Create a Simple Software Repository for Ansible

Projects: c2platform/rws/ansible-gis, c2platform.core, c2platform.wincore, c2platform.mw

Overview

This guide outlines the process adopted by RWS for managing software downloads using Ansible. It follows the strategy described in Designing a Flexible Software Repository for Ansible and employs the c2platform.wincore.download role for download operations. The setup involves Vagrant and Ansible executing the following tasks:

1. Vagrant employs the VirtualBox Provider to instantiate five VMs as specified in the table below.
2. Using the Ansible Provisioner, Vagrant orchestrates an Ansible playbook across these VMs to:
   1. Establish a Windows File Share on gsd-ansible-file-share1, populating it with a Tomcat tarball and a zip file.
   2. Set up a software service, gsd-ansible-repo, which mounts the file share and hosts its contents via Apache2.
   3. Initiate concurrent downloads on three nodes (gsd-ansible-download1, gsd-ansible-download2, gsd-ansible-download3), using HTTPS. Shared storage acts as a cache, facilitated by gsd-ansible-file-share1. The c2platform.wincore.download role ensures that downloads are synchronized, with only one node downloading a file at any given time, determined by which node acquires a lock file first. There are two downloads, potentially handled by different nodes.

Prerequisites

• Ensure your RWS Development Environment is set up on Ubuntu 22, as detailed here.

Setup

To prepare the complete environment, execute vagrant up for the specified VMs. On a high-performance development workstation, this setup should take approximately 25 minutes.

export BOX="gsd-ansible-repo gsd-ansible-file-share1 gsd-ansible-download1 \
gsd-ansible-download2 gsd-ansible-download3"
vagrant up $BOX

Verification

1. Successful execution of the playbook indicates that the download nodes (gsd-ansible-download1, gsd-ansible-download2, gsd-ansible-download3) managed to retrieve the Tomcat binaries. Review the final console output from Ansible, highlighting tasks like tasks Create download lock, Download install file, Extract zip and Remove lock file, to determine which node successfully acquired the lock and completed the download.

   Show me

   TASK [c2platform.wincore.download : Create download lock] **********************
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.tar.gz)
   ok: [gsd-ansible-download2] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.tar.gz)
   ok: [gsd-ansible-download3] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.tar.gz)
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.zip)
   ok: [gsd-ansible-download2] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.zip)
   ok: [gsd-ansible-download3] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.zip)
   
   TASK [c2platform.wincore.download : Download install file] *********************
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.tar.gz)
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=//gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19.zip)
   
   TASK [c2platform.wincore.download : Extract zip] *******************************
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=apache-tomcat-10.1.19.zip → //gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org/ansible-repo/cache\apache-tomcat-10.1.19)
   
   TASK [c2platform.wincore.download : Remove lock file] **************************
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=\\gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org\ansible-repo\cache\e9e4e25175d60ab7bf720609971f81206c644ce950deed17bf6de78613cca091.lock → absent)
   changed: [gsd-ansible-download1] => (item=\\gsd-ansible-file-share1.internal.c2platform.org\ansible-repo\cache\4c6082b852ad235cb10bc50992259ddc1145664c6347b0ea97100cada66c5153.lock → absent)
   

2. Using the RWS FireFox profile navigate to https://gsd-ansible-repo.internal.c2platform.org/  . When prompted, log in with the username ansible and the password Supersecret!. You should be able to view and download the Tomcat binaries, such as apache-tomcat-10.1.19.tar.gz.

3. Access gsd-ansible-download1 via Remmina or VirtualBox Manager as the vagrant user (password: vagrant). Desktop shortcuts provide links to the file share and downloads. The vagrant user has full control over and access to the share.

Review

To understand the VM setup and configuration, review the Ansible Inventory and Vagrant project files, and the Ansible collections.

Ansible Inventory

Review the following files in the Ansible inventory / Vagrant project c2platform/rws/ansible-gis:

Ansible Collections / Roles

Next Steps

For development and experimentation, consider a stepwise approach using Ansible tags and Vagrant snapshots to manage and iterate on the environment more efficiently.

TAGS=v1 vagrant provision $BOX

TAGS=common,download vagrant up $BOX --provision | tee provision.log

Additional Information

For additional insights and guidance:

• Explore the design and advantages of this setup in Designing a Flexible Software Repository for Ansible.
• Learn about Vagrant’s capabilities in handling Sysprep for Windows and automated registration for RHEL 9 in the Vagrant setup guide.
• For an overview of the types of projects in Ansible, refer to Ansible Projects.
• To facilitate downloads using HTTPS without SSL/TLS errors a trust relationship is created by Ansible. Refer to Managing SSL/TLS Trust with Ansible on Windows Hosts for more information.