Ansible Collection - lab.azure.azure_infrastructure_config_demos

This repository hosts the lab.azure.azure_infrastructure_config_demos Ansible Collection.

The collection includes a variety of Ansible roles and playbook to help automate the management of resources on Microsoft Azure.

This content was developed as part of the Ansible Content Lab for Cloud Content, a program from the Ansible team to help incubate Ansible cloud use cases from ideation to collections and roles.

Included Content

Roles

Click on the role name to be directed to the README specifically for that role.

Name	Description
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.arc	A role that contains tasks for managing Arc-enabled servers such as installing the Azure agent and enabling Azure logging extensions.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.log_analytics	A role that contains tasks to create and destroy an Azure Log Analytics workspace and then attach Linux-based VMs to the workspace by installing and configuring the Log Analytics agent.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.proxmox_vm_conversion	A role that performs tasks against the Proxmox hypervisor to convert a VM machine image to an Azure format and moves the machine image to localhost for upload to Azure.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.transit_peered_networks	A role to create a hub-and-spoke VPC networking architecture that includes DMZ and private networks.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vms	A role for repeatable VM management tasks.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vm_migration_prep	A role that prepares a local virtual machine with OS and package requirements to lift-and-shift the VM to run on Azure.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vm_migration	A role that takes a VHD disk image, uploads it to Azure, and creates a virtual machine from the image.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vnet	A role for creating a simple VNET with a subnet.

Playbooks

Name	Role(s) Used	Description
create_transit_network.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.transit_peered_networks	A playbook to create a multi-VPC hub-and-spoke network configuration using a transit gateway with DMZ and private networks.
delete_transit_network.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.transit_peered_networks	Deletes AWS resources created in the create_transit_network playbook.
create_resource_group.yml	N/A	Simple playbook demonstrating how to create an Azure resource group from extra vars.
create_vm.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vms	A playbook that allows for VM creation using blueprints of defined variables.
delete_vm.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vms	Deletes virtual machines and connected resources
delete_resource_group.yml	N/A	Deletes a resource group and all resources within it.
update_rhel_vms.yml	N/A	Runs dnf upgrade -y on RHEL VMs.
create_log_analytics_workspace.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.log_analytics	Creates a Log Analytics workspace for storing log data with logging extensions.
install_log_analytics_agent.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.log_analytics	Deploys a Log Analytics workspace into your Azure subscription and then installs and configures Linux hosts to communicate with the workspace.
uninstall_log_analytics_agent.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.log_analytics	Uninstalls the Log Analytics agent on Linux hosts and then deletes the Log Analytics workspace from your Azure subscription.
install_arc_agent.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.arc	Installs the Azure Arc agent on inventory hosts.
replace_log_analytics_with_arc_linux.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.arc	Installs the Arc agent, deploys the Azure Monitoring extension, and removes the log analytics extension or agent on Linux hosts.
enable_arc_azure_monitor.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.arc	Enables the Azure Monitor extension on servers that have the Azure Arc agent installed.
enable_arc_extension.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.arc	Enables an Azure Arc extension.
disable_arc_extension.yml	lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.arc	Disables an Azure Arc extension.
proxmox_vm_migration.yml	1. lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vm_to_azure_prep 2. lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.proxmox_vm_convertion 3. lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vm_to_azure	Prepares a local Proxmox virtual machine to run in Azure, uploads the disk image, and creates an Azure virtual machine.

Create Network Playbooks

The lab.azure.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.create_transit_network playbook has another tasks block that will attempt to configure the VM resources deployed by the role a bit farther. When the role completes, VM instances in the DMZ will still need to be configured with SSH configuration in order to communicate with VM instances in other VNETs.

To connect to the DMZ VM instance, the ansible_ssh_private_key_file variable needs to be set with the contents of the private key for SSH connections so that the machine running the playbook can connect to the newly created VM instance. You may set this variable in any way that Ansible allows, i.e. extra var, host var, machine credential, etc. It must be set or the configuration step will be skipped. The ansible_ssh_user variable is set automatically to the user azureuser that is standard on AWS AMIs.

When the following variables are set, then the playbook will also configure the DMZ VM instance with the SSH config and a private key to communicate with each other. This leaves the deployment in an immediately accessible state.

Variable	Use
ansible_ssh_private_key_file_local_path	The local path to an SSH private key that will be copied to the bastion host.
ansible_ssh_private_key_file_dest_path	The destination path for the SSH key on the bastion host.
priv_network_hosts_pattern	A hosts pattern that will be added to the bastion host SSH config for easier access to machines on other networks.
priv_network_ssh_user	The SSH user that will be configured in the bastion host SSH config.

---
ansible_ssh_private_key_file_local_path: ~/.ssh/azure-ssh-key
ansible_ssh_private_key_file_dest_path: ~/.ssh/azure-ssh-key
priv_network_hosts_pattern: 172.*
priv_network_ssh_user: azureuser

VM Migration Playbook(s)

Playbooks with "vm_migration" in the title are intended to demonstrate moving VMs hosted in other hypervisors to Azure. The hope is to have multiple examples of this workflow using Ansible. In the current examples, three roles are used to prepare and migrate the VM.

When running these playbooks, it is recommended that you clone the VM for preparation and migration to Microsoft so that the updates to the VM do not impact its local running state.

Role	Description
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vm_to_azure_prep	This role will prepare the operating system by updating kernel modules and drivers, and installing Azure-required packages. The role will also prepare the networking of the VM. This can leave the VM in a state where it cannot be connected to unless the VM is moved to Azure.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.proxmox_vm_conversion	This role will convert the VM disk image into an Azure-compatible format. Currently, Proxmox is the hypervisor that is supported. Adding more conversion roles for other hypervisors will come next.
lab.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.vm_to_azure	This role moves the VM disk image to Azure blob storage and then configures and deploys a VM based on the VM image.

There are a number of variables that can be set for each of the roles. The README for those roles goes into what variables can be set. However, below is an example of setting variables in an environment file, and then running the playbook locally.

Environment File

---
proxmox_vm_migration_run_if_local_image_exists: true
proxmox_vm_migration_source_format: qcow2
proxmox_vm_migration_image_src: /mnt/pve/local/images/108/vm-108-disk-1.qcow2
proxmox_vm_migration_image_filename: vm-108-disk-1.vhd
proxmox_vm_migration_image_dest: "/mnt/pve/local/images/108/{{ proxmox_vm_migration_image_filename }}"
proxmox_vm_id: "108"
proxmox_vm_migration_start_proxmox_vm: true
proxmox_vm_migration_delete_proxmox_images_after_migration: true
vm_to_azure_hyperv_generation: V2
vm_to_azure_resource_group: resource-group
vm_to_azure_storage_account: storageaccount
vm_to_azure_storage_container: vmimages
vm_to_azure_image_name: vm-108-disk-1-cm
vm_to_azure_name: vm-migration-test
vm_to_azure_username: azureuser
vm_to_azure_vnet_resource_group: vm-vnet-rg
vm_to_azure_vnet_name: vm-vnet
vm_to_azure_subnet_name: vm-vnet-subnet
vm_to_azure_network_connections_to_remove:
  - System eth0

Hosts File

The hosts file should indicate the Proxmox host and the VM in order to connect to both for operations.

[proxmox]
proxmox.host.hostname ansible_user="ansible" ansible_ssh_private_key_file="/home/runner/.ssh/id_ed25519_ansible"

[vm]
rhel.vm.hostname ansible_user="ansible" ansible_ssh_private_key_file="/home/runner/.ssh/id_ed25519_ansible"

Running the Playbook

ansible-navigator run lab.azure.azure_infrastructure_config_demos.proxmox_vm_migration \
-i inventory/hosts \
--pae false \
--mode stdout \
--ee true \
--ce docker \
--eei quay.io/scottharwell/cloud-ee:latest \
--eev $HOME/.ssh:/home/runner/.ssh \
--eev $HOME/.azure:/runner/.azure \
--eev /tmp:/tmp \
--extra-vars "@env/proxmox_vm_migration_extra_vars.yml" \
--extra-vars "proxmox_api_host=$PROXMOX_API_HOSTNAME" \
--extra-vars "proxmox_api_user=$PROXMOX_USER" \
--extra-vars "proxmox_api_token=$PROXMOX_API_TOKEN" \
--extra-vars "proxmox_api_secret=$PROXMOX_API_TOKEN_SECRET" \
--extra-vars "vm_to_azure_password=$AZURE_VM_ADMIN_PASSWORD"

Installation and Usage

Ansible Automation Controller or AWX

Automated

It is possible to use Ansible to configure Ansible Automation Platform so that your Ansible Automation Platform configuration is replicable, backed-up, and change sets can be referenced as git commits. The aoc.controller_demo_config project demonstrates how to use the Ansible CLI to configure all of the components of Ansible Automation Platform and can assist with recreating individual templates and workflows rapidly across Ansible Automation Platform environments.

Manually

Ensure that you are logged in to Ansible Automation Controller before proceeding with these steps.

Create the Project

1. Click Projects in the left menu.
2. Click the Add button.
3. Enter the following fields:
   • Name: Ansible Cloud Content Lab - Azure Roles
   • Organization: Default (or your preferred organization)
   • Execution Environment: Cloud Services Execution Environment (if using Ansible on Azure)
     • If you need an execution environment with cloud collections, you can build your own through community examples or use pre-built (but unsupported) examples.
   • Source Control Type: Git
   • Source Control URL: https://github.com/ansible-content-lab/azure.infrastructure_config_demos.git
4. Click the Save button.

Create Automation Templates

Each automation template is equivalent to a playbook in this repository. Repeat these steps for each template/playbook that you want to use and change the variables specific to the individual playbook.

1. Click Templates in the left menu.

2. Click the Add button.

3. Ensure the following fields:

   • Name: lab.azure_roles.create_rhel_vm (Any name will work -- use a convention that you can remember for template naming)
   • Job Type: Run
   • Inventory: localhost (You must have an inventory created with localhost as the host)
   • Project: Ansible Cloud Content Lab - Azure Roles
   • Playbook: playbooks/create_rhel_vm.yml (Use the name of the playbook in this collection)
   • Credentials: Azure Service Principal (You must have an Azure Service Principal credential in order to use the Azure collection)
   • Variables: (Will differ per playbook)

   ---
   resource_group: resource-group
   region: eastus
   vm_name: create-rhel-test
   nic_name: create-rhel-test-nic
   network_sec_group_name: create-rhel-test-sg
   public_ip_name: create-rhel-test-public-ip
   vnet_name: your-existing-vnet
   subnet_name: your-existing-subnet
   create_public_ip: true
   ssh_public_key: "" # Copy an RSA (Azure required) public key for VM access
   admin_password: ChangeMe # Set to a secure password

4. Click the Save button.

You can now run the automation template by clicking the Launch button.

Local Installation (Ansible Galaxy CLI)

Before using the this collection, you need to install it with the Ansible Galaxy CLI:

ansible-galaxy collection install git+https://github.com/ansible-content-lab/azure.infrastructure_config_demos.git

You can also include it in a requirements.yml file and install it via ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml, using the format:

---
collections:
  - name: https://github.com/ansible-content-lab/azure.infrastructure_config_demos.git
    type: git
    version: main

Adding a Git Pre-Commit Hook

This repo includes a configuration file for ansible-lint to be run as a git pre-commit hook. To install the hook, run pre-commit install from the root directory of this repo once you have the pre-commit utility installed on your machine.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 or later

See LICENSE to see the full text.