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Configure-Inventory.md

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Lab: Configure Inventory

Overview

In this lab, you will create a group and add a machine to that group. This involves creating an Inventory file for Ansible.

Duration

Estimated Time: 25 minutes

Step 1: Familiarizing Yourself with Ansible

Ensure that ansible is installed on your system.

Navigate to the Ansible directory:

cd /etc/ansible

# To list the files in the directory
ls

Output:

ansible.cfg  hosts
  • ansible.cfg: This is the Ansible configuration file.
  • hosts: This file is used to store the inventory of your hosts and their configurations.

Notes:

  • The hosts file is also known as the inventory file.
  • There could be another files and directories in the /etc/ansible directory, but for this lab, we are only interested in the hosts file.

Step 2: Creating a Group

Add a new group to the /etc/ansible/hosts file. To do this, open the file for editing:

sudo nano /etc/ansible/hosts

At the end of the file, add the following group:

[webservers]

Notes:

  • Group names are case-sensitive and must be enclosed in square brackets [].
  • Group names must be unique.
  • Avoid spaces or special characters in group names.
  • Use meaningful names that are easy to remember for future labs.

Keep the file open and proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Adding Hosts

Add the designated server(s) to your group in the hosts file. For example:

[webservers]
<IP Machine 1>  ansible_ssh_pass=<Machine 1 Password>

Keep the file open and continue to the next step.

Step 4: Defining Username and Password for Hosts

Since Ansible uses SSH to connect to hosts, you need to specify the username and password. This is done using the :vars syntax.

For the [webservers] group, add [webservers:vars] after the last host entry:

Variables:

  • ansible_user: The username to use for SSH.
  • ansible_ssh_pass: The password to use for SSH.

Example:

[webservers]
<IP Machine 1>  ansible_ssh_pass=<Machine 1 Password>

[webservers:vars]
ansible_user=<Username>  # Example: ubuntu in this lab environment

Save the file by pressing Ctrl+S, and exit by pressing Ctrl+X.

Well Done! 👏

You have successfully created a group, added a host, and defined its connection details in the Ansible inventory! We will use this inventory in the upcoming labs to run playbooks on the hosts you have defined.