Projects & Job Templates

An Ansible automation controller Project is a logical collection of Ansible playbooks. You can manage your playbooks by placing them into a source code management (SCM) system supported by automation controller such as Git or Subversion. In this exercise you will set up a Git-backed project, create a job template, and run your first automation job.

Setup Git Repository

For this demonstration, we will use playbooks stored in a Git repository:

https://github.com/ansible-tmm/RHEL-workshop-examples

A playbook to install the Apache web server has already been committed to the directory apache, apache_install.yml:

---
- name: Apache server installed
  hosts: web

  tasks:
  - name: latest Apache version installed
    ansible.builtin.yum:
      name: httpd
      state: latest

  - name: latest firewalld version installed
    ansible.builtin.yum:
      name: firewalld
      state: latest

  - name: firewalld enabled and running
    ansible.builtin.service:
      name: firewalld
      enabled: true
      state: started

  - name: firewalld permits http service
    ansible.builtin.firewalld:
      service: http
      permanent: true
      state: enabled
      immediate: yes

  - name: Apache enabled and running
    ansible.builtin.service:
      name: httpd
      enabled: true
      state: started

Note the difference from other playbooks you might have written! Most importantly there is no become and hosts is set to web.

To configure and use this repository as a Source Control Management (SCM) system in automation controller you have to create a Project that uses the repository

Create the Project

To access the automation controller web UI, click the AAP tab at the top of the Showroom interface. Log in with the following credentials:

  • Username: admin

  • Password: ansible123!

  • Go to Automation Execution → Projects and click the Create project button. Fill in the form:

Parameter Value

Name

Workshop Project

Organization

Default

Execution Environment

Default execution environment

Source Control Type

Git

Enter the URL into the Project configuration:

Parameter Value

Source Control URL

https://github.com/ansible-tmm/RHEL-workshop-examples

Options

✓ Clean
✓ Delete
✓ Update Revision on Launch

  • Click Create project

Create project

The new project will be synced automatically after creation. But you can also do this manually: Sync the project again by clicking the sync icon on the Projects list page.

Project Sync

After starting the sync job, go to the Jobs view, and you’ll find the job doing the project update.

Create a Job Template and Run a Job

A job template allows you to run an automation job. In order to run any type of automation, a job template must be created. A job template consists of knowning the following information:

  • Inventory: On what hosts should the job run?

  • Credentials What credentials are needed to log into the hosts?

  • Project: Where is the playbook?

  • Playbook: What playbook to use?

To create a Job Template, go to the Automation Execution → Templates view, click the Create template dropdown and choose Create job template.

Remember that you can often click on the question mark with a circle to get more details about the field.
Parameter Value

Name

Install Apache

Job Type

Run

Inventory

Workshop Inventory

Project

Workshop Project

Playbook

apache/apache_install.yml

Execution Environment

Default execution environment

Credentials

Workshop Credential

Limit

web

Options

✓ Privilege Escalation

  • Click Create job template

Create job template

  • Job templates run inside an Execution Environment to standardize the runtime between developer machines and controller.

  • With surveys and RBAC, this template can be exposed in a self-service view so approved users can launch it without full edit rights (covered in the Surveys and RBAC exercises).

You can start the job by clicking the Launch template option from the template’s kebab menu (⋮) on the Templates list, or from the template detail page. After launching the Job Template, you are automatically brought to the job output where you can follow the playbook execution in real time.

Template Details

template details

Job Run

job_run

While the job completes, explore the Details tab to review what was captured:

  • All details of the job template like inventory, project, credentials and playbook are shown.

  • Additionally, the actual revision of the playbook is recorded here - this makes it easier to analyse job runs later on.

  • Also the time of execution with start and end time is recorded, giving you an idea of how long a job execution actually was.

  • The Output tab shows the output of the running playbook. Click on a node underneath a task and see that detailed information are provided for each task of each node.

After the Job has finished go to the main Jobs view:

Jobs view

All jobs are listed here, you should see directly before the Playbook run an Source Control Update was started. This is the Git update we configured for the Project on launch!

Challenge Lab: Check the Result

Verify that Apache is installed and running on the web hosts by running an ad hoc command directly from automation controller — without writing a playbook.

Try running systemctl status httpd against the web hosts using the Run Command feature in the Inventories view.
Solution Below

  1. Go to Automation Execution → Infrastructure → Inventories → Workshop Inventory and open the Hosts tab.

  2. Select node01 and node02, then click Run Command.

  3. In the Details window, set Module to command and Arguments to systemctl status httpd. Click Next.

  4. In the Execution Environment window, select Default execution environment. Click Next.

  5. In the Credential window, select Workshop Credentials. Click Next.

  6. Review your inputs and click Finish.

The output will display once the command completes — confirm that Apache is active and running on each host.

Summary

In this exercise you:

  • Configured a Git-backed Project in automation controller

  • Created a Job Template to install Apache on managed hosts

  • Launched the job and reviewed real-time execution output

  • Verified Apache installation using an ad hoc command