Day 58 - Ansible Playbooks 📝👤

Hello DevOps enthusiasts! 🎉 Welcome to Day 58 of the #90DaysOfDevOps challenge. Today, we’re diving into Ansible Playbooks! 🛠️✨

Ansible Playbooks are essential tools in DevOps, allowing us to automate complex tasks, manage configurations, and deploy applications seamlessly. Imagine them as instruction manuals 📚 that help you get multiple servers working together efficiently. 📖💡

What We'll Cover Today:

1. Creating a file on a different server using Ansible Playbooks. 📝

2. Creating a new user with an Ansible Playbook. 👤

3. Installing Docker on a group of servers using Ansible Playbooks. 🐳

4. Best practices for writing Ansible Playbooks. 🌟

Let's get started! 🚀🔥

Task 1: Creating a File on a Different Server 📄

Step 1: Write an Ansible Playbook ✍️

Create a playbook file named create_file.yml with the following content to create a file on the server:

---
- name: Create a file on a different server
  hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Create a file
      file:
        path: /tmp/ansible_file.txt
        state: touch

Step 2: Execute the Playbook 🚀

Run the playbook using the ansible-playbook command:

ansible-playbook create_file.yml -i <inventory-file-path> --private-key=<private-key-path>

Step 3: Verify the File Creation ✅

Log into the server and check if the file /tmp/ansible_file.txt has been created:

ssh -i <private-key-path> <user>@<server-ip>
ls /tmp/ansible_file.txt

Task 2: Installing Docker on a Group of Servers 🐳

Step 1: Write an Ansible Playbook ✍️

Create a playbook file named install_docker.yml to install Docker on the servers:

---
- name: Install Docker on servers
  hosts: docker_group
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Update apt cache and install Docker
      apt:
        name: docker.io
        state: present
        update_cache: yes
      when: ansible_os_family == 'Debian'

    - name: Install Docker
      yum:
        name: docker
        state: present
      when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat'

    - name: Start Docker service
      service:
        name: docker
        state: started
        enabled: yes

Step 2: Execute the Playbook 🚀

Run the playbook using the ansible-playbook command:

ansible-playbook install_docker.yml -i <inventory-file-path> --private-key=<private-key-path>

Step 3: Verify Docker Installation ✅

Log into one of the servers and check the Docker installation:

ssh -i <private-key-path> <user>@<server-ip>
docker --version

Task 3: Best Practices for Writing Ansible Playbooks 📝

Ansible playbooks are YAML files that define a set of tasks and configurations to be executed on remote systems. Playbooks allow you to automate various infrastructure management tasks, such as provisioning servers, configuring services, deploying applications, and more. 💼

Examples of Ansible Playbooks 📘

Installing Packages 📦

---
- name: Install packages
  hosts: web_servers
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Update package cache
      apt:
        update_cache: yes
      when: ansible_os_family == 'Debian'

    - name: Install nginx
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present
      when: ansible_os_family == 'Debian'

    - name: Install httpd
      yum:
        name: httpd
        state: present
      when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat'

Configuring Services 🔧

---
- name: Configure Nginx
  hosts: web_servers
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Copy Nginx configuration file
      copy:
        src: nginx.conf
        dest: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
      notify: restart nginx

  handlers:
    - name: restart nginx
      service:
        name: nginx
        state: restarted

Deploying Applications 🚀

---
- name: Deploy myapp
  hosts: app_servers
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Clone Git repository
      git:
        repo: https://github.com/myusername/myapp.git
        dest: /var/www/myapp
        version: master

    - name: Install application dependencies
      command: npm install
      args:
        chdir: /var/www/myapp

    - name: Start the application
      command: npm start
      args:
        chdir: /var/www/myapp

User Management 👥

---
- name: Create user accounts
  hosts: all
  become: true
  vars:
    users:
      - username: user1
        password: "{{ 'user1_password' | password_hash('sha512') }}"
      - username: user2
        password: "{{ 'user2_password' | password_hash('sha512') }}"
  tasks:
    - name: Create user accounts
      user:
        name: "{{ item.username }}"
        password: "{{ item.password }}"
        state: present
      with_items: "{{ users }}"

Firewall Configuration 🔥

---
- name: Configure firewall
  hosts: web_servers
  become: true
  vars:
    allowed_ports:
      - 80
      - 443
  tasks:
    - name: Allow incoming HTTP and HTTPS traffic
      ufw:
        rule: allow
        port: "{{ item }}"
      with_items: "{{ allowed_ports }}"

Database Backup 💾

---
- name: Backup database
  hosts: db_servers
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Stop database service
      service:
        name: mysql
        state: stopped

    - name: Backup database
      command: mysqldump -u root -p{{ db_password }} my_database > /tmp/my_database_backup.sql
      args:
        warn: false

    - name: Start database service
      service:
        name: mysql
        state: started

Thank you for reading! 😊