ansible-multi-app

Overview

This role simplifies the pattern of downloading and installing 3rd party software, particularly the kind that does not require compilation but that simply runs "out of the box," such as Java, Tomcat, Node.js, etc.

There are many configurable options -- see defaults/main.yml for additional variables.

Basic Usage

You must set the following variables for each app:

multiapp_app_installations:
  app:
    - app_version: 1.8.0_121-32bit
      app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_121-32bit
      app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/jdk1.8.0_121-32bit.tar.gz

For basic usage, you can leave the key app as "app", or you can change it to indicate the type of application, such as 'java'. If you do, then you also must change multiapp_app_type to an array with a matching type. In the previous example, it would be multiapp_app_type: [java]

The app key has meaning in two ways. For simple use cases, it will become a subdirectory in the installation path, see [Defaults] for more information. For more advanced use cases, see [Using across different groups in one playbook].

Defaults

The most relevant and useful default variables are below:

multiapp_app_owner_default and multiapp_app_group_default are both ansible. Note that in order to set the owner and group, they both must exist. This role will not attempt to create them, due to the multiple ways users and groups might be managed. Add whatever is appropriate to your playbooks before this role is included (or in pre_tasks for older style).

multiapp_app_install_dir_mode_default and multiapp_app_archive_mode_default are both "0755"

multiapp_app_install_dir_default is /apps, however the default behavior will add an additional subdirectory to this. If you change multiapp_app_type to [java] and one of your top level multiapp_app_installtions keys is java, you will end up with the installations in /apps/java.

multiapp_app_download_path_default is /tmp/multiapp

multiapp_app_remove_download_default is false.

multiapp_download_timeout_default is 60 (in seconds)

multiapp_archive_extension_default is tar.gz see [Archive Format] for more info.

Optionally, you can override many defaults per installation, by removing multiapp_ and _default from any variable you see in defaults/main.yml. For example, to set the app owner differently for a single app installation (provided the Ansible user has sufficient priviliges for doing so):

multiapp_app_installations:
  - app_version: 1.8.0_121-32bit
    app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_121-32bit
    app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/jdk1.8.0_121-32bit.tar.gz
    app_owner: foo
  - app_version: 1.8.0_121-64bit
    app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_121-64bit
    app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/jdk1.8.0_121-64bit.tar.gz

See other examples in the [Linking] and the [Archive Format] sections

Become / sudo

You can indicate that the Ansible user should not attempt a become by setting multiapp_become to false.

Linking

You can symlink any installation by adding app_symlink to the hash. For example, to link a JDK installations as latest:

- app_version: 1.8.0_121-64bit
  app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_121-64bit
  app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/jdk1.8.0_121-64bit.tar.gz
  app_symlink: latest

would result in /apps/java/jdk1.8.0_121-64bit and /apps/java/latest being symlinked to /apps/java/jdk1.8.0_121-64bit

Archive Format

The default archive format is tarball with extension "tar.gz", but overriding is simple. Indicate the extension in the installation hash:

- app_version: v6.10.2-linux-x64
  app_extracted_dir: node-v6.10.2-linux-x64
  app_artifact: https://nodejs.org/dist/v6.10.2/node-v6.10.2-linux-x64.tar.xz
  app_archive_extension: tar.xz
  app_symlink: latest

Overriding shortcut

To save time on future runs, a shortcut is enabled by default. This may present problems if you'd like to re-run a playbook but make changes to the existing installations, for example, to update the user or group. To do so, you can set the multiapp_ignore_tag_file to true.

Using across different groups in one playbook

In order to use across multiple groups in a combined playbook, you must set the following variables at the host level:

in host_vars/abc.yml:

multiapp_app_type: [java, tomcat]

and then include the same top level keys in the installation hash:

in group_vars/servers.yml, which server abc is a member of:

- multiapp_app_installations:
  java:
    - app_version: 1.8.0_112-32bit
      app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_112-32bit
      app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/jdk1.8.0_112-32bit.tar.gz
  tomcat:
    - app_version: 7.0.75
      app_extracted_dir: apache-tomcat-7.0.75
      app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/apache-tomcat-7.0.75.tar.gz

You MUST run Ansible with the hash_behavior=merge configured for this to work. The easiest way to do this is to set the environment variable:

ANSIBLE_HASH_BEHAVIOUR=merge ansible-playbook /ansible-playbooks/whatevs.yml

Purging unwanted

To purge unwanted installations, you can add a param `app_state`` to the insallation hash.

- multiapp_app_installations:
  java:
    - app_version: 1.8.0_121-64bit
      app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_121-64bit
      app_artifact: http://some.internal.repo/mirrors/jdk1.8.0_121-64bit.tar.gz
      app_symlink: latest
    - app_extracted_dir: jdk1.8.0_112-32bit
      app_state: absent

It will respected custom install paths, if passed, however, recall how that works. In the example above, adding app_install_dir: /var/apps would purge the installation at /var/apps/java/jdk1.8.0_112-32bit

Requirements

If you plan on using this role across different inventory groups and mixing installations (a somehwat unusual, but possible setup), then you must run Ansible with the hash_behavior=merge configuration. Please see "Using across different groups in one playbook" in this README

Role Variables

There are many more possible. Please read the rest of this README for more information.

multiapp_app_type: sets the type of the installation. Not required for simple usage. Default "app"

multiapp_app_owner_default: Not required. Default "ansible" multiapp_app_group_default: Not required. Default "ansible"

multiapp_app_install_dir_mode_default: Not required. Default "0755" multiapp_app_archive_mode_default: Not require. Default "0755"

multiapp_app_install_dir_default: Not required. Default "/apps" multiapp_app_download_path_default: Not required. Default "/tmp/multiapp"

multiapp_app_remove_download_default: Not required. Default false multiapp_download_timeout_default: Not required. Default 60 multiapp_archive_extension_default: Not required. Default "tar.gz"

multiapp_become: Not required. Defaults to true

multiapp_ignore_tag_file: Not required. Defaults to false

multiapp_debug_output: Not required. Default false

Dependencies

N/A

Example Playbooks

Basic

- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_role:
      name: rubyisbeautiful.multi-app

License

MIT

Author Information

rubyisbeautiful

Thanks to some helpful suggestions from my colleagues