Creating Blueprints with Ansible

To write a blueprint to use Ansible with Brooklyn it will help to have a degree of familiarity with Ansible itself. In the sections below, when the Brooklyn configuration is described, the underlying Ansible operation is also noted briefly, for clarity for readers who know Ansible.

To manage a node with Ansible, create a blueprint containing a service of type org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity and define and minimum the playbook value, and one or other of playbook.url or playbook.yaml. You must also define the service.name that will be tested in order to determine if the entity is running successfully.

For example:

name: myweb
location: ...
services:
  - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity
    id: apache
    name: apache
    service.name: apache2
    playbook: apache-playbook
    playbook.url: http://myhost/projectX/apache-playbook.yaml

This example specifies that Brooklyn should use Ansible to download the playbook from the repository on "myhost". The playbook contains the instructions to install the Apache web server. To start the entity, Brooklyn will use Ansible's "ansible-playbook" command to run the playbook, which will bring up the web server.

Lifecycle of AnsibleEntity

The start effector applies the playbook and verifies that it has started the software correctly by checking the service defined as service.name is running. This can be customized, see ansible.service.start configuration below.

The stop effector will stop the service service.name. Again, this can be customized, with ansible.service.stop.

The restart effector will apply stop and then start.

Configuration of AnsibleEntity

The playbook configuration key names the top level list of states that will be applied using Ansible.
This configuration key is mandatory.

The playbook must be defined using one or other (both together are not permitted) of playbook.yaml or playbook.url. The former allows the playbook content to be defined inline within the blueprint, using the normal YAML format of an Ansible playbook. The latter obtains the playbook from an external URL.

The ansible.service.start configuration key allows the blueprint author to override the command used by default to verify that the service service.name is running (or to start it, if the playbook did not specify it should run by default). The default value is:

sudo ansible localhost -c local -m service -a "name=<service.name> state=started"

Similarly the ansible.service.stop configuration key permits override of the instruction used to get Ansible to stop the service, by default

sudo ansible localhost -c local -m service -a "name=<service.name> state=stopped"

The ansible.service.checkPort configuration key allows the user to override the mechanism used to check that the service service.name is operating. By default Brooklyn checks that the service process is running. However, if the service is one that listens on a particular port, this configuration key allows the blueprint author to instruct Brooklyn to check that the port is being listened on, using the Ansible wait_for module. The value of the key is the port number to check.

The ansible.vars configuration key allows the blueprint author to provide entity-specific values for configuration variables used in the playbook, so that one playbook can be used by multiple entities, each customized appropriately. The value of ansible.vars is an arbitrary block of YAML configuration that will be applied to the playbook using Ansible's --extra-vars mechanism, as described in the Ansible documentation. For example, if the playbook in the example above contained configuration such as:

- hosts: all
  vars:
    http_port: 80
    max_clients: 200
  remote_user: root
  tasks:
  ...

then to change the port that the webserver in the example above runs on, it would be possible to define the following in the blueprint:

name: myweb
location: ...
services:
  - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity
    id: apache
    name: apache
    service.name: apache2
    playbook: apache-playbook
    playbook.url: http://myhost/projectX/apache-playbook.yaml
    ansible.vars:
        http_port: 8080

ansibleCall Effector

The Ansible entity includes a general purpose Ansible effector, ansibleCommand, which permits execution of Ansible commands via ansible. It contains a two parameters:

  1. module specifies the Ansible module to invoke. The default is "command".

  2. args specifies the argument data for the Ansible module. For example, to download an additional file for the webserver, the command could be invoked with the following arguments. (For convenience this example uses the client CLI, "br", but the effector could be invoked by any applicable means, e.g. via the web UI or REST API.)

    $ br app myweb ent apache effector ansibleCommand invoke \

    -P module=shell -P args='curl http://myhost:8080/additional.html > /var/www/html/additional.html'

Roles and Multi-Playbook Installations

There is no specific configuration in AnsibleEntity for Ansible Roles, or to install multiple playbooks. However, the installation of roles or multiple playbooks can be carried out first by taking advantage of Brooklyn's SameServerEntity. The installation step can be applied in one child of the same server entity, while the AnsibleEntity can operate under the second child. It will typically be necessary to delay the start of the AnsibleEntity until the first child has carried out whatever preparation is required. The examples below illustrate the concept (with just one playbook, for brevity).

One way to a achieve this, as with any Brooklyn entity, is to use the idiom of making it a child of a BasicApplication with a start latch waiting on the first child, such as in the following example, which installs the standalone Tomcat example, with its playbook and roles, from the "Ansible Examples" Github site. (Note, this is designed for installation on Redhat/Centos 6.) The first child in the SameServerEntity downloads and unpacks the Ansible examples. This might also install standalone Ansible roles, or whatever other resources the AnsibleEntity might require. The second child uses attributeWhenReady to block until the first is ready, before starting the AnsibleEntity to apply the desired playbook.

name: multi
location:
  red1
services:
- type: brooklyn.entity.basic.SameServerEntity
  name: Entities
  brooklyn.children:

  - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity
    id: bootstrap
    service.name: crond
    playbook: bootstrap
    playbook.yaml: |
        ---
        - hosts: localhost
          tasks:
          - shell: printf "[tomcat-servers]\nlocalhost ansible_connection=local\n" >> /etc/ansible/hosts
          - file: path=/etc/ansible/playbooks state=directory mode=0755
          - get_url: url=https://github.com/ansible/ansible-examples/archive/master.zip dest=/tmp/master.zip mode=0440
          - command: unzip -o -d /etc/ansible/playbooks /tmp/master.zip

  - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.stock.BasicApplication
    latch.start: $brooklyn:entity("bootstrap").attributeWhenReady("service.isUp")
    brooklyn.children:
    - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity
      name: test
      service.name: tomcat
      playbook: tomcat
      playbook.yaml: |
          ---
          - hosts: localhost
          - include: /etc/ansible/playbooks/ansible-examples-master/tomcat-standalone/site.yml
            vars:
                http_port: 8080
                https_port: 8443
                admin_username: admin
                admin_password: secret

An alternative to the above is to use Ansible itself to do the waiting, as in the variant below, which uses AnsibleEntity itself in the first SameServerEntity child, to install the required material. In the second child, which is simply an AnsibleEntity rather than a BasicApplication, Ansible's wait_for operation is used as the first step in the playbook, to block the remaining steps in its playbook until the first is complete.

name: multi
location:
  red1
services:
- type: brooklyn.entity.basic.SameServerEntity
  name: Entities
  brooklyn.children:

  - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity
    id: bootstrap
    service.name: crond
    playbook: bootstrap
    playbook.yaml: |
        ---
        - hosts: localhost
          tasks:
          - command: rm -f /tmp/bootstrap.done
          - shell: printf "[tomcat-servers]\nlocalhost ansible_connection=local\n" >> /etc/ansible/hosts
          - file: path=/etc/ansible/playbooks state=directory mode=0755
          - get_url: url=https://github.com/ansible/ansible-examples/archive/master.zip dest=/tmp/master.zip mode=0440
          - command: unzip -o -d /etc/ansible/playbooks /tmp/master.zip
          - file: path=/tmp/bootstrap.done state=touch

  - type: org.apache.brooklyn.entity.cm.ansible.AnsibleEntity
    name: test
    service.name: tomcat
    playbook: tomcat
    playbook.yaml: |
        ---
        - tasks:
          - wait_for: path=/tmp/bootstrap.done
          include: /etc/ansible/playbooks/ansible-examples-master/tomcat-standalone/site.yml
          vars:
            http_port: 8080
            https_port: 8443
            admin_username: admin
            admin_password: secret

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