sap_vm_provision - Move ansible_ssh_common_args Configuration to Inventory

[geetikakay]

This issue is a follow-up to discuss improving flexibility by moving ansible_ssh_common_args configuration to inventory, instead of hardcoding it in platform-specific task files.

Right now, SSH options like ansible_ssh_common_args are embedded directly in the roles. This limits flexibility especially when variables like __sap_vm_provision_kubevirt_vm_register_execution_host_user can differ across environments.

By shifting SSH configuration to inventory (similar to how users manage settings in ~/.ssh/config), we can:

Avoid code duplication across platforms
Make playbooks cleaner 
Let users define SSH behavior in a way that fits their own setup
Support varied customer environments without modifying core roles

This wouldn’t need to be a breaking change, defaults can be preserved for backward compatibility, while allowing overrides via inventory or group_vars.

Discussion Reference:
https://github.com/sap-linuxlab/community.sap_infrastructure/pull/100/files#r2212972226

[marcelmamula]

Inventory is out of the question, because there is no inventory for hosts that do not exist. These args are added after provisioning in add_host task.

I would see it simply:

1. add_host task across platforms adjusted with new ssh_args variable that will be user facing
2. New validation in platform/main.yml that would pick first valid option:
   a. Skip assignment if ansible_ssh_common_args is already defined on host (from inventory).
   b. Use user provided ssh args variable if defined and not empty.
   c. Use platform defaulted value (we dont have vars/platform.yml so it would have to be either added or hardcoded into main.yml).

[geetikakay]

there can be two types of setup's - production and test setups.
For production, the flow you proposed is great provision → resolve IP → add_host with ssh args.
For test and test framework, known host, set ip range and even when we have playbooks/vars/sample-variables-sap-vm-provision-redhat-ocpv.yml(we can configure static ip, gateway) user controlled connections and we don't want this overhead and straight away check to inventory.
Idea is just to keep ansible_ssh_common_args out of main playbooks

[marcelmamula]

Yes and I agree with having ssh_args as variable, but this will need more analysis because there are more than one:

• hosts with bastion
• hosts without bastion
• bastion

Inventory option should be investigated as last one, if it would be feasible as alternative.