Anisble

I have setup an ansible run book to update all my linux boxes, this post is mostly just my notes! Add User to host to be managed

Create ansible user
visudo and add the following
# Allow ansible to execute
ansible ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

Copy key from anisble "server" to new host
ssh-copy-id -i /$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ansible@host

Check you can login without a password
ssh ansible@host

I have a simple runbook, that connects to the servers in a hosts file, updates and reboots servers if needed.

update.yml

- hosts: servers
  become: true
  become_user: root
  tasks:
    - name: Update apt repo and cache on all Debian/Ubuntu boxes
      apt: update_cache=yes force_apt_get=yes cache_valid_time=3600

    - name: Upgrade all packages on servers
      apt: upgrade=dist force_apt_get=yes

    - name: Check if a reboot is needed on all servers
      register: reboot_required_file
      stat: path=/var/run/reboot-required get_md5=no

    - name: Reboot the box if kernel updated
      reboot:
        msg: "Reboot initiated by Ansible for kernel updates"
        connect_timeout: 5
        reboot_timeout: 300
        pre_reboot_delay: 0
        post_reboot_delay: 30
        test_command: uptime
      when: reboot_required_file.stat.exists

That’s it, simply create a hosts file along side the runbook and away you go. I have a little script that sits with those to two files to run the playbook.

update.sh

su ansible -c "ansible-playbook -i /scripts/update-project/hosts /scripts/update-project/update.yml"

That’s all there is too it, it saves me hours of manual linux patching (also means I don’t forget my unloved servers)!