Quick start guide

For users who want to try the role quickly, this guide provides an example of how to create users, install packages, and configure services.

  • Install the roles:

shell> ansible-galaxy install vbotka.linux_postinstall

shell> ansible-galaxy install vbotka.ansible_lib

shell> ansible-galaxy install vbotka.linux_lib

  • Create the playbook playbook.yml for a single host srv.example.com:

shell> cat playbook.yml

1- hosts: srv.example.com
2  gather_facts: true
3  connection: ssh
4  remote_user: admin
5  become: true
6  become_user: root
7  become_method: sudo
8  roles:
9    - vbotka.linux_postinstall

  • Create host_vars with customized variables:

shell> ls -1 host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-*

1host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-common.yml
2host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-users.yml
3host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-passwords.yml
4host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-packages.yml
5host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-service.yml

  • To speed up execution, set non-essential variables to false:

shell> cat host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-common.yml

1lp_debug: false
2lp_backup_conf: false
3lp_flavors_enable: false

  • Create users. Passwords will not be created (lines 4, 7). See details.

shell> cat host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-users.yml

 1lp_users:
 2  - name: ansible
 3    shell: /bin/sh
 4    disabled_password: true
 5  - name: admin
 6    shell: /bin/bash
 7    disabled_password: true
 8lp_users_groups:
 9  - name: admin
10    groups: [adm, dialout]

  • Configure passwords. See details.

shell> cat host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-passwords.yml

1lp_passwords: true
2lp_passwordstore: true
3lp_passwordstore_create: false
4lp_passwordstore_overwrite: false

  • Install packages and enable autoremove:

shell> cat host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-packages.yml

1lp_packages_autoremove: true
2lp_packages_install:
3  - ansible
4  - ansible-lint
5  - ansible-tower-cli

  • Configure services:

shell> cat host_vars/srv.example.com/lp-service.yml

1lp_service_debug: true
2lp_service:
3  - {name: ssh, state: started, enabled: true}

  • Test syntax:

shell> ansible-playbook playbook.yml --syntax-check

  • See which variables will be included:

shell> ansible-playbook playbook.yml -t lp_debug -e lp_debug=true

  • Install packages:

shell> ansible-playbook playbook.yml -t lp_packages

  • Perform a dry-run to display diffs and variable values:

shell> ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e lp_debug=true --check --diff

  • Run the playbook:

shell> ansible-playbook playbook.yml

Warning

The host has not been secured by this playbook and should be used for testing only.