Linux RedHat Certified Engineer
(RHCE - EX294)
Implement Task Control
Pick and Choose Steps
• Start a playbook at a specific task
# anisble-playbook yamlfile.yml --start-at-task ‘Task name’
# anisble-playbook http.yml --start-at-task ‘Intall telnet’
---
- name: httpd and telnet
hosts: all
tasks:
- name: Install httpd
yum:
name: httpd
state: present
- name: Start httpd
service:
name: httpd
state: started
- name: Install telnet
yum:
name: telnet
state: present
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Running Ansible Ad-Hoc Commands
Ad-hoc commands part 1
• Ad-hoc commands run on as needed basis and usually for those tasks that do not repeat
• Syntax for Ad-Hoc ansible command:
• ansible [target] –m [module] –a “[module options]”
• Example ansible ad-hoc commands:
• Ping localhost
# ansible localhost –m ping
• Creating a file on all remote clients
# ansible all –m file –a “path=/home/iafzal/adhoc1 state=touch mode=700”
• Deleting a file on all remote clients
# ansible all –m file –a “path=/home/iafzal/adhoc1 state=absent”
• Copying a file to remote clients
# ansible all –m copy –a “src=/tmp/adhoc2 dest=/home/iafzal/adhoc2”
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Running Ansible Ad-Hoc Commands
Ad-hoc commands part 2
• Installing package (telnet and httpd-manual)
# ansible all –m yum –a “name=telnet state=present”
# ansible all –m yum –a “name=httpd-manual state=present”.
• Starting httpd package service
# ansible all –m service –a “name=httpd state=started”
• Start httpd and enable at boot time
# ansible all –m service –a “name=httpd state=started enabled=yes”
• Checking httpd service status on remote client
# ansible all –m shell -a “systemctl status httpd”
• Remove httpd package
# ansible all –m yum –a “name=httpd state=absent”
OR
# ansible all –m shell -a “yum remove httpd”.
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Running Ansible Ad-Hoc Commands
Ad-hoc commands part 3
• Creating a user on remote clients
# ansible all –m user –a “name=jsmith home=/home/jsmith shell=/bin/bash state=present”
• To add a user to a different group
# ansible all –m user –a “name=jsmith group=iafzal”
• Deleting a user on remote clients
# ansible all –m user –a “name=jsmith home=/home/jsmith shell=/bin/bash state=absent”
OR
# ansible all –m shell –a “userdel jsmith”
• Getting system information from remote clients
# ansible all –m setup
• You can run commands on the remote host without a shell module e.g. reboot client1
# ansible client1 –a “/sbin/reboot”
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Handlers
• Handlers are executed at the end of the play once all tasks are finished. In Ansible,
handlers are typically used to start, reload, restart, and stop services
• Sometimes you want to run a task only when a change is made on a machine. For
example, you may want to restart a service if a task updates the configuration of that
service, but not if the configuration is unchanged.
• Remember the case when we had to reload the firewalld because we wanted to enable
http service? Yes, that is a perfect example of using handlers
• So basically handlers are tasks that only run when notified
• Each handler should have a globally unique name
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Handlers
Example
---
- name: Verify apache installation
hosts: localhost
tasks:
- name: Ensure apache is at the latest version
yum:
name: httpd
state: latest
- name: Copy updated apache config file
copy:
src: /tmp/httpd.conf
dest: /etc/httpd.conf
notify:
- Restart apache httpd service will be
restart at the end
- name: Ensure apache is running
service:
name: httpd
state: started
handlers:
- name: Restart apache
service:
name: httpd
state: restarted
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Firewalld Example
Handlers
---
- name: Enable service on firewalld
hosts: localhost
tasks:
- name: Open port for http
firewalld:
service: http
permanent: true
state: enabled
notify:
- Reload firewalld
- name: Ensure firewalld is running
service:
name: firewalld
state: started
handlers:
- name: Reload firewalld
service:
name: firewalld
state: reloaded
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Conditions
• Condition execution allow Ansible to take actions on its own based on certain conditions
• Under condition certain values must be met before executing a tasks
• We can use the WHEN statement to make Ansible automation more smart
Example:
- name: Playbook description
hosts: localhost
tasks:
- name: Start a service
when: A == “B”
service:
name: servicename
state: started
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Conditions
# vim httpbycondition.yml
---
- name: Install Apache WebServer
hosts: localhost Ansible built-in variable
tasks:
- name: Install Apache on Ubuntu Server How to get a list of all
apt-get: Ansible built-in variables
name: apache2
state: present
Variables are gathered from facts
when: ansible_os_family == “Ubuntu“
- name: Install Apache on CentOS Server
Gather list of facts of a host
yum:
# ansible localhost –m setup
name: httpd
state: present
when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat"
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Loops
• A loop is a powerful programming tool that enables you to execute a set of commands
repeatedly
• We can automate specific task but what if that task itself repetitive?
• e.g. Changing permissions on hundreds of files
• Creating multiple users at once
• Installing many packages on hundreds of servers
• Loops can work hand in hand with conditions as we loop certain task until that
condition is met
• When creating loops, Ansible provides these two directives: loop and with_*
keyword.
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Users Example
Loops
• To create multiple users in Linux command line we use “for loop”
e.g.
# for u in jerry kramer eliane; do useradd $u; done
vim userloop.yml
1 Adding loop parameter 2 Adding variable
---
- name: Create users
hosts: localhost vim userbyloop1.yml vim userbyloop2.yml
tasks: --- ---
1 - name: Create jerry - name: Create users thru loop - name: Create users thru loop
user: hosts: localhost hosts: localhost
name: jerry vars:
tasks: users: [jerry,kramer,eliane]
2 - name: Create kramer - name: Create users
user: user: tasks:
name: kramer name: ”{{ item }}”” - name: Create users
loop: user:
3 - name: Create eliane - jerry name: ‘{{item}}‘
user: - kramer with_items: ‘{{users}}’
name: eliane - eliane
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
Packages Example
Loops
• To install multiple packages in Linux command line we use “for loop”
e.g.
# for p in ftp telnet htop; do yum install $p –y; done
1 Adding variable and calling variables 2 Adding variable and calling variables
through item parameter directly
vim installbyloop1.yml vim installbyloop2.yml
--- ---
- name: Install packages thru loop - name: Install packages thru loop
hosts: localhost hosts: localhost
vars: vars:
packages: [ftp,telnet,htop) packages: [ftp,telnet,htop)
tasks: tasks:
- name: Install package - name: Install packages
yum yum
name: ‘{{items}}’ name: ‘{{packages}}’
state: present state: present
with_items: ‘{{packages}}’
By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
