How to Create a Ansible Lab on your Local Machine using Vagrant in 5 min using ChatGPT

This is an exciting experiment of mine as DevOps. As I am experimenting with the Tools available ... So, the quest is to "Vagrantfile which creates 3 instances of Centos 8 servers, each server shall be able to connect on the same network for easy communication"

Here is what we want to achieve:

- Build 3 servers to use Ansible

Jumped into via ChatGPT via Bing Copilot and created the following prompt.

"Hi Copilot, can you write a Vagrantfile which creates 3 instances of Centos 8 servers, each server shall be able to connect on the same network for easy communication, these instance serves are to be used as Ansible Lab environments comprised of one Ansible Tower and two deployments environments, please"

The output:

# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  # Define the base box
  config.vm.box = "centos/8"

  # Ansible Tower Server
  config.vm.define "ansible_tower" do |ansible_tower|
    ansible_tower.vm.hostname = "ansible-tower"
    ansible_tower.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.10"
  end

  # Deployment Environment 1
  config.vm.define "deploy_env1" do |deploy_env1|
    deploy_env1.vm.hostname = "deploy-env1"
    deploy_env1.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.11"
  end

  # Deployment Environment 2
  config.vm.define "deploy_env2" do |deploy_env2|
    deploy_env2.vm.hostname = "deploy-env2"
    deploy_env2.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.12"
  end

  # Provisioning with Ansible (Optional)
  # config.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
  #   ansible.playbook = "playbook.yml"
  # end
end

Source code on Git Hub repository.

To use this Vagrantfile:

1. Install VirtualBox and Vagrant on your system.
2. Save the above code into a file named Vagrantfile.
3. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory containing the Vagrantfile.
4. Run vagrant up to create the VMs.

This Vagrantfile configures each CentOS 8 server with a static IP on a private network, allowing them to communicate with each other. You can uncomment and adjust the Ansible provisioning block to run your Ansible playbooks automatically.

You’ll have three CentOS 8 servers (server1, server2, and server3) along with an Ansible Tower instance (ansible-tower) for your lab environment. Adjust memory and CPU settings as needed based on your system resources.

Happy Ansible-ing! 🚀

Next - 

To test the Ansible connection to the three CentOS 8 servers you've set up, you can use a simple Ansible playbook that employs the ping module. This module is specifically designed for connection testing and doesn't actually send ICMP pings but attempts an SSH connection and returns pong on success.

Here's an example playbook, test_connection.yml, that you can use:

yaml
---
- name: Test Ansible Connection to Servers
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: no

  tasks:
    - name: Test connectivity with ping module
      ansible.builtin.ping:

Before running the playbook, ensure you have an inventory file (inventory.ini or your preferred name) that lists the IPs or hostnames of your servers under a group [servers] or individually. Here's an example:

javascript
[servers]
192.168.56.10 ansible_user=your_username ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/path/to/private_key
192.168.56.11 ansible_user=your_username ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/path/to/private_key
192.168.56.12 ansible_user=your_username ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/path/to/private_key

Replace your_username and /path/to/private_key with the appropriate user and SSH key path for your setup.

To run the playbook and test the connection to all servers in your inventory, use the following command:

bash
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini test_connection.yml

This command will attempt to connect to each server listed in inventory.ini and report back whether the connection was successful.
....

Nice !! Now, let us push this code further ..  I have tested the script on my machine and Made all 3 instances up and running.  Further improved the code and stored in Github source code here

Here the code on VisualCode:

Continue on  part 2

🌐 Sourcesmedium.com - How to Create Multiple Virtual Machines Using Vagrant Tool

stackoverflow.com - Two Operating Systems in a single Vagrantfile

In ansible what is the best way to get dict object to print out ?

There are several ways to print out a dictionary object in Ansible, depending on your desired level of detail and formatting:

1. Using debug Module:

This is the simplest way to print the entire dictionary, including keys and values.

YAML

- debug:
    var: my_dict

2. Using Jinja2 Template Filters:

• json_encode filter: Converts the dictionary to a JSON string for a structured representation.

YAML

- debug:
    msg: "Dictionary as JSON: {{ my_dict | json_encode }}"

• to_yaml filter (if using the yaml collection): Converts the dictionary to a YAML string.

YAML

- debug:
    msg: "Dictionary as YAML: {{ my_dict | to_yaml }}"

• Custom filters: Create custom filters to format the output according to your specific needs.

3. Looping through the Dictionary:

For a more controlled output, iterate through the dictionary using a loop and print individual key-value pairs.

YAML

- debug:
    msg: "Key: {{ item.key }}, Value: {{ item.value }}"
  loop: "{{ my_dict }}"
  vars:
    item: key_value  # Adjust variable name if needed

4. Using dict Lookup Plugin:

The dict lookup plugin allows you to access specific values within the dictionary:

YAML

- debug:
    msg: "Value of key 'foo': {{ lookup('dict', my_dict.foo) }}"

Choosing the Best Method:

• Use debug for quick inspection of the entire dictionary.
• Use Jinja2 filters for structured output (JSON or YAML) or with custom formatting.
• Use loop for controlled output and accessing specific key-value pairs.
• Use dict lookup plugin for retrieving specific values within the dictionary.

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