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diff --git a/packaging/installer/methods/ansible.md b/packaging/installer/methods/ansible.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..6b4c69f09 --- /dev/null +++ b/packaging/installer/methods/ansible.md @@ -0,0 +1,156 @@ +<!-- +title: "Deploy Netdata with Ansible" +description: "Deploy an infrastructure monitoring solution in minutes with the Netdata Agent and Ansible. Use and customize a simple playbook for monitoring as code." +image: /img/seo/guides/deploy/ansible.png +custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/packaging/installer/methods/ansible.md +sidebar_label: "Ansible" +learn_status: "Published" +learn_rel_path: "Installation/Install on specific environments" +--> + +# Deploy Netdata with Ansible + +Netdata's [one-line kickstart](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/packaging/installer/README.md#install-on-linux-with-one-line-installer) is zero-configuration, highly adaptable, and compatible with tons +of different operating systems and Linux distributions. You can use it on bare metal, VMs, containers, and everything +in-between. + +But what if you're trying to bootstrap an infrastructure monitoring solution as quickly as possible? What if you need to +deploy Netdata across an entire infrastructure with many nodes? What if you want to make this deployment reliable, +repeatable, and idempotent? What if you want to write and deploy your infrastructure or cloud monitoring system like +code? + +Enter [Ansible](https://ansible.com), a popular system provisioning, configuration management, and infrastructure as +code (IaC) tool. Ansible uses **playbooks** to glue many standardized operations together with a simple syntax, then run +those operations over standard and secure SSH connections. There's no agent to install on the remote system, so all you +have to worry about is your application and your monitoring software. + +Ansible has some competition from the likes of [Puppet](https://puppet.com/) or [Chef](https://www.chef.io/), but the +most valuable feature about Ansible is **idempotent**. From the [Ansible +glossary](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/glossary.html) + +> An operation is idempotent if the result of performing it once is exactly the same as the result of performing it +> repeatedly without any intervening actions. + +Idempotency means you can run an Ansible playbook against your nodes any number of times without affecting how they +operate. When you deploy Netdata with Ansible, you're also deploying _monitoring as code_. + +In this guide, we'll walk through the process of using an [Ansible +playbook](https://github.com/netdata/community/tree/main/configuration-management/ansible-quickstart/) to automatically +deploy the Netdata Agent to any number of distributed nodes, manage the configuration of each node, and connect them to +your Netdata Cloud account. You'll go from some unmonitored nodes to a infrastructure monitoring solution in a matter of +minutes. + +## Prerequisites + +- A Netdata Cloud account. [Sign in and create one](https://app.netdata.cloud) if you don't have one already. +- An administration system with [Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/) installed. +- One or more nodes that your administration system can access via [SSH public + keys](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Generating-Your-SSH-Public-Key) (preferably password-less). + +## Download and configure the playbook + +First, download the +[playbook](https://github.com/netdata/community/tree/main/configuration-management/ansible-quickstart/), move it to the +current directory, and remove the rest of the cloned repository, as it's not required for using the Ansible playbook. + +```bash +git clone https://github.com/netdata/community.git +mv community/netdata-agent-deployment/ansible-quickstart . +rm -rf community +``` + +Or if you don't want to clone the entire repository, use the [gitzip browser extension](https://gitzip.org/) to get the netdata-agent-deployment directory as a zip file. + +Next, `cd` into the Ansible directory. + +```bash +cd ansible-quickstart +``` + +### Edit the `hosts` file + +The `hosts` file contains a list of IP addresses or hostnames that Ansible will try to run the playbook against. The +`hosts` file that comes with the repository contains two example IP addresses, which you should replace according to the +IP address/hostname of your nodes. + +```conf +203.0.113.0 hostname=node-01 +203.0.113.1 hostname=node-02 +``` + +You can also set the `hostname` variable, which appears both on the local Agent dashboard and Netdata Cloud, or you can +omit the `hostname=` string entirely to use the system's default hostname. + +#### Set the login user (optional) + +If you SSH into your nodes as a user other than `root`, you need to configure `hosts` according to those user names. Use +the `ansible_user` variable to set the login user. For example: + +```conf +203.0.113.0 hostname=ansible-01 ansible_user=example +``` + +#### Set your SSH key (optional) + +If you use an SSH key other than `~/.ssh/id_rsa` for logging into your nodes, you can set that on a per-node basis in +the `hosts` file with the `ansible_ssh_private_key_file` variable. For example, to log into a Lightsail instance using +two different SSH keys supplied by AWS. + +```conf +203.0.113.0 hostname=ansible-01 ansible_ssh_private_key_file=~/.ssh/LightsailDefaultKey-us-west-2.pem +203.0.113.1 hostname=ansible-02 ansible_ssh_private_key_file=~/.ssh/LightsailDefaultKey-us-east-1.pem +``` + +### Edit the `vars/main.yml` file + +In order to connect your node(s) to your Space in Netdata Cloud, and see all their metrics in real-time in [composite +charts](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/visualize/overview-infrastructure.md) or perform [Metric +Correlations](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/cloud/insights/metric-correlations.md), you need to set the `claim_token` +and `claim_room` variables. + +To find your `claim_token` and `claim_room`, go to Netdata Cloud, then click on your Space's name in the top navigation, +then click on **Manage your Space**. Click on the **Nodes** tab in the panel that appears, which displays a script with +`token` and `room` strings. + + + +Copy those strings into the `claim_token` and `claim_rooms` variables. + +```yml +claim_token: XXXXX +claim_rooms: XXXXX +``` + +Change the `dbengine_multihost_disk_space` if you want to change the metrics retention policy by allocating more or less +disk space for storing metrics. The default is 2048 Mib, or 2 GiB. + +Because we're connecting this node to Netdata Cloud, and will view its dashboards there instead of via the IP address or +hostname of the node, the playbook disables that local dashboard by setting `web_mode` to `none`. This gives a small +security boost by not allowing any unwanted access to the local dashboard. + +You can read more about this decision, or other ways you might lock down the local dashboard, in our [node security +doc](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/netdata-security.md). + +> Curious about why Netdata's dashboard is open by default? Read our [blog +> post](https://www.netdata.cloud/blog/netdata-agent-dashboard/) on that zero-configuration design decision. + +## Run the playbook + +Time to run the playbook from your administration system: + +```bash +ansible-playbook -i hosts tasks/main.yml +``` + +Ansible first connects to your node(s) via SSH, then [collects +facts](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_vars_facts.html#ansible-facts) about the system. +This playbook doesn't use these facts, but you could expand it to provision specific types of systems based on the +makeup of your infrastructure. + +Next, Ansible makes changes to each node according to the `tasks` defined in the playbook, and +[returns](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/common_return_values.html#changed) whether each +task results in a changed, failure, or was skipped entirely. + +The task to install Netdata will take a few minutes per node, so be patient! Once the playbook reaches the connect to Cloud +task, your nodes start populating your Space in Netdata Cloud. |