4.1 Ansible Playbooks - Variables and Loops

In this lab we’ll start to use variables and loops.

Task 1

In your playbook webserver.yml you have two tasks for starting and enabling httpd and firewalld. Merge these 2 tasks into one.

Tip

Remember loop: or with_items:

Solution Task 1

Delete the 2 tasks “start and enable [httpd,firewalld]”. Add a new task with the following content:

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- name: start and enable services
  service:
    name: "{{ item }}"
    state: started
    enabled: yes
  loop:
    - httpd
    - firewalld

Tip

Make sure your indentations are correct! Older versions of Ansible used with_items instead of loop

Task 2

In your playbook webserver.yml, ensure that that the package firewalld is installed. Do the installation of httpd and firewalld in one task. Do you really need to use a loop? Have a look at the description of Ansible’s dnf module.

Solution Task 2

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tasks:
  - name: install httpd and firewalld
    dnf:
      name:
        - httpd
        - firewalld
      state: installed

Tip

See Ansible Docs - Dnf Module

Task 3

Write a new playbook motd.yml which sets the content of /etc/motd on all servers to a custom text. Use the variable motd_content and the copy module with the option content containing the variable.

Solution Task 3

Content of motd.yml:

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---
- hosts: all
  become: true
  vars:
    motd_content: "Thi5 1s some r3ally stR4nge teXT!\n"
  tasks:
   - name: set content of /etc/motd
     copy:
       dest: /etc/motd
       content: "{{ motd_content }}"

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ansible-playbook motd.yml

Take a look at what your playbook just did:

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$ ssh -l ansible <node1-ip>
Last login: Fri Nov  1 14:16:08 2019 from 5-102-146-174.cust.cloudscale.ch
Thi5 1s some r3ally stR4nge teXT! # <-- it worked!
[ansible@node1 ~]$

Task 4

Using the command line, overwrite the content of motd by providing the variable motd_content with a different value.
Modify the content again, but use a vars.yml file.

Solution Task 4

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$ ansible-playbook motd.yml --extra-vars motd_content="0th3r_5trang3_TExt"

$ ssh -l ansible <node1-ip>
Last login: Fri Nov  1 14:18:52 2019 from 5-102-146-174.cust.cloudscale.ch
0th3r_5trang3_TExt # <-- it worked
[ansible@node1 ~]$

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$ cat vars.yml
---
motd_content: "st1ll m0r3 str4ng3 TexT!"
$ ansible-playbook motd.yml --extra-vars @vars.yml

Task 5

Set the motd_content from Task 4 using group_vars for node1 and host_vars for node2.
Make sure you remove the variable definition in motd.yml. Reason being it will have a higher priority.
Limit the run to node1 and node2.

Tip

Think about where you have to create the folders for your host and group variables

Solution Task 5

Your motd.yml should look something like this:

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---
- hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: set content of /etc/motd
      copy:
        dest: /etc/motd
        content: "{{ motd_content }}"

After creating the new directories and files you should have something similar to this:

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$ cat inventory/group_vars/web.yml
---
motd_content: "This is a webserver\n"
$ cat inventory/host_vars/node2.yml
---
motd_content: "This is node2\n"

Run your playbook and check if the text was changed accordingly on the two nodes:

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ansible-playbook motd.yml -l node1,node2

ansible web,node2 -a "cat /etc/motd"

Task 6

Get a feeling for errors: Remove the quotes around the curly brackets and have a look at the output.

Solution Task 6

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---
- hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: set content of /etc/motd
      copy:
        dest: /etc/motd
        content: {{ motd_content }} #<-- missing quotes here

Task 7 (BONUS!)

Create a playbook takemehome.yml that does the following:
- Create a compressed archive containing all the content from your /home/ansible/techlab/ folder
- Don’t include the subfolder /home/ansible/techlab/awx with all its content in the archive.
- Compress the archive using any supported type of compression.
- Ensure an archive is created even if the source is one single file.
- Send this file via mail to your own email adress. Note that you have to have valid credentials for a smtp server. Put these credentials into a password file password_file.yml.
- Run the playbook using the smtp password from the file password_file.yml
- remove the password file password_file.yml

Warning

It’s NOT secure to put the smtp password unencrypted in a file. We will learn in the labs about ansible-vault how to encrypt sensitive data in a secure way.

Solution Task 7

Write your SMTP Password to a file:

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$ cat password_file.yml
password: "<my_secret_password>"

Create the playbook:
$ cat takemehome.yml
---
- hosts: localhost
  #vars_files:              # if the vars file is not provided here, you'll have to use it with
  #  - password_file.yml    # --extra-vars on cmdline as shown below
  tasks:
    - name: Create archive, excluding awx folder
      archive:
        path: /home/ansible/techlab/*
        dest: /home/ansible/techlab.tar.bz2
        exclude_path: /home/ansible/techlab/awx
        format: bz2
        force_archive: true
    - name: Send archive via email
      mail:
        host: smtp.puzzle.ch
        port: 587
        username: "tux.puzzler@puzzle.ch"
        password: "{{ password }}"
        secure: starttls
        sender: tux.puzzler@puzzle.ch
        to: bill.gates@gmail.com
        subject: Techlab stuff
        body: Sending my stuff home
        attach: /home/ansible/techlab.tar.bz2
      no_log: true

Run the playbook by using the SMTP password from the file created before. After the playbook was sent, delete the password file.

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ansible-playbook takemehome.yml --extra-vars "@password_file.yml"
ansible-playbook takemehome.yml # if vars file provided in playbook
rm -f password_file.yml

All done?

Wow! Well done. :-)

Last modified November 20, 2023: Merge pull request #216 from puzzle/psc_edaserver_lab (d791dbe)