230 lines
7.5 KiB
Text
230 lines
7.5 KiB
Text
Playbooks
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=========
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.. seealso::
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:doc:`YAMLScripts`
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Learn about YAML syntax
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:doc:`modules`
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Learn about available modules and writing your own
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:doc:`patterns`
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Learn about how to select hosts
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Playbooks are a completely different way to use ansible and are
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particularly awesome.
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They are the basis for a really simple configuration management and
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multi-machine deployment system, unlike any that already exist, and
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one that is very well suited to deploying complex applications.
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While you might run the main ``/usr/bin/ansible`` program for ad-hoc
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tasks, playbooks are more likely to be kept in source control and used
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to push out your configuration or assure the configurations of your
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remote systems are in spec.
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Playbook Example
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````````````````
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Playbooks are expressed in YAML format and have a minimum of syntax.
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Each playbook is composed of one or more 'plays' in a list. By
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composing a playbook of multiple 'plays', it is possible to
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orchestrate multi-machine deployments, running certain steps on all
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machines in the webservers group, then certain steps on the database
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server group, then more commands back on the webservers group, etc::
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---
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- hosts: webservers
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vars:
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http_port: 80
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max_clients: 200
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user: root
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tasks:
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- include: base.yml somevar=3 othervar=4
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- name: write the apache config file
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action: template src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
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notify:
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- restart apache
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- name: ensure apache is running
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action: service name=httpd state=started
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handlers:
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- include: handlers.yml
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Hosts line
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``````````
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The hosts line is a list of one or more groups or host patterns,
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seperated by colons, asdescribed in the :ref:`patterns` documentation.
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This is just like the first parameter to ``/usr/bin/ansible``.
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Vars section
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````````````
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A list of variables and values that can be used in the plays. These
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can be used in templates or 'action' lines and are dereferenced using
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```jinja2``` syntax like this::
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{{ varname }}
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Further, if there are discovered variables about the system (say, if
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facter or ohai were installed) these variables bubble up back into the
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playbook, and can be used on each system just like explicitly set
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variables. Facter variables are prefixed with ``facter_`` and Ohai
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variables are prefixed with ``ohai_``. So for instance, if I wanted
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to write the hostname into the /etc/motd file, I could say::
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- name: write the motd
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- action: template src=/srv/templates/motd.j2 dest=/etc/motd
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And in /srv/templates/motd.j2::
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You are logged into {{ facter_hostname }}
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But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's talk about tasks.
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Tasks list
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``````````
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Each play contains a list of tasks. Tasks are executed in order, one
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at a time, against all machines matched by the play's host pattern,
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before moving on to the next task.
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Hosts with failed tasks are taken out of the rotation for the entire
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playbook. If things fail, simply correct the playbook file and rerun.
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Modules other than command are idempotent, meaning if you run them
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again, they will make the changes they are told to make to bring the
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system to the desired state.
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Task name and action
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`````````````````````
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Every task must have a name, which is included in the output from
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running the playbook.
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The action line is the name of an ansible module followed by
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parameters. Usually these are expressed in ``key=value`` form, except
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for the command module, which looks just like a Linux/Unix command
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line. See the module documentation for more info.
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Variables, as mentioned above, can be used in action lines. So if,
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hypothetically, you wanted to make a directory on each system named
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after the hostname ... yeah, that's I know silly ... you could do it
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like so::
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- name: make a directory
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- action: mkdir /tmp/{{ facter_hostname }}
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Notify statements
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`````````````````
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Nearly all modules are written to be 'idempotent' and can signal when
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they have affected a change on the remote system. If a notify
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statement is used, the named handler will be run against each system
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where a change was effected, but NOT on systems where no change
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occurred. This happens after all of the tasks are run. For example,
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if notifying Apache and potentially replacing lots of configuration
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files, you could have Apache restart just once, at the end of a run.
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If you need Apache restarted in the middle of a run, you could just
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make a task for it, no harm done. Notifiers are optional.
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Handlers
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````````
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Handlers are lists of tasks, not really any different from regular
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tasks, that are referenced by name. Handlers are what notifiers
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notify. If nothing notifies a handler, it will not run. Regardless
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of how many things notify a handler, it will run only once, after all
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of the tasks complete in a particular play.
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Includes
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````````
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Not all tasks have to be listed directly in the main file. An include
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file can contain a list of tasks (in YAML) as well, optionally passing
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extra variables into the file. Variables passed in can be deferenced
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like this (assume a variable named 'user')::
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{{ user }}
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For instance, if deploying multiple wordpress instances, I could
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contain all of my tasks in a wordpress.yml file, and use it like so::
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- tasks:
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- include: wordpress.yml user=timmy
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- include: wordpress.yml user=alice
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- include: wordpress.yml user=bob
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In addition to the explicitly passed in parameters, all variables from
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the vars section are also available.
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The format of an included list of tasks or handlers looks just like a
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flat list of tasks. Here is an example of what base.yml might look
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like::
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---
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- name: no selinux
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action: command /usr/sbin/setenforce 0
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- name: no iptables
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action: service name=iptables state=stopped
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- name: this is just to show variables work here, favcolor={{ favcolor }}
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action: command /bin/true
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As you can see above, variables in include files work just like they
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do in the main file. Including a variable in the name of a task is a
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contrived example, you could also pass them to the action command line
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or use them inside a template file.
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Note that include statements are only usable from the top level
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playbook file. At this time, includes can not include other includes.
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Using Includes To Assign Classes of Systems
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```````````````````````````````````````````
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Include files are best used to reuse logic between playbooks. You
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could imagine a playbook describing your entire infrastructure like
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this::
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---
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- hosts: atlanta-webservers
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vars:
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datacenter: atlanta
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tasks:
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- include: base.yml
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- include: webservers.yml database=db.atlanta.com
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handlers:
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- include: generic-handlers.yml
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- hosts: atlanta-dbservers
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vars:
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datacenter: atlanta
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tasks:
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- include: base.yml
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- include: dbservers.yml
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handlers:
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- include: generic-handlers.yml
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There is one (or more) play defined for each group of systems, and
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each play maps each group includes one or more 'class definitions'
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telling the systems what they are supposed to do or be.
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Using a common handlers file could allow one task in 'webservers' to
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define 'restart apache', and it could be reused between multiple
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plays.
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Variables like 'database' above can be used in templates referenced
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from the configuration file to generate machine specific variables.
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Asynchronous Actions and Polling
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````````````````````````````````
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(Information on this feature is pending)
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Executing A Playbook
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````````````````````
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To run a playbook::
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ansible-playbook playbook.yml
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