9.1 - AWX Installation

AWX only supports containerized installations via OpenShift, Kubernetes or Docker Compose. We have chosen to use Docker Compose to run AWX on control0 in this techlab.

CentOS 8 doesn’t provide an easy way to install AWX – we have to solve some problems first:

According to AWX issue 3998 the current AWX version relies on native Docker and cannot be deployed with Podman.
Our techlab infrastructure is based on CentOS 8 which does not include Docker by default.
Even with the official Docker CE repository the docker-ce package cannot be installed due to version conflicts with the containerd.io package.
A possible solution is to install an older version of Docker CE using yum install with the --nobest switch.
As this swith is not supported by Ansible’s yum module we need to create some “hacks” with the command module.

Task 1

Create a playbook prepare_for_awx.yml that should run on the controller node.
That playbook should first check that at least 4GB of main memory are available on the machine control0.
It should than install the following packages: epel-release, git and python3-pip.

Task 2

Extend prepare_for_awx.yml:
- It should add the Docker CE repository https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo to /etc/yum.repos.d/
- Install docker-ce by running yum -y install --nobest docker-ce in a command module.
- To make this idempotend, first check if it is already installed. Take care to return proper “changed” info. Use the command module.
- Start and enable dockerd.
- Add the user ansible to the docker group.

Task 3

Extend prepare_for_awx.yml:
- Install Docker Compose via the Python package manager (pip).
- Use the Ansible module pip.

Task 4

Extend prepare_for_awx.yml:
- Clone the AWX source from GitHub.
- Use Ansible’s git module to store the cloned repo under /home/ansible/techlab/awx/.
- Choose a dedicaded version (i.e. 14.0.0), take a look at [AWX Releases]/https://github.com/ansible/awx/releases) for the current stable version.
- Make sure that the directory with the AWX sources is readable and writable by the user ansible.

Task 5

Activate the docker group for current user: Log out and log in again as user ansible to control0.
Change directry to /home/ansible/techlab/awx/installer
Optional: Edit the file inventory and change the values of admin_user and admin_password (or keep the defaults: “admin” and “password”).
Run the installer: ansible-playbook -i inventory install.yml
With your Web Browser connect to http://. You should see a login form and be able to log in.

Solutions

$ cat prepare_for_awx.yml
---
- name: prepare for awx installation
  hosts: controller
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: check that at least 4GB are available
      fail:
      when: ansible_memtotal_mb < 3900
    - name: install required software
      yum:
        name:
          - epel-release
          - git
          - python3-pip
        state: latest

$ cat prepare_for_awx.yml
---
    ...
    ...
    ...
    - name: add the Docker CE repository
      get_url:
        url: https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
        dest: /etc/yum.repos.d/docker-ce.repo
    - name: check if docker-ce is already installed
      command: rpm -qi docker-ce
      register: rpm_out
      ignore_errors: true
      changed_when: false
    - name: install docker-ce
      command: yum -y install --nobest docker-ce
      when: rpm_out.rc != 0
    - name: start and enable dockerd
      service:
        name: docker
        enabled: yes
        state: started
    - name: add the user ansible to the docker group
      user:
        name: ansible
        groups: docker
        append: yes

$ cat prepare_for_awx.yml
    ...
    ...
    ...
    - name: install Docker Compose via the Python package manager
      pip:
        name: docker-compose

$ cat prepare_for_awx.yml
    ...
    ...
    ...
    - name: clone the AWX sources
      git:
        repo: https://github.com/ansible/awx.git
        dest: /home/ansible/techlab/awx
        version: 14.0.0
      become: no

$ logout 
Connection to 192.168.122.30 closed.
$ ssh ansible@192.168.122.30
ansible@192.168.122.30's password: ********
...
$ groups
ansible docker
$ cd /home/ansible/techlab/awx/installer/
$ vim inventory #  change admin_user and admin_password
$ ansible-playbook -i inventory install.yml

PLAY [Build and deploy AWX] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

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

TASK [check_vars : include_tasks] ************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [localhost]
...
...
...
TASK [local_docker : Start the containers] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [localhost]

TASK [local_docker : Update CA trust in awx_web container] ***********************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [localhost]

TASK [local_docker : Update CA trust in awx_task container] **********************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [localhost]

PLAY RECAP ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=16   changed=8    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=86   rescued=0    ignored=0

Go to http://192.168.122.30 and enter admin name and password: