Ansible Environment Setup and Reset of Existing SSL Orchestrator Configuration
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In order to ensure the proper execution of the Ansible Playbooks within this module, it is important to have a properly configured environment. This environment is provided through the **Ubuntu-Client** WebRDP session. This client is running VScode and will be the tool used to execute the Ansible Playbooks.

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Access the Ubuntu-Client WebRDP Session and open VScode
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#. From the UDF **Deployment** tab, access the WebRDP session for the **Ubuntu-Client** resource. This will open a new browser tab with a GUI session. Login with **user** / **user**.

   .. image:: images/udf-ubuntu-webrdp-1.png
      :align: left

#. After logging in, open the VScode application from the bottom panel taskbar. This should auto display the README file for the the Ansible Playbooks that are stored on the desktop.

   .. image:: images/ubuntu-client-vscode-1.png
      :align: left

   .. image:: images/vscode-readme.png
      :align: left

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Initialize the Ansible Environment
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#. In the terminal pane of VScode, ensure you are in the proper working directory for the Ansible Playbooks **~/Documents/API/sslo-ansible**. If you are not in the correct directory, use the following command to navigate to the Ansible Playbooks directory.

   .. image:: images/vscode-correct-directory.png
      :align: left

   .. note:: If you are not in the correct directory, use the below command to navigate to the Ansible Playbooks directory.

   .. code-block:: text

      cd ~/Documents/API/sslo-ansible


#. Run the source command to initialize the Ansible python environment and set the necessary environment variables:

   .. code-block:: text

      source ansible_venv/bin/activate

   .. code-block:: text

      export BIGHOST='10.1.1.6'

   .. code-block:: text

      export BIGPASS='admin'   


#. After running the above commands, you should see the terminal prompt change to indicate that you are now in the Ansible virtual environment. You can now proceed to execute the Ansible Playbooks as needed for this module.

   .. image:: images/ansible-venv-activated.png
      :align: left


Explore Ansible Playbooks for F5 BIG-IP SSL Orchestrator
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#. Within VScode, there are several directories within the Explorer pane on the left.  The **appworld_ansible_playbooks** directory contains the Ansible Playbooks that will be used in this lab. The **playbooks** directory contains the playbook files related to the |f5_bigip_link| collection.

   .. image:: images/vscode-playbooks.png
      :align: left

   .. 
      Comment: This images/vscode-playbooks.png screenshot might need to be revised for updates to the appworld_ansible_playbooks. 
      2/12/2026


#. Take a few moments to explore both the **appworld_ansible_playbooks** and **playbooks** directories to familiarize yourself with the structure and contents of the Ansible Playbooks that will be used in this module. This will help you understand how the playbooks are organized and how they interact with the F5 BIG-IP SSL Orchestrator environment.

#. Here is an example of the structure of a playbook within the **appworld_ansible_playbooks** directory:

   .. image:: images/vscode-playbook-structure.png
      :align: left


#. The fundamental structure of these F5 BIG-IP Ansible playbooks uses the following form, allowing for the **notahost** inventory tag (no hosts inventory needed) and environment variables passed into the playbook for the BIG-IP address and admin password.

   .. code-block:: text

      ansible-playbook -i notahost, appworld_ansible_playbooks/<name of playbook>.yaml

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Completion of this section and Lab Reset
-----------------------------------------

Now that we have enabled the Ansible environment and explored the playbooks, we are ready to move on to the next section where we will execute several Ansible Playbooks to automate tasks within the F5 BIG-IP SSL Orchestrator environment.

In order to have a fresh environment to work with, we will first execute the **remove-previous-config.yaml** playbook which will delete all existing Topologies, Security Policies, and SSL Configurations related to everything we've built so far. This will allow us to start with a clean slate as we work through the next sections of this module.

.. code-block:: text

   ansible-playbook -i notahost, appworld_ansible_playbooks/remove-previous-config.yaml

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.. note:: This will keep the existing Services and Service Chains intact. This is intentional as it allows you to reuse services if needed if you want to rebuild or explore options.  

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.. |f5_bigip_link| raw:: html

      <a href="https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/orchestration/ansible/devel/f5_bigip/modules_2_0/module_index.html" target="_blank"> f5.bigip</a>