Exercise 4.1: Creating a Tower Job Template

Objective

Demonstrate a BIG-IP Virtual Server configuration job template for Red Hat Ansible Tower. This job template will create a virtual server, a pool, and add two web servers to the pool .

To run an Ansible Playbook in Ansible Tower, we need to create a Job Template. A Job Template requires: - A Credential to login to devices. - An Inventory to run the job against - A Project which contains Ansible Playbooks

Guide

Step 1: Create a Credential

1. In the Ansible web UI, navigate to the Credentials section using the left navigation bar.

2. Click on the green button to create a new Credential: Workshop Credential

3. Fill out the credential parameters as follows, and click Save

   Parameter	Value
   Name	Workshop Credential
   Credential type:	Network
   Username	admin
   Password	ansible

Note: double check BIG-IP password provided by instructor defaults to ansible

workshop credential link

Step 2: Migrate an Inventory

Note: Here we just showcase one way to migrate an inventory file from the Ansible Tower control node (awx-manage)

1. In the Ansible web UI, navigate to the Inventories section using the left navigation bar.

2. Click on the green button to create an empty inventory Workshop Inventory.

3. Login via SSH to your Ansible Tower control node (This is the Linux machine that has Ansible Tower installed on). The SSH credentials needed again here.

4. Locate the flat-file that represents your Ansible inventory. Run the awx-manage inventory_import command like this

   cd ~/networking-workshop/lab_inventory/
   sudo awx-manage inventory_import --source=hosts --inventory-name="Workshop Inventory"
   

5. Now when you login via the WebUI you will see all the hosts under the inventory Workshop Inventory

6. In your newly imported inventory, click on the button labeled GROUPS.

7. Click on the Group lb, and then click on the button labeled HOSTS, you will see the host f5. The BIG-IP host f5 in the inventory will have variables assigned to it with the respective values. Our playbook will refer to these inventory variables later in the lab.

8. Click on Workshop Inventory on the top to return to inventory

   then click on the button labeled GROUPS.

   Click on the Group webservers, and then click on the button labeled Hosts. You will see two hosts: host1 and host2.

   Click on host1, and you will see the variables assigned to it with the respective values.

Step 3: Create a Project

1. In the Ansible web UI, navigate to the Projects section using the left navigation bar.

2. Click on the green button to create a new project

3. Fill out the project parameters as follows, and click Save

   Parameter	Value
   Name	Workshop Project
   SCM Type	Git
   SCM URL	h ttps://github.com/f5devcentral/an sible-tower-workshop-examples.git
   Update Revision on Launch	✓

workshop_project link

All the playbooks are availabe at https://github.com/f5devcentral/ansible-tower-workshop-examples, and you may take a look at what’s behind each playbook.

For reference, here is one of the playbooks that was imported and will be executed later in this lab.

``create_vs.yml``

---
- name: BIG-IP SETUP
  hosts: lb
  connection: local
  gather_facts: false

  tasks:
    - name: Setting up provider values
      set_fact:
       provider:
        server: "{{private_ip}}"
        server_port: "8443"
        validate_certs: "False"

    - name: CREATE NODES
      bigip_node:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        host: "{{hostvars[item].ansible_host}}"
        name: "{{hostvars[item].inventory_hostname}}"
      loop: "{{ groups['webservers'] }}"

    - name: CREATE POOL
      bigip_pool:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        name: "http_pool"
        lb_method: "round-robin"
        monitors: "/Common/http"
        monitor_type: "and_list"

    - name: ADD POOL MEMBERS
      bigip_pool_member:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        state: "present"
        name: "{{hostvars[item].inventory_hostname}}"
        host: "{{hostvars[item].ansible_host}}"
        port: "80"
        pool: "http_pool"
      loop: "{{ groups['webservers'] }}"

    - name: ADD VIRTUAL SERVER
      bigip_virtual_server:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        name: "vip"
        destination: "{{private_ip}}"
        port: "443"
        enabled_vlans: "all"
        all_profiles: ['http','clientssl','oneconnect']
        pool: "http_pool"
        snat: "Automap"

    - name: PRINT OUT WEB VIP FOR F5
      debug:
        msg: "The VIP (Virtual IP) is https://{{ansible_host}}"

Step 4: Create a Job Template

1. Open the web UI and click on the Templates link on the left menu.

   

   templates link

2. Click on the green button to create a new job template

   Make sure to select ``Job Template`` and not ``Workflow Template``

3. Fill out the job template parameters as follows:

   Parameter	Value
   Name	create_vs
   Job Type	Run
   Inventory	Workshop Inventory
   Project	Workshop Project
   Playbook	create_vs.yml
   Credential	Workshop Credential

   From the CREDENTIAL TYPE select Network, then seletct Workshop Credential:

   Here is a screenshot of the job template with parameters filled out:

   

   create_vs job template

4. Scroll down and click the green save button.

Step 5: Launch the Job Template

1. Navigate back to the Templates window, where all Job Templates are listed.

2. Launch the create_vs Job Template by clicking the Rocket button.

   

   rocket button

   When the rocket button is clicked this will launch the job. The job will open in a new window called the Job Details View. More info about Tower Jobs can be found in the documentation.

Step 6: Examine the Job Details View

On the left side there is a DETAILS pane, on the right side there is the Standard Out pane.

job details view

1. Examine the Details pane

   The Details pane will provide information such as the timestamp for when the job started and finished, the job type (Check or Run), the user that launched the job, which Project and Ansible Playbook were used and more.

   If the Job has not finished yet, the Details Pane will have a cancel button that can be used to stop the Job.

2. Examine the Standard Out pane

   The Standard Out pane will display the output from the Ansible Playbook. Every task output will match exactly what would be seen on the command line.

3. Click on the Expand Output button

   This will expand the Standard Out pane to take the entirety of the window.

4. Click on a task in the Standard Out pane to open up structured output from that particular task.

   Click on any line where there is a changed or ok

   

   task details window

Step 7: Examine the Jobs window

Any Job Template that has been run or is currently running will show up under the Views -> Jobs window.

1. Click the Jobs button the left menu.

   

   jobs button

   The Jobs link displays a list of jobs and their status–shown as completed successfully or failed, or as an active (running) job. Actions you can take from this screen include viewing the details and standard output of a particular job, relaunch jobs, or remove jobs.

2. Click on the ``create_vs`` Job

   

   jobs link

   The ``create_vs`` job was the most recent (unless you have been launching more jobs). Click on this job to return to the Job Details View. Ansible Tower will save the history of every job launched.

Step 8: Verify the BIG-IP Virtual Server was created

Login to the F5 BIG-IP with your web browser to see what was configured. Login information for the BIG-IP:

• username: admin
• password: provided by instructor defaults to ansible

The load balancer virtual server can be found by navigating the menu on the left. Click on Local Traffic. then click on Virtual Servers. See the screenshot below:

Step 9: Verifying the web servers

Each of the two RHEL web servers actually already has apache running. Open up the public IP of the F5 load balancer in your web browser:

This time use port 443 instead of 8443, e.g. https://X.X.X.X:443/

Each time you refresh, BIG-IP will load balance the traffic between host1 and host2, as shown below:

Takeaways

You have successfully demonstrated - Creating a Job Template to deploy a Virtual Server - Launching a Job Template from the Ansible Tower UI - Verifying the Virtual Server is correctly created - Veryfying the web server is up and running

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Complete

You have completed lab exercise 4.1

Click here to return to the Ansible Network Automation Workshop