How to Create a Ansible Lab on your Local Machine using Vagrant in 5 min using ChatGPT - Part 2

Update the above Vagrantfile Centos 8 servers and add Public IP and dhcp on each server ..

To update the provided Vagrantfile for the three CentOS 8 servers to each have a public IP and use DHCP for IP assignment, you'll need to modify the network configuration to use a public network. 

Vagrant can configure your VMs to use a public network, which allows them to access and be accessible from the public internet if your hosting environment supports it. This is often achieved by using DHCP to assign a public IP automatically.

Here's how you can modify the Vagrantfile:

# -*- 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 "public_network", use_dhcp_assigned_default_route: true

  end

  # Deployment Environment 1

  config.vm.define "deploy_env1" do |deploy_env1|

    deploy_env1.vm.hostname = "deploy-env1"

    deploy_env1.vm.network "public_network", use_dhcp_assigned_default_route: true

  end

  # Deployment Environment 2

  config.vm.define "deploy_env2" do |deploy_env2|

    deploy_env2.vm.hostname = "deploy-env2"

    deploy_env2.vm.network "public_network", use_dhcp_assigned_default_route: true

  end

end

This configuration uses public_network and sets use_dhcp_assigned_default_route: true to allow DHCP to assign public IPs to your VMs. Please note, the actual public IP assignment depends on your network setup and the capabilities of your host environment. In some cases, you might need to specify a bridge or make additional configurations to ensure your VMs are accessible from the public internet.

Remember, exposing your VMs to the public internet can have security implications. Ensure that you have appropriate security measures in place, such as firewalls and secure authentication methods.

🌐 Sources 

developer.hashicorp.com - Public Networks - Vagrant
github.com - Change the eth0 ip because oft IP conflict · Issue #2915
serverfault.com - Public static ip for vagrant box

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