10.2 Ansible-Runner

In this lab, we will learn about ansible-runner, the component of AAP Controller / AWX that actually runs Ansible playbooks.

Task 1

  • Install all packages needed to use ansible-runner command line tool on the controller host. (In case of python problems, have a look at the ansible-builder lab.
  • Show the help context of the ansible-runner command.
Solution Task 1

Since we have no Red Hat Subscription available, we install ansible-runner with pip. We install podman as well to be able to use containers.

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$ pip3 install ansible-runner --user
...
$ ansible-runner --help

Note that ansible-runner is already present when you installed ansible-navigator in the labs before.

Task 2

  • Set up the folder structure needed by ansible-runner to find your inventory and put your playbook in the correct folder as well.
  • Use ansible-runner to run the play site.yml from Lab 10.0 Task 3.
Solution Task 2
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$ pwd
/home/ansible/techlab
$ tree
.
├── inventory
│   └── hosts
└── project
    └── site.yml

$ ansible-runner run /home/ansible/techlab/ -p site.yml
PLAY [Run tasks on webservers] *************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node1]
...
...
...
node1                      : ok=5    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
node2                      : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Task 3

  • Add a task to site.yml playbook that waits for 120 seconds. The tasks should be at the end of the play running on the web group web.
  • Use ansible-runner cli to run the playbook site.yml.
  • Have a look at the running process in the artifacts directory. Find information about the facts cached for node1.
  • Find information about a random job event.
  • Show the standard output of the ansible run`
Solution Task 3
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$ cat site.yml
...
- name: Sleep for 120 seconds
  ansible.builtin.wait_for:
    timeout: 120
...
$ ansible-runner start /home/ansible/techlab/ -p site.yml
$ tree
.
└── 82b7743d-72db-4760-b163-e24257a5ff78
    ├── command
    ├── fact_cache
    │   └── node1
    ├── job_events
    │   ├── 10-8cbb439d-831f-44e7-ad68-d067847efcfd.json
    │   ├── 11-62869478-2c8c-4cac-a566-6e09ca1aa295.json
    │   ├── 12-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-00000000000c.json
    │   ├── 13-ba4910c9-1f35-4687-851f-073bd70f96a1.json
    │   ├── 14-4cedb233-fc76-4019-a6ba-e829d3cf25f7.json
    │   ├── 1-54889cf9-5ceb-4541-930f-73fe24d4a08a.json
    │   ├── 15-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-00000000000d.json
    │   ├── 16-80f5f3f7-b1b5-4259-aa67-49213495fe5e.json
    │   ├── 17-505f561d-cce5-42b6-a219-eb7e596c8ef9.json
    │   ├── 18-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-00000000000e.json
    │   ├── 19-3ab80b71-789b-4e65-9cb4-6b7d76de2729.json
    │   ├── 2-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-000000000008.json
    │   ├── 3-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-000000000015.json
    │   ├── 4-790fc1a4-c0f8-4b3a-99cc-b4f4239d9a1f.json
    │   ├── 5-49005502-bf17-4a88-ae9e-e25c45588bf6.json
    │   ├── 6-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-00000000000a.json
    │   ├── 7-2764164b-0fbd-4c13-b7ce-0671b308640e.json
    │   ├── 8-6f454b56-c99d-4996-9de2-c349953f9970.json
    │   └── 9-5a420566-9318-68c2-fc18-00000000000b.json
    ├── stderr
    └── stdout

3 directories, 23 files
$

NOTE: the output of the tree command varies depending on when it is run.

$ cat 82b7743d-72db-4760-b163-e24257a5ff78/fact_cache/node1
{
    "_ansible_facts_gathered": true,
    "ansible_all_ipv4_addresses": [
        "5.102.147.253"
    ],
    "ansible_all_ipv6_addresses": [
        "fe80::5842:5ff:fe66:93fd"
    ],
    "ansible_apparmor": {
        "status": "disabled"
...

$ cat artifacts/82b7743d-72db-4760-b163-e24257a5ff78/job_events/1-54889cf9-5ceb-4541-930f-73fe24d4a08a.json
...

$ cat artifacts/82b7743d-72db-4760-b163-e24257a5ff78/stdout

PLAY [Run tasks on webservers] *************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [install httpd] ***********************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [start and enable httpd] **************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [start and enable firewalld] **********************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [open firewall for http] **************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [Sleep for 120 seconds] ***************************************************
ok: [node1]

PLAY [Run tasks on dbservers] **************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node2]

TASK [prepare motd] ************************************************************
ok: [node2]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
node1                      : ok=6    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
node2                      : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Task 4

Use ansible-runner cli to run the playbook site.yml inside an execution environment (ee). If you did the ansible-builder labs, you can use the ee you created then. Otherwise use quay.io/ansible/ansible-navigator-demo-ee. We want to use podman to execute the ee and also use process isolation. See ansible-runner run --help for which options you have to use.

Since it is run inside a container, we have to specify with which user we want to run Ansible. Default would be the root user which is not a best practice. Also, we add a working ssh_key to the correct location in our directory. This is needed in order to open an ssh-connetion from inside the ee to the managed nodes.

  • create the needed folder, files and its content for using the ee
  • create the needed folder, files and its content for using ansible as remote_user and the corresponding ssh_key
  • run the playbook site.yml inside the ee with the ansible-runner cli
Solution Task 4
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$ tree
.
├── env
│   ├── settings
│   └── ssh_key
├── inventory
│   └── hosts
└── project
    └── site.yml

$ cat env/settings
---
container_image: default-ee
process_isolation_executable: podman
process_isolation: true

$ cat /home/ansible/.ssh/id_rsa > env/ssh_key

$ head env/ssh_key 
-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
b3BlbnNzaC1rZXktdjEAAAAABG5vbmUAAAAEbm9uZQAAAAAAAAABAAACFwAAAAdzc2gtcn
NhAAAAAwEAAQAAAgEAvAZuI1j7kz+J9bb375jjGdQqqsGc2imuoeTnFOqwLdg6+1LPj9RC
NDE7JpDoTmTRTuEqSyD/CmGawv4tLrOig4Q/sFeV1JsEt9V3fF1s9VJ7VcYq2baSLyrHFQ
...

$ cat project/site.yml
---
- name: Run tasks on webservers
  hosts: web
  become: true
  remote_user: ansible #<-- 
...
- name: Run tasks on dbservers
  hosts: db
  become: true
  remote_user: ansible #<--
...

$ ansible-runner run /home/ansible/techlab/ -p site.yml
Identity added: /runner/artifacts/6fdb3c4d-ee40-4a40-8d6b-57b9a3788d7e/ssh_key_data (Created for convenience ahead of techlab)

PLAY [Run tasks on webservers] *************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node1]

...

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
node1                      : ok=5    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
node2                      : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
$

Task 5

Now we want to have a look at whats happening in the background while running our playbook with ansible-runner inside an ee.

  • Start your playbook in the background. Use ansible-runner --help to see which option you can use.
  • While the playbook runs, have look at the running processes with watch -n1 'ps -ef | grep ansible- | grep -v grep'
  • Also while the playbook runs, have a look at the running containers with watch -n1 podman ps -a
  • While the playbook still runs, stop it with corresponding option and see how the processes are terminated and the running container stopped.
Solution Task 5
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$ ansible-runner start /home/ansible/techlab/ -p site.yml
...
$ ansible-runner stop /home/ansible/techlab/ -p site.yml
...

Task 6

Now we want to run our playbook site.yml by starting an execution environment with podman and mounting our metadata folder into the correct location inside the ee. Have a look at the documentation for help.

  • Use the ee default-ee from before or use quay.io/ansible/ansible-navigator-demo-ee. Remember, that an ee is always based on the ansible-runner reference image.
  • How do you specify which playbook to run?
  • Into which directory inside the container do you have to mount your metadata directory?
  • Remove the podman-settings in the file env/settings. These settings would cause ansible-runner inside the container to try run in podman again. This would fail because podman is not installed inside the ee.
  • Run your Ansible project with podman using the ee stated above.
Solution Task 6
  • With the env variable RUNNER_PLAYBOOK=test.yml.
  • Into the /runner directory.
  • $ mv env/settings ../
  • Run it:
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$ podman run --rm -e RUNNER_PLAYBOOK=site.yml -v /home/ansible/techlab:/runner:Z default-ee:latest 
Identity added: /runner/artifacts/cf33c64a-c5cf-41dd-8479-e9c0057d8e8f/ssh_key_data
(Created for convenience ahead of techlab)

PLAY [Run tasks on webservers] *************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [install httpd] ***********************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [start and enable httpd] **************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [start and enable firewalld] **********************************************
ok: [node1]

PLAY [Run tasks on dbservers] **************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node2]

TASK [prepare motd] ************************************************************
ok: [node2]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
node1                      : ok=4    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
node2                      : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   

$

Task 7 (Advanced)

  • Why can’t you run your site.yml playbook with the quay.io/ansible/ansible-runner image?
Solution Task 7

Our playbook contains a tasks that uses the ansible.posix.firewalld module. The ansible-runner ee contains nothing but ansible-core. This means it cannot run the ansible.posix.firewalld module because it’s not present in ansible-core.

You can show the content of the ansible-builder ee with ansible-navigator:

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ANSIBLE-RUNNER:LATEST (INFORMATION ABOUT ANSIBLE AND ANSIBLE COLLECTIONS)      
0│---
1│ansible:
2│  collections:
3│    details: {}
4│    errors:
5│    - |-
6│      ERROR! - None of the provided paths were usable. Please specify a valid
7│  version:
8│    details: core 2.12.5.post0

See the ansible-navigator lab about how to get there!

Task 8

Now we want to run our playbook directly by using the python module ansible-runner.

  • Install the python module ansible-runner.
  • Create a python script run_ansible_run.py that runs your playbook site.yml with ansible-runner.
  • Ansible-runner should not use an ee yet.
  • The script should use /home/ansible/techlab/ as the ansible metadata directory.
  • Make the script executable.
  • Run the script.
  • After the Ansible run completed successfully, change things to run it inside an ee.
Solution Task 8
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$ pip3 install ansible-runner --user

$ cat run_ansible_run.py
#!/usr/bin/python3
import ansible_runner
ansible_runner.run(
        private_data_dir='/home/ansible/techlab/',
        playbook='site.yml')

$ chmod +x run_ansible_run.py

$ ./run_ansible_run.py
Identity added: /home/ansible/techlab/artifacts/5e703775-5234-491c-b958-09bf0bd2e756/ssh_key_data
(Created for convenience ahead of techlab)

PLAY [Run tasks on webservers] *************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [install httpd] ***********************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [start and enable httpd] **************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [start and enable firewalld] **********************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [open firewall for http] **************************************************
ok: [node1]

TASK [Sleep for 120 seconds] ***************************************************
ok: [node1]

PLAY [Run tasks on dbservers] **************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [node2]

TASK [prepare motd] ************************************************************
ok: [node2]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
node1                      : ok=6    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
node2                      : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0   
$

For running ansible-runner from the python script inside an ee, just ensure that the settings file is present in the env folder.

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$ cat env/settings 
---
container_image: default-ee
process_isolation_executable: podman
process_isolation: true

Now, when you start the run_ansible_run.py script again, Ansible is run inside the defined ee. You can check this with $ watch -n1 podman ps -a while running the script.

All done?

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