How To Use Ansible

Introduction

Ansible is provisioning tool for bare-metal and virtual machines.

These commands should only be used by privileged users.

Instructions for Both Cluster 2 and 7

Important Notes/Variables

• Ansible Head Nodes
  • Cluster 2: epyc
  • Cluster 7: login01
• Ansible path is

/etc/ansible

• List hosts in the inventory file

ansible-inventory --list all
OR
cat /etc/ansible/hosts

Ansible Console

To access a terminal interface use the below command

ansible-console -bkK <optional flags>

Examples:

ansible-console -bkK
ansible-console -bkK -l zfs
ansible-console -bkK -l slurmd

An ansible-console command without other flags will SSH into all defined hosts in the inventory list.

Must-Have Flags

• -b, --become run operations with become (does not imply password prompting)
• -k, --ask-pass ask for connection password
• -K, --ask-become-pass

Optional Useful Flags

• -l SUBSET, --limit SUBSET
• -T TIMEOUT, --timeout TIMEOUT

Ansible Playbook

To run full instructions or playbooks

ansible-playbook -bkK <path_to_instructions.yml>

The playbooks are located in

/etc/ansible/playbooks

The directories are labeled

• maintenance - to check disks and hardware
• slurm - install and maintain slurm software and configs
• system - provisioning bare metal and virtual machines

Must-Have Flags

• -b, --become run operations with become (does not imply password prompting)
• -k, --ask-pass ask for connection password
• -K, --ask-become-pass