ansible_windows_repo

Ansible Repo for windows support

Using AWS or any cloud where servers can be access via IP addresses.

1. Create a windows 2012 R2 server and a linux server using a keypair using say AWS Cloud Formation.
2. In ansible_windows_repo update the inventory/hosts_ssh with IP address and Administrator password of windows server.
3. In the .kitchen.yml file
   • Set the ssh_key to the aws keypair for linux server e.g. spec/test.pem
   • Set the hostname to ip address of linux server e.g.'54.229.103.38'
4. In the group_var/windows-server.xml
   • set the ansible_ssh_pass to the Windows administrator password
5. To configure Windows Server logon using say RDP and:
   • check winrm is enable by running: winrm quickconfig
   • Run the powershell script ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1 to configure the server for remote access from ansible.
   • if you get error "running scripts is disabled on your system" then in powershell run Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
   • Make sure the firewall is open for winrm requests by running netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="WinRM-HTTPS" dir=in localport=5986 protocol=TCP action=allow

Using Vagrant.

1. Typically the user is vagrant and password vagrant.
2. use the test-kitchen file .kitchen.yml.vagrant.
3. Same issues apply for configuring the Windows Server.

Test winrm access

To test accessing the windows server from the linux box that runs ansible (where xxxxxxxx is the Administrator password):

python
import winrm
winrmsession = winrm.Session('10.0.2.15',auth=('Administrator','xxxxxxxx'))
winrmsession
result = winrmsession.run_ps("(Get-WindowsFeature).Where{$PSItem.Installed}")

References:

http://www.hurryupandwait.io/blog/understanding-and-troubleshooting-winrm-connection-and-authentication-a-thrill-seekers-guide-to-adventure

https://www.mail-archive.com/ansible-project@googlegroups.com/msg19494.html

http://pubs.vmware.com/orchestrator-plugins/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.using.powershell.plugin.doc_10%2FGUID-D4ACA4EF-D018-448A-866A-DECDDA5CC3C1.html

https://4sysops.com/archives/powershell-remoting-over-https-with-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate/

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2019527

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/meamcs/2012/02/24/how-to-force-winrm-to-listen-interfaces-over-https/