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Lab 07: Configuration Management

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Lab 07: Configuration Management

By Michaël Rohrer & Laureline David

Task 1: Install Ansible

DONE

Yoda:~ frederic$ ansible --version
ansible 2.3.0.0
  config file = 
  configured module search path = Default w/o overrides
  python version = 2.7.13 (default, Apr 23 2017, 16:50:35) [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.42.1)]

Task 2: Create a VM on Amazon Web Services

DONE

ssh -i id_rsa ubuntu@ec2-54-147-90-78.compute-1.amazonaws.com
...
ubuntu@ip-172-31-38-253:~$

Task 3: Configure Ansible to connect to the managed VM

DONE

Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible testserver -i hosts -m ping
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
testserver | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false, 
    "ping": "pong"
}
Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible testserver -m ping

Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
testserver | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false, 
    "ping": "pong"
}
Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible testserver -m command -a uptime
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
testserver | SUCCESS | rc=0 >>
 12:44:43 up 31 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05

Task 4: Install web application

DONE

Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible webservers -m ping
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
testserver | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false, 
    "ping": "pong"
}
Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible-playbook web.yml

PLAY [Configure webserver with nginx] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
ok: [testserver]

TASK [install nginx] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

TASK [copy nginx config file] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

TASK [enable configuration] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [testserver]

TASK [copy index.html] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

TASK [restart nginx] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
testserver                 : ok=6    changed=4    unreachable=0    failed=0

Task 5: Test Desired State Configuration principles

Return to the output of running the web.yml playbook the first time. There is one task that Ansible marked as ok. Which one? Do you have a possible explanation?

The task that Ansible marked as ok are the followings :

TASK [Gathering Facts] TASK [enable configuration]

The garhering facts task is probably a task in which ansible read the configuration file to gather the information needed to do its job.

The enable configuration task is used to create a symbolic link with a file contained in the sites-available folder to enable it. The default file targeted by the ansible task is probably created at the installation of nginx and already linked to the default file in the sites-available folder.

Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible-playbook web.yml

PLAY [Configure webserver with nginx] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
ok: [testserver]

TASK [install nginx] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

TASK [copy nginx config file] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

TASK [enable configuration] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [testserver]

TASK [copy index.html] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

TASK [restart nginx] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
testserver                 : ok=6    changed=4    unreachable=0    failed=0

Re-run the web.yml playbook a second time. In principle nothing should have changed. Compare Ansible's output with the first run.

Which tasks are marked as changed? We can see that the only the task TASK [restart nginx] is marked as changed.

Any surprises? It'is not a surprise because we ordered the server to do so. In any case a rstart of the nginx server will be triggered and so one the state of the server will change.

In the playbook comment out update_cache=yes and re-run the playbook.

Yoda:playbooks frederic$ ansible-playbook web.yml

PLAY [Configure webserver with nginx] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/frederic/.ssh/id_rsa': 
ok: [testserver]

TASK [install nginx] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [testserver]

TASK [copy nginx config file] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [testserver]

TASK [enable configuration] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [testserver]

TASK [copy index.html] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [testserver]

TASK [restart nginx] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: [testserver]

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
testserver                 : ok=6    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0

SSH into the managed server. Modify the nginx configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-available/default, for example by adding a line with a comment. Re-run the playbook. What does Ansible do to the file and what does it show in its output?

Do something more drastic like completely removing the homepage and repeat the previous question.

Task 6: Adding a handler for nginx restart

Task 7: Add more managed servers