Dig deeper into Ansible and F5 integration

I cannot work out how many files are referenced here - would you be able to post the final config file(s)? It would make it much easier to understand. For me at least.

Could you add their locations at the top of the file so I could see how they all reference each other?

Thanks a lot...

Sure I understand, I am using the concept of roles here which is Ansible best practice but it can get confusing.

To keep it simple have the variable file and the playbook in the same directory and then run the playbook ansible-playbook playbook-name.yaml

If your variable file name is say 'variable_file.yaml', then in your playbook you would reference the variable file as follows:

• name: Onboarding BIG-IP hosts: bigip gather_facts: false vars_files:

   

  • variable_file.yaml

  ..... .....

   

You can check out the following github as well for an example: https://github.com/payalsin/f5-ansible/blob/master/playbooks/onboarding-bigip.yml

Thanks

Hi - thanks for that - so I followed your link and I think there are 2 files I need to download but I cannot be sure. I don't suppose you could upload the files with their locations hashed out at the top of the file so I can understand how they relate to each other? I tried to run the playbook but it says there is no password, and I looked at both the files and there is no password entry - so I am presuming there is a 3rd hidden file somewhere, but I am not sure what that is or how to reference it. Thanks :)

Yes there is another file called the host file which needs to have information about the host you are trying to connect to.

"Ansible works against multiple systems in your infrastructure at the same time. It does this by selecting portions of systems listed in Ansible’s inventory, which defaults to being saved in the location /etc/ansible/hosts. You can specify a different inventory file using the -i option on the command line." - http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/intro_inventory.html

Example of the host file for the above example:

[bigip]

[bigip:vars]

When the playbook is run it will look at the host file. As mentioned above default host file is placed at /etc/ansible/hosts BUT you can create your own host file as well and then reference that host file in your ansible.cfg.

Example of ansible.cfg

[defaults]

Hi Payal, I was looking at some Q&A in the ansible webinar, and found that there is a slack channel to discuss more devops related topic on F5.

It was mentioned f5-common-python.slack.com is the group that we can join. However I did not see any invitation link. Can you please let me know how to register for this slack group?

Hi Payal. Still zero idea how all these files link together. I hate to sound like a broken record, but would you be able to put the name & path at the top of the file so we can see how they all link together, and also highlight any hidden files - I found a few the last time as you know - otherwise there is no way that you can tell how it works. :)

I am genuinely interested in following what you are putting down and have been hacking away at it for weeks, but because there is no way of understanding how all the files link together it is an impossible task.

I am sure that once we understand how the files all link together, and where the hidden files are that we can be up and running in no time!!

• name: Onboarding BIG-IP hosts: bigip gather_facts: false roles:
  • onboarding //playbook runs tasks defined in the ‘onboarding’ role

[bigip] 10.192.73.218 10.192.73.219 10.192.73.220 10.192.73.221

• name: Configure NTP server on BIG-IP bigip_device_ntp: server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}" user: "{{ username }}" password: "{{ password }}" ntp_servers: "{{ ntp_servers }}" validate_certs: False delegate_to: localhost

   

• name: Manage SSHD setting on BIG-IP bigip_device_sshd: server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}" user: "{{ username }}" password: "{{ password }}" banner: "enabled" banner_text: " {{ banner_text }}" validate_certs: False delegate_to: localhost

   

• name: Manage BIG-IP DNS settings bigip_device_dns: server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}" user: "{{ username }}" password: "{{ password }}" name_servers: "{{ dns_servers }}" search: "{{ dns_search_domains }}" ip_version: "{{ ip_version }}" validate_certs: False delegate_to: localhost

   

username: admin password: admin banner_text: "--------Welcome to Onboarding BIGIP----------" ntp_servers: - '172.27.1.1' - '172.27.1.2'

dns_servers: - '8.8.8.8' - '4.4.4.4' dns_search_domains: - 'local' - 'localhost' ip_version: 4

Alright let's give this another try. Let's keep it real simple. Let's look at the three files to get this to work

1) The host file, which is be default placed at /etc/ansible/hosts (this file will have the IP Address of your bigip)

[bigip] 
10.XX.XX.XX  

2) The variable file is the same directory as your playbook, the values from this variable file will be substituted when the playbook is run

username: admin
password: admin

banner_text: "--------Welcome to Onboarding BIGIP----------"

hostname: 'ansibleManaged-bigip.local'

ntp_servers:
 - '172.27.1.1'
 - '172.27.1.2'

dns_servers:
 - '8.8.8.8'
 - '4.4.4.4'

dns_search_domains:
 - 'local'
 - 'localhost'

ip_version: 4

bind_servers:
 - '192.168.2.1'
 - '192.168.2.2'

vlan_information:
 - name: 'External'
   tag: '10'
   interface: '1.1'
 - name: 'Internal'
   tag: '11'
   interface: '1.2'

selfip_information:
 - name: 'External-SelfIP'
   address: '10.168.68.5'
   netmask: '255.255.255.0'
   vlan: 'External'
   allow_service: 'default'
 - name: 'Internal-SelfIP'
   address: '192.168.68.5'
   netmask: '255.255.255.0'
   vlan: 'Internal'
   allow_service: 'default'

module_provisioning:
 - name: 'asm'
   level: 'nominal'

3) The playbook

- name: Onboarding BIG-IP
  hosts: bigip
  gather_facts: false
  vars_files:
    - var-onboard-network_file.yml

  tasks:

  - name: Configure NTP server on BIG-IP
    bigip_device_ntp:
      server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
      user: "{{ username }}"
      password: "{{ password }}"
      ntp_servers: "{{ ntp_servers }}"
      validate_certs: False
    delegate_to: localhost

  - name: Configure BIG-IP hostname
    bigip_hostname:
      server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
      user: "{{ username }}"
      password: "{{ password }}"
      validate_certs: False
      hostname: "{{ hostname }}"
    delegate_to: localhost

  - name: Manage SSHD setting on BIG-IP
    bigip_device_sshd:
      server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
      user: "{{ username }}"
      password: "{{ password }}"
      banner: "enabled"
      banner_text: " {{ banner_text }}"
      validate_certs: False
    delegate_to: localhost

  - name: Manage BIG-IP DNS settings
    bigip_device_dns:
     server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
     user: "{{ username }}"
     password: "{{ password }}"
     name_servers: "{{ dns_servers }}"
     search: "{{ dns_search_domains }}"
     forwarders: "{{ bind_servers }}"
     ip_version: "{{ ip_version }}"
     validate_certs: False
    delegate_to: localhost

  - name: Provision BIG-IP with appropriate modules
    bigip_provision:
      server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
      user: "{{ username }}"
      password: "{{ password }}"
      validate_certs: False
      module: "{{ item.name }}"
      level: "{{ item.level }}"
    with_items: "{{ module_provisioning }}"
    tags: provision
    delegate_to: localhost

  - name: Configure VLANs on the BIG-IP
    bigip_vlan:
     server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
     user: "{{ username }}"
     password: "{{ password }}"
     validate_certs: False
     name: "{{ item.name }}"
     tag: "{{ item.tag }}"
     tagged_interface: "{{ item.interface }}"
    with_items: "{{ vlan_information }}"
    delegate_to: localhost

  - name: Configure SELF-IPs on the BIG-IP
    bigip_selfip:
     server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
     user: "{{ username }}"
     password: "{{ password }}"
     validate_certs: False
     name: "{{ item.name }}"
     address: "{{ item.address }}"
     netmask: "{{ item.netmask }}"
     vlan: "{{ item.vlan }}"
     allow_service: "{{item.allow_service}}"
    with_items: "{{ selfip_information }}"
    delegate_to: localhost

Perfect - thanks very much!!!

So after editing /etc/ansible/hosts to include at the bottom:

[bigip] 10.XX.XX.XX [bigip:vars] username=admin password=admin

The second block of text is saved as var-onboard-network_file.yml, and the 3rd block of text is saved in the same folder as the var-onboard-network_file.yml file and is called whatever_you_like.yml

The playbook is then called by running: $ ansible-playbook whatever_you_like.yml

For other beginners, see: http://f5-ansible.readthedocs.io/en/devel/modules/list_of_all_modules.html for additional examples

So if we look at the bigip_selfip ansible command: http://f5-ansible.readthedocs.io/en/devel/modules/bigip_selfip_module.html

For this command there are some settings in the variables file, and some information in the playbook. The playbopok calls the items from the variables file.

bigip_selfip command in the playbook:

   - name: Configure SELF-IPs on the BIG-IP
     bigip_selfip:
      server: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
      user: "{{ username }}"
      password: "{{ password }}"
      validate_certs: False
      name: "{{ item.name }}"  name item selected from variable file
      address: "{{ item.address }}"  address item selected from variable file
      netmask: "{{ item.netmask }}"  netmask item selected from variable file
      vlan: "{{ item.vlan }}"  vlan item selected from variable file
      allow_service: "{{item.allow_service}}"  allow_service item selected from variable file
     with_items: "{{ selfip_information }}"  variable file items heading selection = selfip_information
     delegate_to: localhost

items in the variables file:

selfip_information: - name: 'External-SelfIP' address: '10.128.10.101' netmask: '255.255.255.0' vlan: 'External' allow_service: 'none' - name: 'Internal-SelfIP' address: '10.128.20.101' netmask: '255.255.255.0' vlan: 'Internal' allow_service: 'none' - name: 'HA-SelfIP' address: '1.1.1.1' netmask: '255.255.255.252' vlan: 'HA' allow_service: 'default'

So the ansible command bigip_selfip has multiple switches such as name, address, netmask. The values for these are called from the variables file by the playbook by using {{ item.XXX }} as the value. The values are under selfip_information heading in the var file. So taking a selction from the above config

Playbook: name: "{{ item.name }}" address: "{{ item.address }}" with_items: "{{ selfip_information }}"

Var file items: selfip_information: - name: 'External-SelfIP' equal to {{ item.name }} when called by the playbook address: '10.128.10.101' equal to {{ item.address }} when called by the playbook

And for some other of payal's awesome example playbooks and their associated var files

You also need an updated ansible and f5 and other python modules installed for it to work

1. Ubuntu - Install ansible $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install software-properties-common $ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install ansible

2. Install pip $ sudo apt-get install pip then install the below $ pip install f5-sdk bigsuds netaddr deepdiff

What are the various software compatibility dependencies for getting ansible f5 to work?

Recommended BIG-IP version is - 12+ Recommended Ansible version is - 2.4

On the Ansible host, the f5-sdk and bigsuds package will need to be installed - pip install f5-sdk - pip install bigsuds

More information on software dependency on a particular module that is under development, please check the specific module on our github repo: https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-ansible/tree/devel/library