Services - Ansible

David Williamson @ Varilink Computing Ltd

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Playbooks

Playbook	Function
bootstrap.yml	Bootstraps a newly created virtual machine to prepare it for the creation of core services that it will provie.
create-services.yml	Creates core services using roles defined in varilink/libraries-ansible.

bootstrap.yml

This playbook is applied to newly created Linodes to prepare them for subsequently applying the roles allocated to them. The steps to apply this playbook are as follows:

1. Commission the Linode making sure to enable my SSH key for access and capture the allocated root password.

2. Make an entry in the SSH config file for the new host using its physical hostname rather than the subsequent host alias; for example mars not prod3.

3. Add the host to the Ansible inventory file in the bootstrap group again using its physical hostname.

4. Run the playbook, which only acts on hosts in the bootstrap group.

The outcome should be that it is possible to SSH to the new host using the physical hostname from a logged in admin user session on the desktop and then to sudo on the host. You can then complete the setup for further deployment as follows:

1. Remove the host from the bootstrap group in the Ansible inventory.

2. Add an appropriate host alias for the host in the external group in the Ansible inventory.

3. Add the new host using its host alias to the relevant group(s) in the Ansible inventory according to the core services that it will provide.

4. Add a host_vars file for the new host using its host alias to the inventory.

5. Be sure to run an apt update on the new host so that the package cache is populated there. It's probably not a bad idea to run a package upgrade while you're there.

create-services.yml