Ansible Role - Ansible-WebUI

Role to provision a basic WebUI for using Ansible on a linux server.

DISCLAIMER: This WebUI is an unofficial community project! Do not confuse it with the vanilla Ansible product!

Molecule Logs: Short, Full

Tested:

• Debian 12

Install

# latest
ansible-galaxy role install git+https://github.com/ansibleguy/sw_ansible_webui

# from galaxy
ansible-galaxy install ansibleguy.sw_ansible_webui

# or to custom role-path
ansible-galaxy install ansibleguy.sw_ansible_webui --roles-path ./roles

# install dependencies
ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml

Usage

Config

Define the config as needed:

Minimal config:

ansible_webui:
  config:
    AW_HOSTNAMES: 'ansible.template.ansibleguy.net'

Options:

ansible_webui:
  manage:
    webserver: true  # install and configure local nginx with min-ca cert
    backup: true  # install service for daily local database backup (if database is managed)
    user: true  # create service-user 'ansible-webui'
    ansible_cfg: true  # provision /home/ansible-webui/ansible.cfg

  requirements:  # requirements your execution-environment needs
    pip: ['httpx']  # any python3-modules
    collections: ['community.general']  # any ansible-collections (if persistent_requirements=true)
    roles: []  # any ansible-roles (if persistent_requirements=true)

  config:  # for options see: https://webui.ansibleguy.net/en/latest/usage/4_config.html#settings
    AW_HOSTNAMES: 'ansible.template.ansibleguy.net'
    # AW_SECRET: '...'  # minimum 30 characters; random one will be used if none was provided

  ansible_config:  # /home/ansible-webui/ansible.cfg => if manage.ansible_cfg=true; see: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html
    defaults:  # section
      remote_port: 48322
      vault_id_match: 'webui'
    diff:
      context: 2

  nginx:
    ...   # configure the webserver settings => see: https://github.com/ansibleguy/infra_nginx

You might want to use 'ansible-vault' to encrypt your passwords:

ansible-vault encrypt_string

Execution

Run the playbook:

ansible-playbook -K -D -i inventory/hosts.yml playbook.yml

There are also some useful tags available:

• config
• webserver

To debug errors - you can set the 'debug' variable at runtime:

ansible-playbook -K -D -i inventory/hosts.yml playbook.yml -e debug=yes

Functionality

• Package installation

  • Python3, Python3-PIP, Python3-Virtualenv, Git, Git-LFS
  • AnsibleGuy-WebUI with its Python3 Module-dependencies

• Configuration

  • Virtual-Environment used (/home/ansible-webui/venv)

  • Default config:

    • Cleanup logs older than 180 days
    • Backup retention 30 days

  • Default opt-ins:

    • Installing common Python3 modules ('jmespath', 'netaddr', 'passlib', 'pywinrm', 'requests', 'cryptography')
    • Daily local backups
    • Auto-Upgrade App and Requirements on service-startup
    • Nginx proxy
    • Create service-user

Info

• Note: this role currently only supports debian-based systems

• Note: Most of the role's functionality can be opted in or out.

  For all available options - see the default-config located in the main defaults-file!

• Warning: Not every setting/variable you provide will be checked for validity. Bad config might break the role!