Ansible Role: Block ads hosts File

This Ansible role uses Steve Black's hosts repository to generate a hosts file that blocks known adware and malware sites. Whereas the repo is amazing suffices for my own use, you can use any other hosts file source as described below

By default, this role also adds your hostname to /etc/hosts

Requirements

I have only tested this Ansible role on CentOS, Debian and Ubuntu. In theory, this ansible role can be run on almost all devices, regardless of OS.

Role Variables

Available variables are listed below, along with default values (see defaults/main.yml):

recipe: ''

The desired recipe as per the @StevenBlack's hosts repository. By default it uses the unified hosts. Below are the valid options:

Unified hosts +	Recipe
only	''
fakenews	'fakenews'
gambling	'gambling'
porn	'porn'
social	'social'
fakenews + gambling	'fakenews-gambling'
fakenews + porn	'fakenews-porn'
fakenews + social	'fakenews-social'
gambling + porn	'gambling-porn'
gambling + social	'gambling-social'
porn + social	'porn-social'
fakenews + gambling + porn	'fakenews-gambling-porn'
fakenews + gambling + social	'fakenews-gambling-social'
fakenews + porn + social	'fakenews-porn-social'
gambling + porn + social	'gambling-porn-social'
fakenews + gambling + porn + social	'fakenews-gambling-porn-social'

download_path: /tmp/hosts-template

The full path where the hosts file will be downloaded to

insert_after_line: '# Custom host records are listed here.'

Insert Custom hosts after this line

custom_hosts:
      - host: app.test
        ip: 127.0.0.1
      - host: example.com
        ip: 93.184.216.34
      - host: account.example.org
        ip: 1.2.3.4

A list of extra custom hosts to insert into the hosts file after insert_after_line

hosts_file: /etc/hosts

Just in case your host saves the hosts file in a different directory :wink:

local_ip: ansible_facts.default_ipv4.address

Used to set hostname ip entry in hosts file e.g 10.10.10.10 sv1.example.net Example options include:

1. ansible_facts.default_ipv4.address
2. ansible_facts.eth0.ipv4.address
3. static IP e.g 127.0.0.1

hosts_url: https://example.com/sample/hosts

You can override the url from where to download hosts file and use your own.

Dependencies

None.

Example Playbook

---
- hosts: workstations
  become: yes
  vars:
    custom_hosts:
      - host: app.local
        ip: 127.0.0.1
      - host: app.example.com
        ip: 1.2.3.4
  roles:
    - samuelmwangiw.hosts_file

Support

Issues and PRs are welcome.

Licence

MIT / BSD

Inspiration

Role and Readme inspired by by @geerlingguy, author of Ansible for DevOps, Ansible for K8S, and an amazing Youtube Channel.

Also big thanks to @StevenBlack for the hosts repository and all upstream sources.