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Workshop Exercise 3.3 - Linking to Automation

Table of Contents

Objective

Step 1 - Defining a Project

Normally, to connect Controller to a code repository, a project, and optionally, credentials, are used. To speed up the workshop flow, a project has been created for you linked to your code repository.

However, we do need to trigger a sync of the project, as we’ve added new code to the repo.

In our controller-configuration.yaml file, we can add the following to have our project be updated:

controller_projects:
  - name: Code Repository
    organization: Team 1
    scm_branch: main
    scm_type: git
    scm_url: "YOUR_GIT_URL_HERE"
    update_project: true
    credential: team Code Repository Credentials

Note:

Team 1 used as an example here, remember to replace with your team’s information.

Here, we’re telling a specific role within the Ansible collections to look for a project named Code Repository, in your team’s organization, and trigger an update, and wait for it to complete.

Step 2 - Adding Job Templates

Now, we need to create job templates, tied to our new playbooks, that contain some supporting configuration for running the automation we’ve created.

Same as before, we’ll add more to our controller-configuration.yaml file:

controller_templates:
  - name: Wait for Connectivity
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Provisioning Machine Login
    playbook: playbooks/wait-for-connectivity.yaml
  - name: Set Base Configs
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Provisioning Machine Login
    playbook: playbooks/set-base-configs.yaml    
  - name: Create AD Forest
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Provisioning Machine Login
    playbook: playbooks/create-ad-forest.yaml
    limit: primary_domain_controller
  - name: Configure Domain Controllers
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Domain Administrator
    playbook: playbooks/configure-domain-controllers.yaml

Here, we’ve specified five job templates, tied to our five playbooks, with some additional information so Controller knows what playbook to run, and what inventory to run it against, optionally with a limit to a certain group.

In addition, credentials are specified, which will allow Ansible to log in to the Windows machines remotely, and perform the automation specified.

Remember: when creating an Active Directory environment, you first start by using local authentication, then switch to domain authentication after the forest has been created, or after you’ve domain joined a system.

Note:

Team1 is used as an example here, replace with your team number.

Step 3 - Adding a Workflow

Now, we can tie our job templates together using a workflow, allowing the job templates to be run in a specific sequence for an “end to end” experience.

Once again, adding to our controller-configuration.yaml file:

controller_workflows:
  - name: Setup Active Directory Environment
    organization: Team 1
    simplified_workflow_nodes:
      - identifier: Wait for Connectivity
        unified_job_template: Wait for Connectivity
        success_nodes:
          - Set Base Configs
        lookup_organization: Team 1
      - identifier: Set Base Configs
        unified_job_template: Set Base Configs
        success_nodes:
          - Create AD Forest
        lookup_organization: Team 1
      - identifier: Create AD Forest
        unified_job_template: Create AD Forest
        success_nodes:
          - Promote Domain Controller
        lookup_organization: Team 1
      - identifier: Configure Domain Controllers
        unified_job_template: Configure Domain Controllers
        lookup_organization: Team 1

Here, we’re creating a single workflow, with 5 nodes, that correlate to our job templates above. This allows for Controller to handle running them in succession, instead of having to manually trigger them.

Note:

Team1 is used as an example here, replace with your team number.

Step 4 - Adding a Workflow Launch

Finally, we’ll want to add a last variable to our controller-configuration.yaml file to trigger a run of our newly created workflow.

Add the following to complete our file:

controller_workflow_launch_jobs:
  - name: Setup Active Directory Environment
    organization: Team 1

Note:

Team1 is used as an example here, replace with your team number

Step 5 - Committing the Code

At this point, your controller-configuration.yaml file should contain the following:

# Remember to replace with your team's values!

controller_hosts:
  - name: ad01
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    variables:
      ansible_host: ad01-winrm.team1.svc.cluster.local
  - name: ad02
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    variables:
      ansible_host: ad02-winrm.team1.svc.cluster.local

controller_groups:
  - name: primary_domain_controller
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    hosts:
      - ad01

controller_projects:
  - name: Code Repository
    organization: Team 1
    scm_branch: main
    scm_type: git
    scm_url: "YOUR_GIT_URL_HERE"
    update_project: true
    credential: team1 Code Repository Credentials

controller_templates:
  - name: Wait for Connectivity
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Provisioning Machine Login
    playbook: playbooks/wait-for-connectivity.yaml
  - name: Set Base Configs
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Provisioning Machine Login
    playbook: playbooks/set-base-configs.yaml    
  - name: Create AD Forest
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Provisioning Machine Login
    playbook: playbooks/create-ad-forest.yaml
    limit: primary_domain_controller
  - name: Configure Domain Controllers
    organization: Team 1
    project: Code Repository
    inventory: team1 Active Directory Infrastructure
    credentials:
      - Domain Administrator
    playbook: playbooks/configure-domain-controllers.yaml

controller_workflows:
  - name: Setup Active Directory Environment
    organization: Team 1
    simplified_workflow_nodes:
      - identifier: Wait for Connectivity
        unified_job_template: Wait for Connectivity
        success_nodes:
          - Set Base Configs
        lookup_organization: Team 1
      - identifier: Set Base Configs
        unified_job_template: Set Base Configs
        success_nodes:
          - Create AD Forest
        lookup_organization: Team 1
      - identifier: Create AD Forest
        unified_job_template: Create AD Forest
        success_nodes:
          - Configure Domain Controllers
        lookup_organization: Team 1
      - identifier: Configure Domain Controllers
        unified_job_template: Configure Domain Controllers
        lookup_organization: Team 1

controller_workflow_launch_jobs:
  - name: Setup Active Directory Environment
    organization: Team 1

Note:

Team1 is used as an example here, replace with your team number

Ensure this file is saved/committed/pushed into your code repository, as it will be used in the next exercises.

Note:

Ensure your indentation is correct here, otherwise you’ll experience errors later on.

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