README für Network Automation, data model and service deployment
================================================================

These playbooks and scripts are designed for Ansible 2.4. For a version compatible with Ansible 2.7 and added functionality check out the repository <classic-env-2.7>

This repository contains files to describe a classic tenant in ACI and ansible playbooks, jinja templates, etc. to automatically deploy this tenant.
This short version of the READM contains a manifest of included files and how to use the playbook.
For details on how and when to use these playbooks please refer to README-details.

WARNING !!!!!
Some of the functions and templates are very specific to our environment.
The jinja templates to create and delete L3Outs are especially fine tuned to our setup with an ACI Multi-Pod environment. 
Review the jinja templates and the created files before deploying them the first time.
You can disable the deployment with aci_rest and the deletion of the config files on the playbook "pb-create-aci.yml" to see what is sent to the APIC.
If this does not match your environment you will get some strange error messages, either the playbook will fail or later in the APIC.
Also there are some BD attributes hardcoded in the playbook "pb-create-aci.yml" for BD with and without subnets. Take a look at those parameters to see if they match your expectations.

The jinja template to create the SRX firewall config is also based on some guidelines specific for our environment. You probably need to adjust this template to match your requirements.

These playbooks are used with Ansible 2.4. 
In Ansible 2.5 the usage of loops was changed. If you have any strange problems please keep that in mind.

Manifest:
=========
classic-env/
    bin-classic-env/                        Directory for playbooks and template, version control for this branch is recommended
        jinja-templates/                    Directory containing Jinja templates, grouped by platform
            aci/
                aci-create-l3out.j2         Jinja template to create an L3Out for firewall cluster
                aci-create-static-port.j2   Jinja template to attach a static port to an EPG
                aci-delete-l3out.j2         Jinja template to delete an L3Out for firewall cluster
                aci-fault-list.j2           Jinja template to create a list of ACI faults, deprecated
				aci-faultinst-list.j2       Jinja template to create a list of ACI instances
				aci-faultrecord-list.j2     Jinja template to create a list of ACI records
				
            srx/
                srx-create-context.j2       Jinja template to create a config file for an SRX routing context
        var-files-templates/                Directory containing data model templates, aka var-files, for different environments
        
        pb-create-aci.yml                   Playbook to create a classic tenant in ACI
        pb-delete-aci.yml                   Playbook to delete a classic tenant from ACI
        pb-create-fw.yml                    Playbook to create a routing context for an classic tenant on a SRX firewall

    data-classic-env/                       Directory for runtime data, version control is not important
        output-files/                       Directory containing files created by ansible playbooks
        var-files/                          Directory for data model files for specific projects

    README                                  This file
    README-details                          README file containing details on scenario and procedure
    .vars-aci-credentials.yml               Template for ACI credentials file

Usage:
======
Day-0 preparations:
===================
#1 Create your credentials file
Copy the file ".vars-aci-credentials.yml" into your home directory and fill in "apic_user" and "apic_password".
Make sure to adjust the file permissions that nobody else can read this file.

#2 Create your Ansible inventory, if you haven't done that yet. Test your Ansible installation.

#3 Prepare your data model(s), aka var-file template(s)
Edit the file "classic-env/bin-classic-env/var-files-templates/var-file-template.yml" and fill in the specifics for your environment. 
If you have multiple environments you can copy and edit this file to your needs.

Service deployment:
===================
#1 Prepare var-file for project
Copy the apropriate file from "classic-env/bin-classic-env/var-files-templates/" to "classic-env/data-classic-env/var-files" and rename it.
Then edit this file according to the definitions for your project.

#2 Deploy ACI
Switch to the directory containing the ansible playbooks, "classic-env/bin-classic-env/"
Run the playbook, provide the name of your projects var-file as an extra-var.
    ansible-playbook [-i <your-inventory-file>] pb-create-aci.yml --extra-vars="varfile=../classic-env/data-classic-env/var-files/<your-var-file>.yml"

Keep an eye on the Ansible messages

#3 Check for faults caused by the deployment
One of the last messages from Ansible should show you the number of faults created in the ACI since the start of the playbook and the path to the file containing some details.
This file is overwritten everytime the playbook runs.

#4 Deploy firewall config
Switch to the directory containing the ansible playbooks, "classic-env/bin-classic-env/"
Run the playbook, provide the name of your projects var-file as an extra-var.
    ansible-playbook [-i <your-inventory-file>] pb-create-fw.yml --extra-vars="varfile=../classic-env/data-classic-env/var-files/<your-var-file>.yml"

The file containing the firewall configuration will be written to "classic-env/data-classic-env/output-files".
Copy and paste the content into your firewall as needed.

Service deletion:
=================
#1 Prepare var-file for project
Copy the appropriate file from "classic-env/bin-classic-env/var-files-templates/" to "classic-env/data-classic-env/var-files" and rename it.
Then edit this file according to the definitions for your project. If you have the var-file used for creation available you can use that.
Just make sure that the format of the var-file is compatible with the current playbook and the ACI configuration wasn't changed manually.

#2 Run the playbook
Switch to the directory containing the ansible playbooks, "classic-env/bin-classic-env/"
Run the playbook, provide the name of your projects var-file as an extra-var.
    ansible-playbook [-i <your-inventory-file>] pb-delete-aci.yml --extra-vars="varfile=../classic-env/data-classic-env/var-files/<your-var-file>.yml"

Keep an eye on the Ansible messages