Exercise 4.2: Creating a Workflow

Objective

Demonstrate the use of Ansible Tower workflow for F5 BIG-IP. Workflows allow you to configure a sequence of disparate job templates (or workflow templates) that may or may not share inventory, playbooks, or permissions.

For this exercise we will use workflow to achieve the same as the create_vs job template, while at the same time adding failure handling for each job.

Guide

Step 0: Prepare Job Templates

Following what we learned from Lab 4.2, create the following job templates with the respective playbook:

Job template Name	Playbook
Create node	create_node.yml
Create pool	create_pool.yml
Create virtual server	create_virtualserver.yml
Rollback node deploy	rollback_node_deploy.yml
Rollback pool deploy	rollback_pool_deploy.yml
Rollback virtual server deploy	rollback_vs_deploy.yml

Apart from above, we use the same template parameters as Lab 4.2 for each of the above templates,:

Parameter	Value
Name
Job Type	Run
Inventory	Workshop Inventory
Project	Workshop Project
Playbook
Credential	Workshop Credential

Here is one example of templates: Create node:

create node

Step 1: Create a Workflow Template

1. Click on the Templates link on the left menu.
2. Click on the green button. Select the Workflow Template.
3. Fill out the the form as follows:

Parameter	Value
Name	Workshop Workflow
Organization	Default
Inventory	Workshop Inventory

4. Click on the ``Save`` button

workflow creation

Step 2: The Workflow Visualizer

1. When you click the SAVE the WORKFLOW VISUALIZER should automatically open. If not, click on the blue WORKFLOW VISUALIZER button.

2. By default only a green START button will appear. Click on the START button.

3. The ADD A TEMPLATE window will appear on the right. Select the Create node Job Template that was created in previous step(whatever you named it!).

   

   add a template

   The Create node job template is now a node. Job or workflow templates are linked together using a graph-like structure called nodes. These nodes can be jobs, project syncs, or inventory syncs. A template can be part of different workflows or used multiple times in the same workflow. A copy of the graph structure is saved to a workflow job when you launch the workflow.

Step 3: Add Create node Job Template

1. Select the ``Create node`` Job Template. Use the only run option of Always. Click the green SELECT button.

   

   remove pool

Step 4: Add Create pool Job Template

1. Hover over the ``Create node`` node and click the green + symbol. The ADD A TEMPLATE will appear again.

2. Select the ``Create pool`` job template. For the Run parameter select On Success from the drop down menu.

3. Click the green SELECT button.

   

   upgrade server

Step 5: Add Create virtual server Job Template

1. Hover over the ``Create pool`` node and click the green + symbol. The ADD A TEMPLATE will appear again.

2. Select the ``Create virtual server`` job template. For the Run parameter select On Success from the drop down menu.

3. Click the green SELECT button.

   

   add pool

Step 6: Rollback node deploy Template

1. Hover over the Create node node and click the green + symbol. The ADD A TEMPLATE will appear again.

2. Select the Rollback node deploy job template. For the Run parameter select On Failure from the drop down menu.

3. Click the green SELECT button.

   

   configure restore node

Step 7: Rollback pool deploy Template

1. Hover over the Create pool node and click the green + symbol. The ADD A TEMPLATE will appear again.

2. Select the Rollback pool deploy job template. For the Run parameter select On Failure from the drop down menu.

3. Click the green SELECT button.

   

   configure restore node

Step 8: Rollback virtual server Template

1. Hover over the Create virtual server node and click the green + symbol. The ADD A TEMPLATE will appear again.

2. Select the Rollback virtual server deploy job template. For the Run parameter select On Failure from the drop down menu.

3. Click the green SELECT button.

   

   configure restore node

Step 9: Run the Workflow

1. Return to the Templates window

2. Click the rocket ship to launch the Workshop Workflow workflow template.

   

   workflow job launched

   At any time during the workflow job you can select an individual job template by clicking on the node to see the status.

Step 9: Error Handling

Next, we will show a failed job template for the workflow, where a rollback is performed. 1. Click on the Templates link on the left menu.

![templates link](images/templates.png)

2. Select template Create virtual server
3. Change the PLAYBOOK from create_virtualserver.yml to create_virtualserver_error.yml

The create_virtualserver_error.yml playbook will configure the Virtual Server, but tries to attach a pool http_pool_error which does not exist. Therefore, the addition of virtual server will fail, and the Rollback virtual server deploy node will be triggered.

4. Scroll down and click the green save button.

5. Return to the Templates window, cick the rocket ship to launch the Workshop Workflow workflow template again.

   

   error handling link

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

Click on Local Traffic. then click on Virtual Servers, Pools, and Nodes. You should see that Rollback virtual server deploy kicked in and removed all BIG-IP configuration.

Finally, we revert the configuration, and make it ready for next lab: 7. Click on the Templates link on the left menu. Select template Create virtual server 8. Change the PLAYBOOK back to create_virtualserver.yml 9. Scroll down and click the green save button. 10. Return to the Templates window, cick the rocket ship to launch the Workshop Workflow workflow template again.

Takeaways

You have - created a workflow template that create node, a pool, and virtual server - made the workflow robust, if either job template fails it will rollback the deployment - launched the workflow template and explored the VISUALIZER

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Complete

You have completed lab exercise 4.2

Click here to return to the Ansible Network Automation Workshop