On Thu, Jul 9, 2015 at 4:25 PM, Tim Skoch <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm setting up a lab with a bunch of VMs, and each of these VMs will serve > one of a set of purposes (mostly servers). In setting up each one, I'm > keeping detailed notes of exactly what I have installed, configuration > changes I have made, etc. The setup process is tedious enough that even > with detailed notes, I'm not excited at the prospect of having to rebuild > one of these. Ideally I would like to be able to delete and quickly rebuild > a particular machine from the ground up as quickly as possible.
This is pretty much the ideal Ansible use case. > A friend recommended Ansible as the solution to this. I've been reading the > introduction docs, and it looks like Ansible is exactly what I have been > looking for - My Ansible "Playbooks/Plays/Tasks/Modules" would then become > my detailed notes, and I would get the added benefit of being able to > version them as well. Yep! > Here is what I think I want to do so far, but I want to make sure I'm going > down the right path before I get too far down it. Suppose for example that > I need two "Mailserver" type server VMs, one "Desktop" type VM, and three > "Database" servers. Each of those quoted "types" has its own set of > services which need to be set up, daemons configured, and various other > tweaks. > > Am I correct that what I want to do here is set up one "Playbook", which > contains a "Play" for each of these types? And each of those "Plays" would > contain various tasks/modules to set the machine up in the desired > configuration? Do "Roles" come into play here? Maybe I need a "Role" for > each type, instead of a "Play"? You're spot on. Roles are for reusability. Let's say those two Mailserver-type VMs end up becoming many VMs, all with small differences between them. You would build a single "mailserver" role and then you could invoke it from different playbooks using different variables each time. If I were in your shoes, I'd just run full speed ahead with playbooks. Get comfortable with those, and then you can read up on roles and refactor using them more heavily if you see fit. Good luck! --g > Thanks! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Ansible Project" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/813b38c2-793b-4779-ba3b-394a033ef23d%40googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Greg DeKoenigsberg Ansible Community Guy Find out why SD Times named Ansible their #1 Company to Watch in 2015: http://sdtimes.com/companies-watch-2015/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ansible Project" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/CAM1FbhEC%2B3WE68iL5V03c45EcGE8R5neMStiV50yL6yogunPnA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
