30                   default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps.ocp-us-west-2.infra.open.redhat.com/agnosticd/ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-11-30                   latest          4 hours ago
ee-azure_open_envs-ansible2.9-python3.6-2022-01-10   default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps.ocp-us-west-2.infra.open.redhat.com/agnosticd/ee-azure_open_envs-ansible2.9-python3.6-2022-01-10   latest          6 hours ago
ee-equinix_metal-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-07-02     default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps.ocp-us-west-2.infra.open.redhat.com/agnosticd/ee-equinix_metal-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-07-02     latest          6 hours ago
ee-equinix_metal-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-11-03     default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps.ocp-us-west-2.infra.open.redhat.com/agnosticd/ee-equinix_metal-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-11-03     latest          4 hours ago
ee-multicloud                                        default-route-openshift-image-registry.apps.ocp-us-west-2.infra.open.redhat.com/agnosticd/ee-multicloud                                        v0.0.4,v0.0.3   7 hours ago
ansible-navigator

ansible-navigator is the preferred tool for running AgnosticD. With this CLI tool, you can use the supported agnosticd images. It has both a static stdout mode and an interactive mode.

Installation

See Upstream project: https://github.com/ansible/ansible-navigator for complete instructions.

You can use requirements-ee.txt or just install it with pip:

pip3 install 'ansible-navigator[ansible-core]'
Usage with agnosticd

To use Execution Environments, you need to run agnosticd with ansible-navigator.

Example with test-empty-config
# Run from agnosticd directory
cd agnosticd

ansible-navigator run ansible/main.yml \
--eei quay.io/agnosticd/ee-multicloud:latest \
-e @ansible/configs/test-empty-config/sample_vars.yml
Note
On Mac, you probably want to change the container engine to docker, using --ce docker
Example with community image and a secrets directory
ansible-navigator run ansible/main.yml \
--eei quay.io/agnosticd/ee-multicloud:latest \
--eev ~/secrets:/secrets \
-e @ansible/configs/test-empty-config/sample_vars_ec2.yml \
-e @/secrets/dev.yml
Note
Add --mode stdout option to mimic ansible-playbook simple output.
Example with test-empty-config With AWS
# Run from agnosticd directory
cd agnosticd

ansible-navigator run ansible/main.yml \
--eei quay.io/agnosticd/ee-multicloud:latest \
--eev ~/secrets:/secrets \
-e @ansible/configs/test-empty-config/sample_vars_ec2.yml \
-e @/secrets/dev.yml

Some of the arguments in the above example can be setup in a config file, in your home directory.

~/.ansible-navigator.yaml
ansible-navigator:
  execution-environment:
    image: quay.io/agnosticd/ee-multicloud:latest
    volume-mounts:
      - src: /home/fridim/vars
        dest: /vars
      - src: /home/fridim/secrets
        dest: /secrets
      - src: /tmp
        dest: /tmp
  mode: stdout

Then the command is much simpler:

Run agnosticd with EE and a configured ansible-navigator
ansible-navigator run ansible/main.yml \
-e @ansible/configs/test-empty-config/sample_vars_ec2.yml \
-e @/secrets/dev.yml

Please refer to upstream documentation for configuring ansible-navigator.

Build

To build a new version of ee-multicloud, you can simply open a PR to update its file:

  • Containerfile

  • requirements.txt (python modules)

  • requirements.yml (ansible collections)

  • …​

A GitHub workflow will automatically create the image and push it to Quay using a tag temporary-pr-1234 with 1234 being the id of the Pull Request.

Alternatively, you can build from your local machine:

cd ee-multicloud-public
podman build . -t ee-multicloud:mytag
Build supported images (reference only)

Requirements:

Setup your workstation
mkdir -p ~/virtualenvs/ansible-builder
python3 -mvenv ~/virtualenvs/ansible-builder
. ~/virtualenvs/ansible-builder/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements-ee.txt
Login to necessary registries
podman login quay.io
podman login registry.redhat.io
podman login -u unused -p $(oc whoami -t) image-registry.apps.open.redhat.com

Execution environment images should always target specific dated versions.

Example
ansible-builder build --tag ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-10-29
Push to the private registry
  • PROD image-registry.apps.open.redhat.com

Login to the registry
# prod
podman login -u unused -p $(oc whoami -t) image-registry.apps.open.redhat.com
Push a tag
registry=image-registry.apps.open.redhat.com

#replace with the image tag you want to push
name=ee-ansible2.9-python3.6-2021-10-29
podman push $name $registry/agnosticd/$name

name=ee-multicloud:v0.1.1
podman push $name $registry/agnosticd/$name

2.4. Workstation setup for AWS

2.4.1. Prerequisites

This is a configuration guide of the packages and repos you need to install the tools, but a previoulsy existing AWS account is needed.

2.4.2. Steps

  • Python

  • Python Boto version 2.41 or greater

  • Git any version would do.

  • Ansible version 2.1.2 or greater

  • awscli bundle tested with version 1.11.32 Python and the Python dependencies may be installed via your OS' package manager (eg: python2-boto on Fedora/CentOS/RHEL) or via pip. Python virtualenv can also work.

Note
on Fedora, all dependencies are packaged and can be easily installed via dnf install wget git awscli python3-boto3 ansible ansible-lint yamllint (botocore and python will be pulled automatically through dependencies). The lint tools are optional but are recommended tools to check the quality of your code.
Example script to install required software
# Install basic packages
yum install -y  wget python python-boto unzip python2-boto3.noarch tmux git ansible

# Another option to configure python boto is:
git clone git://github.com/boto/boto.git
cd boto
python setup.py install

#Install boto3
pip install boto3

#Install pywinrm if you plan to deploy windows VMs
#pip install pywinrm

# Enable epel repositories for Ansible
cd /tmp
wget https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm
sudo yum -y install `ls *epel*.rpm`

# Install ansible and checked install version (required 2.2.0.0)
yum install -y ansible
ansible --version


## Install aws cli
curl "https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-cli/awscli-bundle.zip" -o "awscli-bundle.zip"
unzip awscli-bundle.zip
sudo ./awscli-bundle/install -i /usr/local/aws -b /bin/aws
aws --version
Mac OS installation steps:
# Install Python3
brew install python

# For python2 do
brew install python@2

# Depending on whether you did python3 or python2, use the pip3 or pip command
pip3 install boto3

#Install pywinrm if you plan to deploy windows VMs
#pip3 install pywinrm

# Install Ansible
pip3 install ansible

# Install awscli
brew install awscli

2.4.3. Configure the EC2 Credentials

In order to be able to deploy AgnosticD configs on AWS, you will need an IAM user into your AWS account. If you are new to AWS, you can find the instructions.

  • You will need to place your EC2 credentials in the ~/.aws/credentials file:

mkdir ~/.aws
cat << EOF >>  ~/.aws/credentials
[default]
aws_access_key_id = CHANGE_ME
aws_secret_access_key = CHANGE_ME

EOF
  • Add the SSH Key to the SSH Agent (optional) If your operating system has an SSH agent and you are not using your default configured SSH key, you will need to add the private key you use with your EC2 instances to your SSH agent:

    ssh-add <path to key file>
Note
If you use an SSH config that specifies what keys to use for what hosts this step may not be necessary.

2.4.4. AWS Permissions and Policies

AWS credentials for the account above must be used with the AWS command line tool (detailed below)

  • An AWS IAM account with the following permissions:

    • Policies can be defined for Users, Groups or Roles

    • Navigate to: AWS Dashboard → Identity & Access Management → Select Users or Groups or Roles → Permissions → Inline Policies → Create Policy → Custom Policy

    • Policy Name: openshift (your preference)

    • Policy Document:

      {
          "Version": "2012-10-17",
          "Statement": [
              {
                  "Sid": "Stmt1459269951000",
                  "Effect": "Allow",
                  "Action": [
                      "cloudformation:*",
                      "iam:*",
                      "route53:*",
                      "elasticloadbalancing:*",
                      "ec2:*",
                      "cloudwatch:*",
                      "autoscaling:*",
                      "s3:*"
                  ],
                  "Resource": [
                      "*"
                  ]
              }
          ]
      }
Note
Finer-grained permissions are possible, and pull requests are welcome.

2.4.5. AWS existing resources

  • A route53 public hosted zone is required for the scripts to create the various DNS entries for the resources it creates. Two DNS entries will be created for workshops:

    • master.guid.domain.tld - a DNS entry pointing to the master

    • *.cloudapps.guid.domain.tld - a wildcard DNS entry pointing to the router/infrastructure node

  • An EC2 SSH keypair should be created in advance and you should save the key file to your system. To do so, follow these steps:

    REGION=us-west-1
    KEYNAME=ocpworkshop
    $ openssl genrsa -out ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pem 2048
    $ openssl rsa -in ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pem -pubout > ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pub
    $ chmod 400 ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pub
    $ chmod 400 ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pem
    $ touch ~/.ssh/config
    $ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config

Now, test connecting to your AWS account with your previously created credentials and your key:

+

---
$ aws ec2 import-key-pair --key-name ${KEYNAME} --region=$REGION --output=text --public-key-material "`cat ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pub | grep -v PUBLIC`"
----

+ CAUTION: Key pairs are created per region, you will need to specify a different keypair for each region or duplicate the keypair into every region.

+

REGIONS="ap-southeast-1 ap-southeast-2 OTHER_REGIONS..."
$ for REGION in `echo ${REGIONS}` ;
  do
    aws ec2 import-key-pair --key-name ${KEYNAME} --region=$REGION --output=text --public-key-material "`cat ~/.ssh/${KEYNAME}.pub | grep -v PUBLIC`"
  done

2.5. Workstation setup for Azure

2.5.1. Prerequisites

This is a configuration guide of the packages and repos you need to install the tools, but a previoulsy existing Azure account is needed.

2.5.2. Steps

If you want to deploy on azure you will need the Azure client.

in a nutshell (tested on fedora 28) - Azure cli (system-wide)
# Install the azure-cli system-wide
sudo -i
rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
cat >> /etc/yum.repos.d/azure-cli.repo <<EOF
[azure-cli]
name=Azure CLI
baseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/azure-cli
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
EOF

yum check-update
yum install -y azure-cli

We recommend you install the ansible module in a virtualenv.

in a nutshell (tested on fedora 28) - Azure ansible module (use virtualenv)
# /!\ careful this will update ansible as well
# Use a virtualenv for those:
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade --force ansible[azure]
Note
--force is used here, because of a known issue.

2.5.3. Service principal

It’s better to use a service principal instead of your main credentials. Refer to the official documentation.

in a nutshell
az login
az ad sp create-for-rbac
az login --service-principal -u <user> -p <password-or-cert> --tenant <tenant>
env_secret_vars.yml
azure_service_principal: "service principal client id"
azure_password: "service principal password or cert"
azure_tenant: "tenant ID"
azure_region: "Azure location, ex: EuropeWest"
azure_subscription_id: "Subscription id"

2.5.4. Virtualenv

If you want to use virtualenv, you can try & adapt this:

cd ansible
mkdir ~/virtualenv-aad
virtualenv ~/virtualenv-aad -p python2.7
. ~/virtualenv-aad/bin/activate
export CC=gcc-5
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. AgnosticD & Configs

This document gives an overview of the process of writing either a new config from scratch or copying and modifying an existing config. Well designed configs, can easily and cleanly be abstracted to allow deployment to multiple different Public and Private Clouds including AWS, Azure.

3.1. What are configs?

A config is simply a lab, workshop, or other deployment that has been defined and encapsulated in a series of playbooks, variable files, and templates in a config directory. This allows Ansible Agnostic Deployer to deploy it simply and repeatedly on one or more Cloud Platforms.

3.2. How you Deploy configs

configs are typically deployed via one of 3 methods:

  1. From the command line. A suitably configured Ansible Control Node, or laptop, can invoke a new config deployment by invoking ansible-playbook main.yml -e @./configs/<CONFIG_NAME?sample_vars.yml or other variable file with the appropriate parameters. See Three Tier App for an example.

  2. Via a front-end application such as Red Hat Cloud Forms or ServiceNow which provides a user friendly catalog or "portal" type interface to the end user and can invoke the appropriate ansible command directly or via a "wrapper" script.

  3. It is also possible to invoke a config by creating AgnosticD as an Ansible Tower Project and defining configs as jobs. Going forward this pattern will influence the future evolution of AgnosticD. Once a config is defined as a job it can either be directly invoked or via a front-end application or script making an API call to an Ansible Tower server.

3.3. How AgnosticD Deploys configs

AgnosticD deploys configs via a 6 stage process, discussed in more detail below. This provides config creators considerable flexibility, without undue complexity, to control the deployment process in a modular manner and enables you to abstract the Cloud Specific steps (e.g. AWS ec2 or Microsoft Azure) from the application or OS specific steps. Greatly enhancing Cloud Portability.

The last point is key, as it allows developers to simply add new Cloud Platforms at a latter date, or provide their configs with multi-cloud support from day 1. The term Cloud Provider includes the ability to add a virtualization platform (e.g. KVM, Hyper-V), Public Cloud Platform (e.g. Google Cloud Engine), or a container based platform such as OpenShift or Docker.

Currently supported platforms (via Cloud Providers):

  • ec2

  • azure

  • osp

  • gcp

  • ibm

  • equinix_metal

  • none

  • test

4. Overview of a Typical Config

Configs are located in the ansible/configs/ directory:

README.adoc              linklight                 ocp-ha-disconnected-lab   quay-enterprise
ans-tower-lab            linklight-demo            ocp-ha-lab                rhte-ansible-net
ansible-cicd-lab         linklight-engine          ocp-implementation-lab    rhte-lb
ansible-provisioner      linklight-foundations     ocp-multi-cloud-example   rhte-oc-cluster-vms
archive                  linklight-networking      ocp-storage-cns           rhte-ocp-workshop
bu-workshop              linklight-networking-all  ocp-workloads             simple-multi-cloud
just-a-bunch-of-nodes  ocp-clientvm              ocp-workshop              three-tier-app
lightbulb                ocp-gpu-single-node       openshift-demos

Above configs subject to change over time

A typical Config is well illustrated by Three Tier App.

three-tier-app
├── README.adoc           # Config specific README
├── destroy_env.yml       # Teardown playbook to remove the config when finished
├── env_vars.yml          # Default vars containing configuration variables
├── files                 # Sub-directory for templates, cloud provider files etc
├── pre_infra.yml         # Stage 0 Playbook
├── post_infra.yml        # Stage 2 Playbook
├── pre_software.yml      # Stage 3 Playbook
├── software.yml          # Stage 4 Playbook
├── post_software.yml     # Stage 5 Playbook
├── sample_vars.yml       # Sample user supplied vars (cloud provider, ids etc)
└── topology.png          # Optional topology diagram
topology

4.1. sample_vars.yml

Sample user supplied vars.

4.2. default_vars.yml

Default vars containing configuration variables.

4.3. secret.yml

secret.yml normally lives in your home direcotry - anywhere outside of the AgnosticD repository itself. They should never be committed to Git!

Example secret files include;

osp_auth_username: alice
osp_auth_password: toomanysecrets
...

You can see that these are sensitive credentials.

When running AgnosticD, it’s normal to "pass in" your secrets like this;

user@host: ansible-playbook main.yml -e@~/secret.yml -e@configs/...

5. AgnosticD Flow

When ansible starts to deploy a config the process involves 2 logically distinct phases, Infrastructure and Software, each broken up into 3 Steps. This is illustrated below:

agnosticd flow

AAD deployments start by invoking a common main.yml with an environmental variable file identifying the cloud platform to deploy plus other meta-data.

e.g. ansible-playbook main.yml -e @configs/three-tier-app/sample_vars.yml

Simplified execution flow of main.yml
- import_playbook: "configs/{{ env_type }}/pre_infra.yml"
- import_playbook: "cloud_providers/{{ cloud_provider }}_infrastructure_deployment.yml"
- import_playbook: "configs/{{ env_type }}/post_infra.yml"
- import_playbook: "configs/{{ env_type }}/pre_software.yml"
- import_playbook: "configs/{{ env_type }}/software.yml"
- import_playbook: "configs/{{ env_type }}/post_software.yml"

For config developers the above stages provide 5 hooks for customizing the configuration of your environment and 1 hook for customizing it for one or more cloud providers (e.g. AWS, Azure, etc).

An example config is provided by ansible/configs/just-a-bunch-of-nodes

5.1. Stage 0 pre_infra.yml

In this stage AAD is the entry playbook and is typical used for setting up any infrastructure etc prior to launching a cloud deployment. Typical tasks could include:

  • Creating necessary ssh keys

  • Moving any ssh keys into place, setting permissions etc

  • Creating any payloads to be used in later stages e.g. repo files etc

  • Ensuring cloud credentials are available

Note
Please refer to SSH keys and access for anything around that topic.

5.2. Stage 1 Cloud Provider Deploy

This stage is unique in the flow in that the config creator doesn’t supply a playbook but typically has to provide cloud specific configuration data.

Clouds are selected via the value of the cloud_provider variable and supported clouds can be found in ansible/cloud_providers. Currently supported are:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • Microsoft Azure

Example: AWS configs use CloudFormations templates to deploy their infrastructure so this can be provided. Take a look at Three Tier Apps Cloud Formation Template. Notice it is written in Jinja2 and can easily be extended to deploy more, or less servers, plus you can change the Operating Systems, software payloads etc. This is done by overriding the default variables found in env_vars.yml.

Note

A Cloud Creators document exists to facilitate adding further clouds to AAD. Wish list items include:

  • OpenShift

  • OpenStack

  • Google Cloud Engine (GCE)

5.3. Stage 2 post_infra.yml

In this stage AgnosticD can execute any "post infrastructure" tasks. It is not uncommon for this phase to do nothing but it provides a convenient hook for any tasks that may need to be run after building your Cloud Infrastructure. For example running any smoke tests that may be required.

5.4. Stage 3 pre_software.yml

At this point the infrastructure should be up and running but typically in a un-configured state. This stage provides a convenient hook for running any tasks that may be needed before software payload deployment. For example"

  • Running any pre software tests

  • Setup software dependant yum repos or equivalent

  • Retrieving any licenses etc.

  • ssh key housekeeping - for example inserting additional keys and configuration

  • Prepare bastion hosts or jumpboxes

5.5. Stage 4 software.yml

In this stage AgnosticD deploys any software payloads onto the infrastructure. This could be as simple as installing Apache or as complex as installing and configuring an N-tier application.

5.6. Stage 5 post_software.yml

In the final stage AgnosticD would typically perform a number of tasks including:

  • Any cleanup from the prior stages

  • Any end to end or component testing

  • User notification of the running configuration

SSH keys and access

This section describes how SSH keys are managed in agnosticd.

6. Scope

Here is the list of agnosticd cloud providers that follow this workflow:

  • ec2

  • azure

Long-term, we want all cloud providers to comply.

7. Workflow

  1. PRE-INFRA cloud-agnostic role create_ssh_provision_key generates a per-environment, for infra, local SSH key

    • output file: private and public key in output_dir

    • output facts:

      • ssh_provision_key_name ex: ssh_provision_{{ guid }}

      • ssh_provision_key_path ex: /tmp/output_dir/ssh_provision_{{ guid }}

      • ssh_provision_pubkey_path ex: /tmp/output_dir/ssh_provision_{{ guid }}.pub

      • ssh_provision_pubkey_content

    • Role is idempotent and can be used to only set the facts

  2. INFRA role infra-{{ cloud_provider }}-ssh-key to create the keypair in the cloud provider

  3. INFRA in the cloud providers, use the key previously created to provision the infra

  4. POST-INFRA generate ssh configuration using the variable ssh_provision_key_path, done by the role infra-common-ssh-config-generate

  5. POST-INFRA cloud-agnosticd post-infra role to update the authorized_keys on all hosts

    • Input var: ssh_authorized_keys: list of content pub keys and key options. That’s where we set the content of the public keys for additional access (admins, backdoor key, …​).

      example ssh_authorized_keys (preferred)
      ssh_authorized_keys:
        - key: ssh-rsa ...
        - key: ssh-rsa ...
          key_options: no-port-forwarding,from="10.0.0.1"
        - key: https://github.com/fridim.keys
      • all_ssh_authorized_keys list is also supported (backward-compatible)

        example all_ssh_authorized_keys (legacy only)
        all_ssh_authorized_keys:
          - ssh-rsa ...
          - ssh-rsa ...
          - https://github.com/fridim.keys
  6. DESTROY role infra-{{ cloud_provider }}-ssh-key to delete the keypair in the cloud provider

7.1. Lifecycle and destroy

The private key and SSH config are stored in output_dir. In order to access the instances after provision you need access to output_dir. If you’re developping from your laptop, that should be transparent since output_dir will be persistent across calls of ansible-playbook.

On the other hand, when you’re provisioning from Tower or Controller (or from RHPDS), you need output_dir to be persistent across jobs and that is done by the 2 following roles:

Make sure the secrets and variables are set so those roles are executed:

# PROD bucket
# Archive object to create in S3 storage.
agnosticd_save_output_dir_archive: "{{ guid }}_{{ uuid }}.tar.gz"
# If you want to protect the archive with a password:
# it can be useful if the S3 bucket is shared between multiple users.
# agnosticd_save_output_dir_archive_password: ...

# S3 storage bucket access information, should be provided by a secret.
agnosticd_save_output_dir_s3_bucket: agnosticd-output-dir
agnosticd_save_output_dir_s3_region: us-east-1
agnosticd_save_output_dir_s3_access_key_id: "..."
agnosticd_save_output_dir_s3_secret_access_key: "..."

8. Bring your own provision key (optional)

Note
Most of the time you don’t need to bring your own key as it is generated automatically.

In some cases the SSH key generation described above is not working well (e.g., the key pair can be lost if not stored at persistent storage and destroy job will fail). It is possible to specify an existing SSH key which will be used for the environment provisioning and destroy by setting the following variables:

  • ssh_provision_key_path

  • ssh_provision_key_name

  • ssh_provision_pubkey_content (optional)

    example setting ssh_provision_* variables
    ssh_provision_key_name: "my_private_ssh_key.pem"
    ssh_provision_key_path: "/home/account/.ssh/{{ ssh_provision_key_name }}"
    ssh_provision_pubkey_content: ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1 ...rest of the key... JjQ==

9. Roles

  • create_ssh_provision_key

    Generate locally a private SSH key in output_dir and set the facts for later use. The resulting public key is used to provision the instances. The role is idempotent and can be run multiple times.

  • infra-{{ cloud_provider }}-ssh-key

    Create the key resource in the cloud provider so it can be attached to instances. For example infra-ec2-ssh-key.

  • infra-common-ssh-config-generate

    Generate the SSH configuration in output_dir

  • ssh_authorized_keys

    Populate authorized_keys files on the instances for additional access.

  • locate_env_authorized_key

    Compatibility role to facilitate migration from deprecated roles. See readme.

9.1. Deprecated roles and variables

Roles:

DEPRECATED

Use instead

infra-local-create-ssh_key

create_ssh_provision_key

set_env_authorized_key

bastion-lite

Variables:

DEPRECATED

Use instead

env_authorized_key

ssh_provision_key_name or hostvars.localhost.ssh_provision_key_name

"{{ output_dir }}/{{ env_authorized_key }}"

ssh_provision_key_path or hostvars.localhost.ssh_provision_key_path

10. Config Writing Tutorials

agnosticd

10.1. Config on OpenShift (Workloads)

An OpenShift Workload is simply a workload that is applied to an existing, running, OpenShift cluster. For example if you wish to deploy 3Scale, Prometheus, or a MicroService application you can define it as a Workload then simply and consistently deploy it with a single command to your OpenShift cluster.

This document assumes more than a passing familiarity with OpenShift but if you just want to "copy and hack" an existing Workload take a look at the OpenShift 3Scale workload.

Other OpenShift Workloads here. OpenShift Workloads all begin ocp-workload- and follow the traditional structure of an Ansible Role.

10.1.1. Creating Workloads that install OpenShift operators

When creating a workload that installs an operator into a cluster you need to be aware of the fact that operators change quite frequently. To prevent your workload from breaking when a new release of the operator is released into the online catalog it is highly recommended to create an operator catalog snapshot.

10.1.2. How are Workloads Deployed?

OpenShift Workloads are deployed by applying an Ansible role to an existing, running, cluster.

New and existing workloads can be deployed, and developed, on any OpenShift cluster including locally on your laptop (oc cluster and Minishift).

Each Workload Role includes a detailed README.adoc and they are applied by invoking the ocp-workload config.which is actually a Playbook and will apply the workload in the value ocp_workload. For example:

ansible-playbook -i localhost, -c local ./configs/ocp-workloads/ocp-workload.yml \
                    -e ocp_workload=ocp-workload-3scale-multitenant \
                    -e ACTION=create \
                    -e subdomain_base=$SUBDOMAIN_BASE \
                    -e admin_username=$ADM_USERNAME
Note
This information is deprecated. The catalog item in RHPDS no longer exists.

10.2. Config on OpenStack

In this document we will explain how one could setup their laptop for AgnosticD deployment with OpenStack.

If you are a Red Hatter, you can use rhpds.redhat.com to request access to our OpenStack cluster:

  1. Log in to https://rhpds.redhat.com/ using your opentlc user.

  2. Go to ServicesCatalogsNovello TestingOSP Sandbox AgD Training (all Red Hat employees should see it, make sure you are in the right group).

  3. Click OrderSubmit

Note
You will receive three emails indicating the status of the environment and instructions for accessing the environment. In the third email you receive all information you need to login to the client machine that would have the rest of required information.
Note
You can use the bastion VM as your ansible host or copy the files over to your laptop and work locally. Most steps are only necessary on your laptop as the bastion host is already pre-configured.

10.2.1. Configure your environment for running OpenStack Ansible

Note
on Fedora dnf install python3-openstacksdk python3-openstackclient python-openstackclient-doc python-openstackclient-lang python3-heatclient python-heatclient-doc python3-dns will do the job (you may choose to skip doc and lang packages).
  1. Please make sure the file /etc/ansible/hosts doesn’t exist or is empty, otherwise this default inventory file will cause problems later.

  2. Install Python 3, gcc, and python package managemend and development libraries (On your laptop or on the clientVM):

    # on Linux
    $ sudo yum install gcc python3 python3-devel python3-libs python3-pip -y
    # on Mac
    $ brew install python pyenv-virtualenv
  3. Create virtualenv environment and download python requirements:

    1. Create virtualenv and activate

      $ python3 -m venv ansible2.9-python3.6
      
      ##In Mac
      $ pyenv virtualenv ansible2.9-python3.6
      
      
      ## In Mac, if you find the error " the error: error: pyenv: pip: command not found]", it could because you need pip3, in that case please do:
      $ alias pip=pip3
      $ pip install --upgrade pip
      
      $ source ansible2.9-python3.6/bin/activate
      
      ## In Mac
      $ source /Users/[USER]/.pyenv/versions/ansible2.9-python3.6/bin/activate
      
      ## ^replace [USER] with your username or the proper path
    2. Install the python modules inside that virtualenv

      • On Mac

        $ pip3 install -r https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-cop/agnosticd/development/ansible/configs/ocp4-disconnected-osp-lab/files/macos_requirements.txt
      • On Linux

        (ansible2.9-python3.6) $ pip3 install -r https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-cop/agnosticd/development/tools/virtualenvs/ansible2.9-python3.6-<DATE>.txt  #(1)
        1. go to https://github.com/redhat-cop/agnosticd/tree/development/tools/virtualenvs and check the latest available version (symlinks don’t work).

10.2.2. Getting your OpenStack Credentials

  1. Create the ~/.config/openstack/clouds.yaml file on your laptop using the information provided in the final email.

    $ mkdir -p ~/.config/openstack
    $ vim ~/.config/openstack/clouds.yaml
  2. Review your ~/.config/openstack/clouds.yaml:

    cat ~/.config/openstack/clouds.yaml
    clouds:
      35eb-project:
        auth:
          auth_url: "http://169.47.17.15:5000/v3"
          username: "35eb-user"
          project_name: "35eb-project"
          project_id: "1a79cf800ff94754bb495e2c1fd9d433"
          user_domain_name: "Default"
          password: "YOUR_TEMP_PASSWORD"
        region_name: "regionOne"
        interface: "public"
        identity_api_version: 3
  3. Check that your credentials are working. In order to do so, first log into your bastion, using the credentials provided to you via email:

    sassenach:~ Cibeles$ ssh YOUR-OPENTLC-USER@bastion.GUID.red.osp.opentlc.com
    YOUR-OPENTLC-USER@bastion.GUID.red.osp.opentlc.com's password: YOUR_EMAIL_PROVIDED_PASSWORD
    $ openstack --os-cloud=GUID-project server list
    +--------------------------------------+-----------+--------+------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+
    | ID                                   | Name      | Status | Networks                                       | Image | Flavor  |
    +--------------------------------------+-----------+--------+------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+
    | 653fb842-6ce8-4eb0-a51a-dc0f3d5fb103 | bastion   | ACTIVE | 35eb-ocp-network=192.168.47.33, 169.47.183.214 |       | 2c2g30d |
    +--------------------------------------+-----------+--------+------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+
  4. Try to login to OpenStack UI using the auth_url from the clouds.yaml without port and path, i.e. something like: https://api.xxx.infra.opentlc.com/. You must use username and password from .config/openstack/clouds.yaml to login to the UI (the domain can be ignored as long as it is 'Default').

10.2.3. Setting up AgnosticD and your development environment

  1. Clone the AgnosticD repository:

    git clone https://github.com/redhat-cop/agnosticd
  2. Create your secret.yml file outside the repository, and edit it using the correct credentials based on your clouds.yml file:

    cat << EOF >> ~/secret.yml
    # Authenication for OpenStack in order to create the things
    # RED
    osp_auth_username: CHANGEME
    osp_auth_password: CHANGEME
    osp_project_name: CHANGEME
    osp_project_id: CHANGEME
    
    
    osp_auth_url: http://169.47.188.15:5000/v3
    osp_auth_project_domain: default
    osp_auth_user_domain: default
    
    # DNS
    
    osp_cluster_dns_server: "169.45.246.132"  # ddns01.opentlc.com (1)
    osp_cluster_dns_zone: students.osp.opentlc.com
    ddns_key_name: PROVIDED_BY_ADMIN          # default value is set to "hmac-dm5"
    ddns_key_secret: PROVIDED_BY_ADMIN
    
    # Repo
    
    own_repo_path: PROVIDED_BY_ADMIN
    
    # Do not create PROJECT, we already have one and want to use it
    
    osp_project_create: false
    
    EOF
Note
You can find a secret.yml file provided to you on the home directory of your user at your bastion machine, use this to populate the file as previously stated.
Important
until issue #3275 is fixed, make sure that you replace the DNS name with an IP address if you have a dnspython library with version 2.x (e.g. on Fedora 33+).
[YOUR_USER@bastion ~]$ ls
agnosticd  secrets.yaml
Note
It is required that OpenStack SDK is installed on your working machine. For further information, please refer to its web page
  1. First checkpoint, make sure this secret file is correct by running the test-empty-config.

    cd agnosticd/ansible
    
    ansible-playbook main.yml \
      -e @configs/test-empty-config/sample_vars_osp.yml \
      -e @~/secret.yml
  2. Copy the sample_vars_osp.yml file and call it my_vars.yml

    cp configs/just-a-bunch-of-nodes/sample_vars_osp.yml \
      configs/just-a-bunch-of-nodes/my_vars.yml
  3. Edit the my_vars.yml and change the guid value to something short and unique.

    Warning
    Do not pick the same GUID as the one you got for access to the OSP cluster.
  4. you also need to check the email and the own_repo_path variables (or overwrite them in your secrets file).

  5. Second checkpoint, Run the ansible-playbook command to deploy just-a-bunch-of-nodes

    ansible-playbook main.yml \
      -e @configs/just-a-bunch-of-nodes/my_vars.yml \
      -e @~/secret.yml
    Note
    If you are having python2 Vs. Python3 issues, Add /usr/bin/python3.6 before the ansible-playbook command. For example: /usr/bin/python3.6 ansible-playbook ansible/main.yml -e @configs/just-a-bunch-of-nodes/my_vars.yml -e@~/secret.yml
  6. Check that the VM was installed and ssh into the box using the created key. In order to do so, first log into your bastion, using the credentials provided to you via email:

    sassenach:~ Cibeles$ ssh YOUR-OPENTLC-USER@bastion.GUID.red.osp.opentlc.com
    YOUR-OPENTLC-USER@bastion.GUID.red.osp.opentlc.com's password: YOUR_EMAIL_PROVIDED_PASSWORD
    [YOUR_USER@bastion ~]$ openstack --os-cloud=${GUID}-project server list
    
    +--------------------------------------+---------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+
    | ID                                   | Name    | Status | Networks                                                | Image | Flavor  |
    +--------------------------------------+---------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+
    | 2715f0d9-51e1-4619-a97e-c841914dddf6 | node    | ACTIVE | testamaya-default-network=192.168.47.26                 |       | 2c2g30d |
    | 6931bf5a-ec1e-4ac7-8477-9e96f9e14de3 | bastion | ACTIVE | testamaya-default-network=192.168.47.17, 169.47.188.156 |       | 2c2g30d |
    | 947d6397-c152-4a38-9825-02f9fa50c03e | bastion | ACTIVE | 98e1-testnet-network=192.168.0.35, 169.47.191.80        |       | 2c2g30d |
    +--------------------------------------+---------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+

You can see there are some machines there and their IP addresses. Now you can log into your bastion machine from the outside world (your laptop) or from the bastion machine you were given credentials for in the email.

Let’s log in from the outside world (your laptop) using your ${GUID}_infra_ssh_key.pem key file. Please note that the key file should be created in the machine you launched the playbook from.

sassenach:~ Cibeles$ ll /tmp/output_dir/
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 Cibeles  staff   235B May 26 17:41 basic_heat_template.yml
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 Cibeles  staff   369B May 28 16:38 hosts-just-a-bunch-of-nodes-testamaya
16 -rw-r--r--   1 Cibeles  staff   6.8K May 26 17:42 just-a-bunch-of-nodes.testamaya.osp_cloud_master_template.yaml
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 Cibeles  staff   1.1K May 28 16:32 just-a-bunch-of-nodes_testamaya_ssh_conf
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 Cibeles  wheel   175B May 28 16:33 just-a-bunch-of-nodes_testamaya_ssh_known_hosts
 8 -rwxr--r--   1 Cibeles  staff   168B May 28 16:37 ssh-config-just-a-bunch-of-nodes-testamaya*
 8 -rw-------   1 Cibeles  staff   1.6K May 25 13:16 testamaya_infra_ssh_key.pem
 8 -r--------   1 Cibeles  wheel   1.8K May 28 16:19 testamayakey
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 Cibeles  wheel   399B May 28 16:19 testamayakey.pub

sassenach:~ Cibeles$ ssh -i /tmp/output_dir/testamaya_infra_ssh_key.pem cloud-user@169.47.188.156
Last login: Thu May 28 10:49:27 2020 from 90.77.177.210
[cloud-user@bastion 0 ~]$
  1. Now, if you want to log into any of your nodes, you just simply need to copy the identity file into the newly deployed bastion machine and ssh from it (as nodes do not have an external IP).

    sassenach:~ Cibeles$  scp -i /tmp/output_dir/testamaya_infra_ssh_key.pem /tmp/output_dir/testamaya_infra_ssh_key.pem cloud-user@169.47.188.156:.
    
    [cloud-user@bastion ~]$ ssh -i testamaya_infra_ssh_key.pem cloud-user@node
    Last login: Tue Jun  2 12:16:17 2020 from bastion.example.com
  2. You can now adapt my_vars.yml to your needs. Create different kind of instances, more security groups, etc.

10.2.4. Clean up

  1. Destroy the deployment:

    ansible-playbook destroy.yml \
      -e @configs/just-a-bunch-of-nodes/my_vars.yml \
      -e @~/secret.yml
Caution
beware that this last action destroys also the initial bastion so that you can’t reuse it for further tests in the same sandbox. It has been captured in issue #3726.

10.2.5. What’s next ?

11. AgnosticD Variables

Variables used by specific configs and roles should be documented along with the config and role. Variables that used by Ansible core or have a common meaning across many configs are documented here.

Note
At the time of this writing this list is known to be an incomplete.

11.1. Core Required Variables

Name Description

cloud_provider

Cloud provider. Required variable, but may be set to none where not applicable.

env_type

Config name which should match to a subdirectory under ansible/configs/.

guid

Unique ID used in labels, tags, metadata, and resource naming throughout the config to identify resources and prevent conflicts.

ACTION

Action to be performed by the lifecycle playbook or workload.

11.2. Core Variables

Name Description

agnosticd_callback_token

Authentication Bearer token used to callback with information and data collected from agnosticd_user_info. This is used to integrate AgnosticD with external systems including Babylon and GUID Grabber.

agnosticd_callback_url

API URL used to callback with information and data collected from agnosticd_user_info. This is used to integrate AgnosticD with external systems including Babylon and GUID Grabber.

11.3. Other Variables

Name Description

__meta__

Metadata used by the Babylon infrastructure when running AgnosticD. This variable should be ignored by workloads, configs, and roles.

agnosticv_meta

Metadata used by the OpenTLC and RHPDS admin host when running AgnosticD. This variable should be ignored by workloads, configs, and roles.

12. AgnosticD User Info

Configs and Workloads in AgnosticD often need to save or return information during provisioning. Some examples include dynamically generated hostnames, IP addresses, and passwords. This information may be text messages to be delivered by email or structured data to be consumed by automation.

The agnosticd_user_info action plugin can be used to provide to save messages and data within your config playbook, workload, or anywhere you have an Ansible task. This replaces the previous conventions of using debug with user.info: messages.

12.1. Environment Messages

To return a message to show to the lab provisioner, set msg. For example:

  - name: Report URL for web console
    agnosticd_user_info:
      msg: "OpenShift Web Console: {{ _openshift_console_url }}

To set messages on several lines then call agnosticd_user_info with loop. Multiline messages cannot be passed as a text block with embedded linebreaks due to how these messages are processed by current automation.

  - name: Provide OpenShift Access Information
    agnosticd_user_info:
      msg: "{{ item }}"
    loop:
      - "OpenShift Web Console: {{ _openshift_console_url }}"
      - "OpenShift API for command line 'oc' client: {{ _openshift_api_url }}"

Blank lines may be included in your message output by sending an empty message string.

  - name: Provide OpenShift Access Information
    agnosticd_user_info:
      msg: "{{ item }}"
    loop:
      - "OpenShift Web Console: {{ _openshift_console_url }}"
      - "OpenShift API for command line 'oc' client: {{ _openshift_api_url }}"
      - ""
      - "You may download the 'oc' client from {{ ocp4_client_url }}"

User info messages are meant to be delivered by automation to users of the provisioned environments. A body may be specified in the same way as msg to override a standard message. Content for body should precede other messages if provided.

  - name: Provide user info message body
    agnosticd_user_info:
      body: "{{ item }}"
    loop:
      - "Your catalog item has been provisioned."
      - ""
      - "Important information about your environment:"

Messages sent this way will be saved to user-info.yaml in the output directory, set by output_dir.

12.2. Environment Data

To set data to be consumed by other automation, such as the Babylon Events UI/Bookbag, set data when calling agnosticd_user_info.

  - name: OpenShift Access Data
    agnosticd_user_info:
      data:
        openshift_console_url: "{{ _openshift_console_url }}"
        openshift_api_url: "{{ _openshift_api_url }}"

Data values are saved as a dictionary to provision-user-data.yaml in the output directory.

To use this data through bookbag Asciidoc deployed by the Babylon Events UI we recommend setting AsciiDoc macros:

:openshift_console_url: %openshift_console_url%
:openshift_api_url: %openshift_api_url%

OpenShift Web Console: {openshift_console_url}
OpenShift API: {openshift_api_url}

12.3. Multi-User Lab Environments

When provisioning a multi-user environment with AgnosticD you will want to deliver separate messages to each user. For example, a secure unique password for each user, a separate OpenShift namespace per user, etc.

User messages and data are set similarly to environment messages and data, but adding a user argument to agnosticd_user_info:

  - name: OpenShift Access Data
    agnosticd_user_info:
      user: "user-{{ n }}"
      msg: |-
       OpenShift Web Console: {{ _openshift_console_url }}
       OpenShift API: {{ openshift_api_url }}

       Login with user "user-{{ n }}" and password "{{ _openshift_user_password[n] }}"
      data:
        openshift_console_url: "{{ _openshift_console_url }}"
        openshift_api_url: "{{ _openshift_api_url }}"
        openshift_user_name: "user-{{ n }}"
        openshift_user_password: "{{ _openshift_user_password[n] }}"
        openshift_user_namespace: "user-{{ n }}"
    loop: "{{ range(user_count | int) | list }}"
    loop_control:
      loop_var: n

Messages set with msg may be multi-line when combined with user. This makes it easier to loop over a range of users. If msg is called repeatedly for the same user then messages will be joined with a newline character.

User data dictionary values are combined with any values previously set for the same user. If the same key is set twice for a user then the previous value is replaced. Environment data, set by calls to agnosticd_user_info without user will not be exposed to users.

All user data and messages is collected in ACTION-user-data.yaml with user data stored as a dictionary under the key "users".

13. Contributing

If you’re reading this, hopefully you are considering helping out with Ansible Agnostic Deployer aka AgnosticD.

These are our contribution guidelines for helping out with the project. Any suggestions, improvements, clarifications etc., please let us know via a GitHub issue.

13.1. General rules

  • The Ansible Code of Conduct still applies.

  • For git messages, branch names, etc., follow Git Style Guide.

  • Pull Requests should reference an issue whenever possible.

  • Pull Requests must contain a well crafted description.

    • In your Pull Request, specify closes #NUM to automatically close the issue when the PR is merged.

  • To contribute, fork and make a pull request against the development branch.

  • Use asciidoc for documentation.

  • Pull requests should only change:

    • One role

    • One config

    • If more than one, please explain why an exception should apply. Ask yourself, « Can this pull request be separated in several smaller pull requests ? »

  • Pull Request titles:

    • Must start with Add | Change | Fix | Remove

    • followed by config | workload | role | core | test | documentation

    • followed by the name of the config, workload, role, cloud provider, test or documentation

    • followed by a description that explains in sufficient details the why and what.

      • Leaving this empty or not putting any effort into the description will lead to the PR being sent back or closed.

  • Pull Request must be tested. Explain how you tested your change.

    • For example, you can state that you tested the changes against config X on cloud provider Y.

  • Owner of existing role or config must be set as reviewer.

    • If new role or config, owner must be identified.

  • If your Pull Request is not ready for review, open it as Draft or prefix with WIP in the title.

  • AgnosticD is part of the Red Hat Community of Practices; the Red Hat CoP Contribution Guidelines apply.

  • Do not push binary files or large files into Git. Instead, expose them, for example using public Object storage like S3, and fetch them with ansible using modules like get_url.

  • Destroy playbooks must be idem-potent. If run twice, they should not exit with an error.

13.2. Code Quality Rules

  1. A YAML .yamllint file should be added to every role and config when any substantial change is applied to the role or config, all new roles and configs must include a .yamllint. The AgnosticD standard .yamllint configuration is shown below. See also Official yamllint documentation.

    extends: default
    rules:
      comments:
        require-starting-space: false
      comments-indentation: disable
      indentation:
        indent-sequences: consistent
      line-length:
        max: 120
        allow-non-breakable-inline-mappings: true
  2. All tasks should be in YAML literal. No foo=bar inline notation. See here.

  3. Indentation is 2 white-spaces.

  4. No in-line JSON format in Ansible

  5. Avoid the use of command or shell module when specific Ansible module exists to do the same. If you must, please explain why.

    • If you have to, prefer command module to shell module when possible.

    • Use k8s and k8s_info modules as much as possible and not oc command.

  6. All tasks AND plays must have names.

  7. Roles must have documented variables. This can be documented in either:

    • Role defaults/main.yml (preferred)

    • Role README file

    • Choose one or the other. If you are commenting your variables in the defaults, your README should just point to this file. Do not split your variable documentation across these.

  8. Roles must have meta/main.yml with author/contact information for support.

  9. Configs must have documented variables. This can be documented in either:

    • Config default_vars*.yml (preferred)

    • Config README file

    • Choose one or the other. If you are commenting your variables in the default_vars.yml, your README should just point to this file. Do not split your variable documentation across these.

  10. Be extra careful with external dependencies. Identify them and make sure the versions are pinned (use versions, tags, commit ID, etc.).

    • External Git repos

    • Libraries/Modules

    • Containers

  11. In a role, ensure all variables names are prefixed with the role name to avoid name collisions with other roles.

  12. Do not add ignore_errors to a task without justification. Prefer use of failed_when if a condition is not an error.

13.3. About reviewing Pull Requests

  1. Do not merge a PR after reviewing unless explicitely asked for

    • Approval and merging are different.

    • Other people might be reviewing at the same time, or want to review that PR

    • The PR might not be fully tested by the author yet

  2. If a specific person was requested for review, don’t merge before that person reviewed, or before the request was canceled.

  3. Take your time. If your PR is merged tomorrow instead of today, is it a big deal?

  4. Pull request for urgent critical fix for production must be titled and labeled accordingly.

    Example
    URGENT Fix config ansible-tower, update Windows AMI Ids for all regions
    
    Those images have been deleted and are not available anymore.
    This change, if applied, will update the AMI Ids in 'foobar' config for all region.
    
    closes #1234
    
    labels: bug,urgent
  5. Please use labels to categorize Pull Requests and Issues.

13.4. Ansible rules

# This
- name: Create a directory
  file:
    state: directory
    path: /tmp/deletethis

# Not this
- name: Create a directory
  file: state=directory path=/tmpt/deletethis
  • Module arguments should be indented two spaces

# This
- name: Create a directory
  file:
    state: directory
    path: /tmp/deletethis

# Not This
- name: Create a directory
  file:
      state: directory
      path: /tmp/deletethis
  • There should be a single line break between tasks

  • Tags should be in multi-line format and indented two spaces just like module arguments above

# This
- name: "Check hosts.equiv"
  stat:
    path: /etc/hosts.equiv
  register: hosts_equiv_audit
  always_run: yes
  tags:
    - tag1
    - tag2

# Not This
- name: "Check hosts.equiv"
  stat:
    path: /etc/hosts.equiv
  register: hosts_equiv_audit
  always_run: yes
  tags: [tag1,tag2]
  • Every task must be named and provide brief descriptions about the task being accomplished.

13.5. Git

Please follow the Git Style Guide.

Note: during the review process, you may add new commits to address review comments or change existing commits. However, before getting your PR merged, please squash commits to a minimum set of meaningful commits. This can be done directly in the github web UI.

If you’ve broken your work up into a set of sequential changes and each commit pass the tests on their own then that’s fine. If you’ve got commits fixing typos or other problems introduced by previous commits in the same PR, then those should be squashed before merging.

14. FAQ

14.1. Deployment Stages

14.1.1. Can I bypass one or more stages?

Yes, main.yml tags each stage, use --skip-tags

14.1.2. Where should I store credentails?

Never inside the repo. A common pattern is to store them in the home directoy of the user who executes ansible-playbook. For example ~/.ssh for ssh keys, ~/.aws/credentials for AWS etc.

14.2. Cloud Providers

14.2.1. Can I bypass Stage 1 Cloud Providers completely?

Yes. See configs/linklight/README for an example and use --skip-tags=deploy_infrastructure

Galaxy and external roles

To use galaxy roles in your config, just do the following:

  1. Create requirements.yml file in the config directory, for example:

    ansible/configs/{{env_type}}/requirements.yml
    ---
    - src: geerlingguy.docker
      name: docker
      version: '2.5.1'
  2. Use the role in the playbooks

    ansible/configs/{{env_type}}/pre_software.yml
    - name: Some play
      hosts:
        - myhosts
      become: true
      gather_facts: False
      tasks:
        - name: install docker
          include_role:
            name: docker
Note

Note that in the previous example, we use include_role which is dynamic. If you try to use the role with role or import_role it will fail because the role is dynamically downloaded at runtime.

Important

Please use a pinned version in the requirements.yml file so the success of the deployment of your config does not depend on the stability of upstream galaxy roles.

Make sure you use version pinning in requirements.yml
- src: geerlingguy.docker
  name: docker
  version: '2.5.1'

When you run Ansible Agnostic Deployer, it will automatically fetch and create the role in your config directory: ansible/configs/{{env_type}}/roles/docker for example.

15. Non-Galaxy external roles

Roles in requirements.yml don’t have to be in Galaxy, you can use any git repo.

Another example of requirements.yml with git repo
---
# External role to setup grader host virtualenv and FTL grading infra

- src: https://github.com/redhat-gpte-devopsautomation/ftl-injector
  name: ftl-injector
  version: v0.7

16. Development workflow

During development, the roles will be deployed and get in your way git-wise. To avoid that, there is a rule in the top-level .gitignore to ignore those dynamic roles:

gitignore
ansible/configs/*/roles

The convention is:

the "static" roles, those versioned in this repository, must live in ansible/roles and the "dynamic" roles in your config directory ansible/configs/{{env_type}}/roles.

Note
Dynamic roles are not pushed in git, only the requirements.yml file is versioned.

17. Multiple requirement files

Sometimes, for the same config, we need several requirements.yml. For example, one for PROD, one for DEV, etc.

You can create as many files as you want. When calling the playbook just override the requirements_path variable:

ansible-playbook main.yml -e requirements_path=ansible/configs/{{env_type}}/requirements-prod.yml [...]

18. Misc

18.1. User Stories for AAD

  • A new product was acquired by Red Hat and the Architect wants to provide a new product as part of a deployable environment with AAD

  • It’s time consuming to put together environments. The Engineer wants to re-use deployment and configuration management for a product that’s already implemented in AAD to provide it integrated with another product.

  • There’s a new feature in OpenShift, and the Enineer wants to implement a feature in a product that will only impact a subset of the users of a product, and the engineers who rely on the product in their environments.

  • The SA wants to deliver a demo, and test their environment immediately before a demo, and clean up test data so the demo will be pristine.

  • The SA Manager wants needs to track effort and spending per opporunity, and wants a report of each her SA’s activities, and a cost-per-opportunity report.

  • The Enablement Architect wants to set a date to automatically destroy student envionrments.

  • The Enablement Architect wants to increase lab testing velocity by deploying environments via API.

  • The Enablement Architect wants to teach in a situation where two environments networked together, so multiple clusters can intercommunicate.

  • The Operators want a dashboard of environments as they launch, run, and are destroyed. Example: It’s difficult to respond to the question, "Are there any problems deploying or destroying any environments? Operators cannot quickly see the entire operational landscape of the system.

  • The Architect wants a new cloud service feature added to an environment. Example: New class requirements demand object storage for environemtns. So, S3 buckets with quotas need to be setup for each environment.

  • The SA wants to use AAD to create a demo of Quay for their customer from a basic deployment, as an upstream of a new OpenShift Cluster with Jenkins CI, a test Java application and user policies for dev/test/qa/admin/security. Quay will use Clair to check images. There will be geo-replication of the underlying Quay datastore (S3 or the like).