# Using Ansible Automation Platform with Dell OpenManage Ansible Modules Creating automation execution environments using the OpenManage Ansible Modules enables your automation teams to define, build, and update their automation environment themselves. Execution environments provide a common language to communicate automation dependency between automation developers, architects, and platform administrators. In this tutorial, you will learn how to build the execution environment image, push the image to a registry, and then create the execution environment in Ansible Automation Platform. ## Why Ansible Automation Platform over Galaxy While Ansible Galaxy is good for testing the latest and greatest developer content, it is difficult to find the author who uploaded the content and if the content is supported. Whereas Ansible Automation Platform has bundles of modules, plugins, roles, and documentation from Red Hat. The Ansible Automation Platform provides the following benefits: - Red Hat Certified content. - The content can be directly used in your own Ansible playbooks. - Private Ansible Automation hub can be used within the organization to publish and collaborate. - Premium support enables you to get help directly from Red Hat if you have any issue with an official Red Hat collection or certified partner collection. - Red Hat subscription provides free and unlimited access to any content available. ## Workflow In this tutorial, you will learn how to: 1. [Build execution environment image.](#build-execution-environment-image) 2. [Use Ansible Runner to verify the execution environment (Optional).](#use-ansible-runner-to-verify-the-execution-environment) 3. [Upload the execution environment to a registry.](#upload-the-execution-environment-to-a-registry) 4. [Create execution environment in Ansible Automation Platform.](#create-execution-environment-in-ansible-automation-platform) ## Build execution environment image Build a image with the required Ansible collections and libraries, and then upload it to a registry of your choice. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a Podman image. 1. Create the following files in your local directory: - *execution-environment.yml* - *requirements.yml* - *requirements.txt* 2. For installing OpenManage collections and their dependencies, copy the metadata from the [dellemc.openmanage](https://github.com/dell/dellemc-openmanage-ansible-modules) GitHub repository. The following are the sample files: **execution-environment.yml** ```yaml version: 3 dependencies: galaxy: requirements.yml python: requirements.txt system: bindep.txt ``` We can modify the execution environment file to configure as per your requirement based on the guidelines mentioned [here](https://docs.ansible.com/automation-controller/latest/html/userguide/ee_reference.html) **requirements.yml** ```yaml collections: - dellemc.openmanage - ansible.utils - ansible.windows ``` Note: The content of the *requirements.yml* can be found [here](https://github.com/dell/dellemc-openmanage-ansible-modules/blob/collections/requirements.yml) **requirements.txt** ```yaml omsdk netaddr>=0.7.19 ``` Note: The content of the *requirements.txt* can be found [here](https://github.com/dell/dellemc-openmanage-ansible-modules/blob/collections/requirements.txt) 3. Build the Podman image using the following syntax: `ansible-builder build -f /execution-environment.yml --container-runtime= -c build_context --tag //:` In this tutorial, the following command is used to build the Docker image with the name "*execution-environment*". ```yaml $ ansible-builder build -f execution-environment.yml --container-runtime=podman -c build_context --tag quay.io/delluser/dell-openmanage-ee: podman build -f context/Containerfile -t quay.io/delluser/dell-openmanage-ee context Complete! The build context can be found at: /context ``` ## Use Ansible Runner to verify the execution environment **Note:** Using Ansible Runner to verify the execution environment is an optional step. **Prerequisite** Ensure to install Ansible Runner. For details on how to install Ansible Runner, see [https://ansible-runner.readthedocs.io/en/stable/install/](https://ansible-runner.readthedocs.io/en/stable/install/). To verify the image using the Ansible Runner, do the following: 1. Create a folder structure as shown below: ```yaml runner-example/ ├── inventory │ └── hosts └── project └── testplaybook.yml ``` 2. Create a host file with the following entries: ```yaml [idrac] 192.168.0.1 [idrac:vars] ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3.9 user=user password=password ``` 3. Create a playbook. ```yaml - name: Get system inventory hosts: idrac gather_facts: false tasks: - name: Get system inventory. dellemc.openmanage.idrac_system_info: idrac_ip: "{{ inventory_hostname }}" idrac_user: "{{ user }}" idrac_password: "{{ password }}" validate_certs: false delegate_to: localhost ``` 4. Run the playbook using the following command: ```yaml ansible-runner run --process-isolation --process-isolation-executable podman --container-image quay.io/delluser/dell-openmanage-ee -p sysinfo.yml ./runner-example/ -v No config file found; using defaults PLAY [Get system inventory] **************************************************** TASK [Get system inventory.] *************************************************** ok: [192.168.0.1] => { ..sysdetails..} META: ran handlers META: ran handlers PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************* 192.168.0.1 : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` After the execution, a complete trace of execution information is saved in a directory structure as shown below: ```yaml # tree runner-example/ runner-example/ ├── artifacts │ └── 53810baa-15de-4dd6-93a1-35a28eb89070 │ ├── ansible_version.txt │ ├── collections.json │ ├── command │ ├── env.list │ ├── fact_cache │ ├── job_events │ │ ├── 1-592da7d5-b64f-4121-a91f-b33f28f6b0da.json │ │ ├── 2-0242ac11-0007-b479-84c9-000000000006.json │ │ ├── 3-0242ac11-0007-b479-84c9-000000000008.json │ │ ├── 4-6d132edf-994c-4bf4-b9b2-dd6fa6ba834f.json │ │ ├── 5-22b7e7a4-5244-4d3c-bbb7-395980feaee1.json │ │ └── 6-c7e089be-6494-4b6e-8379-cf435e108aa6.json │ ├── rc │ ├── status │ ├── stderr │ └── stdout ├── inventory │ └── hosts └── project └── sysinfo.yml ``` ## Upload the execution environment to a registry Now that you have built the image, you can upload the execution environment image to a registry. The following steps describe how to upload the image to a Docker registry. You can upload the image to a registry of your choice (https://quay.io or https://docker.io). 1. Log in to quay.io. ```yaml podman login quay.io ``` 2. To view the list of images, run the following command: ```yaml podman image list ``` Output: ```yaml REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE quay.io/delluser/dell-openmanage-ee latest 6ea6337881f5 36 seconds ago 908MB bab8f0c1f372 3 hours ago 959MB 26e61b6f31b6 3 hours ago 779MB ``` 3. Upload the image to the repository using the following command: ```yaml podman push quay.io/delluser/dell-openmanage-ee ``` Output: ```yaml Using default tag: latest The push refers to repository [quay.io/delluser/dell-openmanage-ee] 6a938007b4eb: Pushed c1a7a8b69adb: Pushed 75f55eeed6f1: Pushed 7da4273e9d6b: Pushed d8672b46fe52: Layer already exists daf6e68722b8: Layer already exists e258e2d51ae2: Layer already exists 134616f736b1: Layer already exists 34ac022ee9b6: Layer already exists e7423a18eff2: Layer already exists 4d851e75ba42: Layer already exists 38adeed967d9: Layer already exists 78fc855ac59c: Layer already exists d0f9b1e225dd: Layer already exists 5d4daec00137: Layer already exists dd423f7aa20e: Layer already exists 1ce7e8b08eb8: Layer already exists 5fa5c1c78a8e: Layer already exists e0808177f5c4: Layer already exists aadc47c09f66: Layer already exists 101e6c349551: Layer already exists latest: digest: sha256:7be5110235abf72e0547cac016a506d59313addefc445d35e5dff68edb0a9ad6 size: 4726 26e61b6f31b6 3 hours ago 779MB ``` ## Create execution environment in Ansible Automation Platform Now that you uploaded the image to a registry, you can now create the execution environment in Ansible Automation Platform. ### Add execution environment 1. Log in to Ansible Automation Platform. 2. On the navigation pane, click **Administration > Execution Environments**. 3. On the **Execution Environments** page, click **Add**. 4. On the **Create new execution environment** page, enter the following details, and click **Save**. - **Name**: Enter a name for the execution environment (required). - **Image**: Enter the image name (required). The image name requires its full location (repo), the registry, image name, and version tag - **Pull**: From the **Pull** drop-down list, select **Only pull the image if not present before running**. - **Description**: optional. - **Organization**: optionally assign the organization to specifically use this execution environment. To make the execution environment available for use across multiple organizations, leave this field blank. - **Registry credential**: If the image has a protected container registry, provide the credential to access it. ### Create Projects A Project is a logical collection of Ansible playbooks. 1. On the navigation pane, click **Resources > Projects**. 2. On the **Projects** page, click **Add**. 3. On the **Create New Project** page, do the following, and click **Save**. - From the **Source Control Credential Type** drop-down list, select the source control type. For example, you can select "GIT". - In the **Source Control URL**, specify the source control URL. That is your repository link. ### Create Credential Types This tutorial uses a custom credential type. You can create credential types depending on your data center environment. For more information, see [Credential Types](https://docs.ansible.com/automation-controller/4.2.1/html/userguide/credentials.html#credential-types). To create a credential type: 1. On the navigation pane, click **Administration > Credential Types**. 2. On the **Credential Types** page, click **Add**. 2. On the **Create Credential Types** page, enter the name, and then specify the **Input configuration** and **Injector configuration**. 3. Click **Save**. This tutorial uses a custom credential type. The following are the input configuration and injector configuration used in this tutorial. **Input configuration:** ```yaml fields: - id: username type: string label: Username - id: password type: string label: Password secret: true required: - username - password ``` **Injector configuration:** ```yaml extra_vars: user: '{{ username }}' password: '{{ password }}' ``` #### Create Credentials 1. On the navigation pane, click **Resources > Credentials**. 2. On the **Credentials** page, click **Add**. 3. On the **Create New Credential** page, enter the name of the credential and select the credential type. 4. Click **Save**. **Note:** In this tutorial, the custom credential type that we created in the section [Create Credential Types](#create-credential-types) is used. ## Create Inventories 1. On the navigation pane, click **Resources > Inventories**. 2. On the **Inventories** page, click **Add**. 3. On the **Create New Inventory** page, enter the details and click **Save**. 4. Add Groups and Hosts to the inventory. ## Create Job Templates 1. On the navigation pane, click **Resources > Templates**. 2. On the **Templates** page, click **Add** and select the new job template. 3. On the **Create New Job Template** page, enter the name, inventory, project, execution environment, playbook, and credentials. 4. Click **Save**. 5. To run the template, on the **Details** page, click **Launch**. To check the job status, on the navigation pane, select **Views > Jobs**. The following is a sample output in JSON. ```yaml PLAY [Get system inventory] **************************************************** TASK [Get system inventory.] *************************************************** ok: [192.168.0.1] => { ..sysdetails..} META: ran handlers META: ran handlers PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************* 192.168.0.1 : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` ## Troubleshoot You can add an Ansible python interpreter to a Template or Inventory. `ansible_python_interpreter: /usr/bin/python` ```yaml ansible_python_interpreter: /usr/bin/python3.9 ``` ## Documentation references - [https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/management/ansible](https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/management/ansible) - [https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/what-ansible-automation-hub-and-why-should-you-use-it](https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/what-ansible-automation-hub-and-why-should-you-use-it) - [https://www.ansible.com/blog/unlocking-efficiency-harnessing-the-capabilities-of-ansible-builder-3.0](https://www.ansible.com/blog/unlocking-efficiency-harnessing-the-capabilities-of-ansible-builder-3.0)