Setup the Automation Controller ( AWX ) using Ansible

Learn how to create the Ansible Automation Controller (AWX) effortlessly using Ansible, utilizing the AWX Operator. This section also guides you through configuring the controller using Ansible, including setting up an organization, credentials, an Ansible Execution Environment, and a Job Template, which facilitates the provisioning of the Reverse Proxy.
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Projects: c2platform/ansible , c2platform.mw , c2platform.mgmt , ansible-execution-environment

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to create an AWX instance on the c2d-awx1 node using the AWX Operator Helm Chart  and Ansible . Here’s an overview of the process:

  1. Kubernetes Cluster Setup: Ansible takes the lead in configuring a Kubernetes instance, leveraging the microk8s role within the c2platform.mw collection.
  2. Kubernetes Configuration: With the Kubernetes cluster primed, Ansible proceeds to configure it further, harnessing the kubernetes role from the same c2platform.mw collection.
  3. AWX Deployment: The deployment of AWX onto the Kubernetes cluster is orchestrated using the AWX Operator Helm Chart. Ansible seamlessly manages this deployment process.
  4. AWX Customization: To finalize the setup, the c2platform.mgmt collection’s awx role is employed to tailor the AWX instance to the desired configuration.

Upon successful completion of these steps, you’ll gain access to the AWX interface by visiting the following URL: https://awx.c2platform.org  .

Prerequisites

Create the reverse and forward proxy c2d-rproxy1.

c2
unset PLAY  # ensure all plays run
vagrant up c2d-rproxy1

For more information about the various roles that c2d-rproxy1 performs in this project:

Setup

To create the Kubernetes instance and deploy the AWX instance, execute the following command:

vagrant up c2d-awx1

Verify

To verify your AWX instance, follow these steps:

Connect

If you have kubectl installed on your host, you can also access the cluster using that by running the following commands:

export BOX=c2d-awx1
sudo snap install kubectl --classic
vagrant ssh $BOX -c "microk8s config" > ~/.kube/config
kubectl get all --all-namespaces

Show me

NAMESPACE            NAME                                                  READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
kube-system          pod/hostpath-provisioner-766849dd9d-jdd5b             1/1     Running     0          17m
kube-system          pod/calico-node-vf72q                                 1/1     Running     0          17m
kube-system          pod/coredns-d489fb88-8xpwb                            1/1     Running     0          17m
kube-system          pod/calico-kube-controllers-d8b9b6478-2dj4s           1/1     Running     0          17m
container-registry   pod/registry-6674bf676f-twgpz                         1/1     Running     0          17m
kube-system          pod/dashboard-metrics-scraper-64bcc67c9c-5hbvz        1/1     Running     0          15m
kube-system          pod/kubernetes-dashboard-74b66d7f9c-8hqgf             1/1     Running     0          15m
metallb-system       pod/controller-56c4696b5-w2xbs                        1/1     Running     0          15m
metallb-system       pod/speaker-pkkpk                                     1/1     Running     0          15m
cert-manager         pod/cert-manager-cainjector-7985fb445b-jdkk6          1/1     Running     0          15m
cert-manager         pod/cert-manager-655bf9748f-6jxbg                     1/1     Running     0          15m
kube-system          pod/metrics-server-6b6844c455-7564v                   1/1     Running     0          15m
cert-manager         pod/cert-manager-webhook-6dc9656f89-br48w             1/1     Running     0          15m
awx                  pod/awx-operator-controller-manager-699d64766-ltpxh   2/2     Running     0          15m
awx                  pod/awx-postgres-15-0                                 1/1     Running     0          14m
awx                  pod/awx-web-6cb68b86cc-dp8tr                          3/3     Running     0          14m
awx                  pod/awx-migration-24.4.0-cljp4                        0/1     Completed   0          13m
awx                  pod/awx-task-5c96c47f86-r7vn7                         4/4     Running     0          14m

NAMESPACE            NAME                                                      TYPE           CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)                  AGE
default              service/kubernetes                                        ClusterIP      10.152.183.1     <none>        443/TCP                  17m
container-registry   service/registry                                          NodePort       10.152.183.38    <none>        5000:32000/TCP           17m
kube-system          service/kube-dns                                          ClusterIP      10.152.183.10    <none>        53/UDP,53/TCP,9153/TCP   17m
kube-system          service/metrics-server                                    ClusterIP      10.152.183.147   <none>        443/TCP                  16m
kube-system          service/kubernetes-dashboard                              ClusterIP      10.152.183.175   <none>        443/TCP                  16m
kube-system          service/dashboard-metrics-scraper                         ClusterIP      10.152.183.61    <none>        8000/TCP                 16m
metallb-system       service/webhook-service                                   ClusterIP      10.152.183.124   <none>        443/TCP                  16m
cert-manager         service/cert-manager                                      ClusterIP      10.152.183.51    <none>        9402/TCP                 15m
cert-manager         service/cert-manager-webhook                              ClusterIP      10.152.183.177   <none>        443/TCP                  15m
kube-system          service/dashboard-lb                                      LoadBalancer   10.152.183.133   1.1.4.16      443:32189/TCP            15m
awx                  service/awx-operator-controller-manager-metrics-service   ClusterIP      10.152.183.195   <none>        8443/TCP                 15m
awx                  service/awx-postgres-15                                   ClusterIP      None             <none>        5432/TCP                 14m
awx                  service/awx-service                                       ClusterIP      10.152.183.88    <none>        80/TCP                   14m
awx                  service/awx-service-lb                                    LoadBalancer   10.152.183.29    1.1.4.17      8052:32477/TCP           11m

NAMESPACE        NAME                         DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   NODE SELECTOR            AGE
kube-system      daemonset.apps/calico-node   1         1         1       1            1           kubernetes.io/os=linux   17m
metallb-system   daemonset.apps/speaker       1         1         1       1            1           kubernetes.io/os=linux   16m

NAMESPACE            NAME                                              READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
kube-system          deployment.apps/calico-kube-controllers           1/1     1            1           17m
kube-system          deployment.apps/hostpath-provisioner              1/1     1            1           17m
kube-system          deployment.apps/coredns                           1/1     1            1           17m
container-registry   deployment.apps/registry                          1/1     1            1           17m
kube-system          deployment.apps/dashboard-metrics-scraper         1/1     1            1           16m
kube-system          deployment.apps/kubernetes-dashboard              1/1     1            1           16m
metallb-system       deployment.apps/controller                        1/1     1            1           16m
cert-manager         deployment.apps/cert-manager-cainjector           1/1     1            1           15m
cert-manager         deployment.apps/cert-manager                      1/1     1            1           15m
kube-system          deployment.apps/metrics-server                    1/1     1            1           16m
cert-manager         deployment.apps/cert-manager-webhook              1/1     1            1           15m
awx                  deployment.apps/awx-operator-controller-manager   1/1     1            1           15m
awx                  deployment.apps/awx-web                           1/1     1            1           14m
awx                  deployment.apps/awx-task                          1/1     1            1           14m

NAMESPACE            NAME                                                        DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
kube-system          replicaset.apps/calico-kube-controllers-d8b9b6478           1         1         1       17m
kube-system          replicaset.apps/hostpath-provisioner-766849dd9d             1         1         1       17m
kube-system          replicaset.apps/coredns-d489fb88                            1         1         1       17m
container-registry   replicaset.apps/registry-6674bf676f                         1         1         1       17m
kube-system          replicaset.apps/dashboard-metrics-scraper-64bcc67c9c        1         1         1       15m
kube-system          replicaset.apps/kubernetes-dashboard-74b66d7f9c             1         1         1       15m
metallb-system       replicaset.apps/controller-56c4696b5                        1         1         1       15m
cert-manager         replicaset.apps/cert-manager-cainjector-7985fb445b          1         1         1       15m
cert-manager         replicaset.apps/cert-manager-655bf9748f                     1         1         1       15m
kube-system          replicaset.apps/metrics-server-6b6844c455                   1         1         1       15m
cert-manager         replicaset.apps/cert-manager-webhook-6dc9656f89             1         1         1       15m
awx                  replicaset.apps/awx-operator-controller-manager-699d64766   1         1         1       15m
awx                  replicaset.apps/awx-web-6cb68b86cc                          1         1         1       14m
awx                  replicaset.apps/awx-task-5c96c47f86                         1         1         1       14m

NAMESPACE   NAME                               READY   AGE
awx         statefulset.apps/awx-postgres-15   1/1     14m

NAMESPACE   NAME                             COMPLETIONS   DURATION   AGE
awx         job.batch/awx-migration-24.4.0   1/1           102s       13m

Refer to Connecting to a Kubernetes Cluster for more information.

Kubernetes Dashboard

  1. Access the Kubernetes Dashboard by visiting https://dashboard-awx.c2platform.org/  and log in using a token. Obtain the token by running the kubectl command shown below inside the c2d-awx1 node.
  2. Once logged in, navigate to the awx  namespace. Check if the awx-web and awx-task pods are running without any errors.
kubectl -n kube-system describe secret microk8s-dashboard-token

For more information about obtaining the token and setting up the Kubernetes Dashboard, refer to the Setup the Kubernetes Dashboard guide.

AWX

  1. To access the AWX web interface, go to https://awx.c2platform.org  . Use the admin account with the password secret to log in.
  2. Once logged in, navigate to the Templates  section.
  3. From there, you can launch various plays, such as the reverse proxy play c2-reverse-proxy or one of the AWX plays c2-awx or c2-awx-config.

AWX API

The AWX API is available. To verify:

  1. Navigate to https://awx.c2platform.org/api/ . You should see API documentation.

  2. Test if you can login using following command

    curl -k -d '{"username": "admin", "password": "secret"}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-X GET https://awx.c2platform.org/api/
    Show me
    [root@c2d-awx1 ~ (⎈|microk8s:awx)]# curl -k -d '{"username": "admin", "password": "secret"}' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X GET https://awx.c2platform.org/api/
{"description":"AWX REST API","current_version":"/api/v2/","available_versions":{"v2":"/api/v2/"},"oauth2":"/api/o/","custom_logo":"","custom_login_info":"","login_redirect_override":""}[root@c2d-awx1 ~ (⎈|microk8s:awx)]#

Review

To gain a better understanding of how the AWX instance is created using Ansible, you can review the following:

In Ansible playbook project c2platform/ansible :

  1. Vagrantfile.yml: This file configures the c2d-awx1 node with the mgmt/awx playbook. This file is read in the Vagrantfile.
  2. hosts-dev.ini: The inventory file assigns the c2d-awx1 node to the awx-new Ansible group and localhost to the awx_config Ansible group.

AWX Play

  1. plays/mgmt/awx.yml: This playbook sets up Ansible roles for the awx-new Ansible group.
  2. group_vars/awx_new/main.yml: This file contains the main configuration for Kubernetes, including enabling add-ons like dashboard and metallb load balancer.
  3. group_vars/awx_new/files.yml: Here, you can find the configuration for creating the AWX Helm Chart in the /home/vagrant/awx-values.yml file.
  4. group_vars/awx_new/kubernetes.yml: This file includes the configuration to set up the Kubernetes cluster and install AWX on it.
  5. group_vars/awx_new/awx.yml: This file includes the configuration to configure AWX. It will for setup an organization, credentials, an execution environment and a job template to provision the reverse proxy.

AWX Configuration Play

The AWX Configuration Play is responsible for managing AWX using AWX itself. Its purpose is to be executed within the AWX environment. Unlike the standard AWX Play , this play employs fewer roles—specifically, it includes only c2platform.core.secrets and c2platform.mgmt.awx. Its scope is limited to configuring AWX, and it assumes the AWX instance has already been established. This play serves as an illustrative example of how AWX can autonomously manage its own setup.

  1. plays/mgmt/awx_config.yml: This playbook establishes the Ansible roles required for the awx-config play.
  2. group_vars/awx_config/main.yml: This file contains the configuration settings for AWX customization. It is a direct copy of group_vars/awx_new/awx.yml. Note: In a real-world scenario, copying configuration code like this would not be recommended.

Within the Ansible collection project c2platform.mw :

  1. The c2platform.mw.microk8s Ansible role.
  2. The c2platform.mw.kubernetes Ansible role.

Inside the Ansible collection project c2platform.mgmt :

  1. The c2platform.mgmt.awx Ansible role.

AWX Configuration

Within the AWX instance via https://awx.c2platform.org  , you can examine all components generated based on the configurations found in group_vars/awx_new/awx.yml or group_vars/awx_config/main.yml. For instance:

  1. Job Templates like c2-awx, c2-awx-config, c2-reverse-proxy.
  2. Credentials such as c2-machine and c2-vault.
  3. The Project named c2d and the Inventory named c2.

Manual installation

If you prefer to perform the AWX installation manually, you can provision the c2d-awx1 node without the c2platform.mw.kubernetes Ansible role. To do this, disable or remove the c2platform.mw.kubernetes role in plays/mgmt/awx.yml. By running the vagrant up c2d-awx1 command, an “empty” Kubernetes cluster will be created. After that, you can follow the documentation to set up AWX.

Here are the relevant resources for the manual installation process:

Known Issues

Kustomize

By default, the AWX instance is created using Kustomize  . Please refer to the ansible/awx-operator  documentation for more details.

However, there is an issue when using a MicroK8s-based Kubernetes cluster. The kubectl apply command will fail with the following message:

evalsymlink failure on ‘/home/vagrant/github.com/ansible/awx-operator/config/default?ref=2.2.1’

vagrant@c2d-awx1:~$ kubectl apply -k .
error: accumulating resources: accumulation err='accumulating resources from 'github.com/ansible/awx-operator/config/default?ref=2.2.1': evalsymlink failure on '/home/vagrant/github.com/ansible/awx-operator/config/default?ref=2.2.1' : lstat /home/vagrant/github.com: no such file or directory': git cmd = '/snap/microk8s/5392/usr/bin/git fetch --depth=1 origin 2.2.1': exit status 128

To reproduce this message, create a file /home/vagrant/kustomization.yaml with the contents shown below and run the command kubectl apply -k .:

vagrant@c2d-awx1:~$ cat kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
images:
- name: quay.io/ansible/awx-operator
  newTag: 2.2.1
kind: Kustomization
namespace: awx
resources:
- github.com/ansible/awx-operator/config/default?ref=2.2.1

As a result of the failure of Kustomize  , the Helm Chart option was used instead.

Last modified January 31, 2026: vagrant install sudo wget → wget OK-2409 PHX-361 PHX-362 (b7af097)