Automated Execution Environment (EE) Build for Ansible Automation Platform (AAP)

This Ansible project (playbook) perform the following actions :

• Build a new Execution Environment (EE)
• Push the new EE to the AAP Private Automation Hub
• Create the new EE in the AAP Controller

This code is a slightly improved and self-sufficient version of the redhat-cop ee_builder role

Requirements

The awx.awx and containers.podman collections MUST be installed in order for this playbook to work. You can install them using the following command :

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

Usage

1. Download the code and then install ansible collections requirements if not already installed

git clone https://github.com/w4hf/automated-ee-build.git
cd automated-ee-build
mkdir collections
ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml -p collections/

2. Fill in your environment details in vars/ee.yml, all the variables are explained below.

3. OPTIONAL : If you have a custom Containerfile Jinja2 template put it in templates/Containerfile.j2 and don't forget to define any new custom variable.

4. Launch the ee-build.yml playbook

ansible-playbook ee-build.yml

Variables

All the variables should be defined in the vars/ee.yml file The file is preloaded with sample values that are only there for guidance purpose and should be replaced before usage. 3 Categories of variables :

1. Environment Variables

Variable	Sample Value	Description
build_dir	/tmp	All files will be generated in the build dir file
ee_name	ee-test	Generated image name
ee_tag	1.0	Generated image tag
push_image_to_private_hub	True	Set to true to push the newly generated image to the Private Automation Hub
delete_all_when_finished	True	Set to true to cleanup the build dir when finished

2. Credentials Variables

Controller Credentials

The Controller credentials are used to create the Execution Environment in the Controller

Variable	Sample Value	Description
controller_host	controller.internal.domain	Hostname or IP of the AAP Controller node
controller_username	admin	Username used to login to AAP Controller
controller_password	SomeSecurePassword	Password of the AAP Controller
private_hub_credential_in_controller	Automation Hub Container Registry	Name of the credential of the Private Automation Hub in the Controller (type "Container Registry")

Automation Hub Credentials

Automation Hub credentials are used to push newly created image to Automation Hub and to download/install Ansible collection

Variable	Sample Value	Description
private_hub_host	hub.internal.domain	Hostname or IP address of the Private Automation Hub
private_hub_token	SomeLongTokenString	Automation Hub Token used to pull Ansible collections
private_hub_username	admin	Username to connect to Automation Hub
private_hub_password	SomeSecurePassword	Automation Hub password
private_hub_validate_certs	False	Set to false to ignore self signed Automation Hub certificate

Builder Image Source Registry Credentials

Variable	Sample Value	Description
builder_image_registry_username	w4hf	Builder image source registry login. Should be your Redhat account username if using registry.redhat.io
builder_image_registry_password	SomeSecurePassword	Builder image source registry Password. Should be your Redhat account password if using registry.redhat.io
builder_image	registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-22/ansible-builder-rhel8:latest	The builder image used to build the EE
base_image	registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-22/ee-minimal-rhel8:latest	The base image on top of which the EE will be built

3. Image Variables

Variable	Sample Value	Description
create_new_ee_in_controller	True	Set to true to create the EE in the Controller
bindeps	- "vi [platform:rpm]" - "curl [platform:rpm]"	List of the binaries that will be installed on the generated image
collections	- name: ansible.posix version: 1.4.0 - name: community.general version: 5.6.0 - name: redhat.satellite - name: redhat.satellite_operations	Ansible collections to installed in the generated image
python_packages	- netaddr - boto	Python packages to be installed in the generated image
use_custom_container_file	True	Set to True to use the custom Containerfile templates/Containerfile.j2 Probably should be set to True in most cases
use_proxy	True	Set to True to use a proxy to reach internet. Internet is needed to install binaries, python packages and Ansible Galaxy collections.
http_proxy	http://proxy_hostname:proxy_port	HTTP requests proxy
https_proxy	http://proxy_hostname:proxy_port	HTTPS requests proxy
no_proxy	.internal.domain	Avoid using proxy for these domain names. Should be
pull_base_image	True	Set this to False if Base image is already locally present (to speed things up a bit)