AWS Resource Automation with Ansible

If you're starting with cloud automation using Ansible, setting up AWS resources is a great project to try. In this blog, I'll show you how I created an AWS EC2 instance with Ansible. This guide is easy to follow and meant for anyone who knows the basics of Ansible and AWS.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following:

An AWS account.
Ansible installed on your local machine.
Python installed, along with the boto3 module.

Step 1: Install the Required Collections and Libraries

Ansible uses collections to support specific platforms or tools. For AWS, you'll need the amazon.aws collection and the Python boto3 module.

Install AWS Collection:

ansible-galaxy collection install amazon.aws

Install Boto3 Module:

pip install boto3

Step 2: Create a Role for EC2 Management

Roles in Ansible help organize tasks, making your playbooks modular and reusable. Start by creating a role for managing EC2 instances.

ansible-galaxy role init ec2

This command creates a directory structure where you can add your tasks, variables, and other configurations.

Step 3: Set Up AWS Credentials

To access AWS APIs, you'll need to use an Access Key and Secret Key. However, storing these keys securely is critical. Here's how you can handle it safely using Ansible Vault.

Secure AWS Credentials with Ansible Vault

Generate a Vault Password:
Use the following command to create a secure vault password file.
```
 openssl rand -base64 2048 > vault.pass
```
Create a Vault File for AWS Credentials:
Store your AWS Access Key and Secret Key in a YAML file. Use Ansible Vault to encrypt it.
```
 ansible-vault create group_vars/all/pass.yml --vault-password-file vault.pass
```
Inside pass.yml, add your AWS credentials:
```
 aws_access_key: YOUR_ACCESS_KEY  
 aws_secret_key: YOUR_SECRET_KEY
```

Step 4: Create the Playbook

Now, let’s write the playbook to create an EC2 instance. Below is an example of a playbook file, ec2_create.yaml:

Step 5: Execute the Playbook

With everything set up, it's time to run the playbook and create your EC2 instance!

ansible-playbook ec2_create.yaml --vault-password-file vault.pass

Once executed, Ansible will launch the EC2 instance, and you’ll see the instance ID in the output.

Success!

Congratulations, you've successfully created an EC2 instance on AWS using Ansible. 🎉

This simple example can be a starting point for automating more complex infrastructure setups. With Ansible's power and AWS's scalability, the possibilities are endless.

Let me know in the comments if you tried this or if you have any questions!

Happy automating! 🚀

Create Resources on AWS Using Ansible

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