ansible-roster 0.9.0

Host based Ansible yaml inventory

Ansible Roster Inventory Plugin

This repository contains an Ansible Inventory Plugin to generate inventory from a subjectively simpler inventory description file, here within called a roster while having more possibilities.

It supports host ranges, eg: "[0:9]", but also regex hostnames, eg: "(dev|prd)-srv". It handles variables declared as lists by appending the values instead of replacing them.

This inventory plugin has been written with debops in mind.

Installation from Ansible Galaxy

You can install the latest version from Ansible Galaxy repository.

ansible-galaxy collection install -U julien_lecomte.roster

Installation from PyPI

You can install the latest version from PyPI package repository.

python3 -mpip install -U ansible-roster

Usage

The roster is a file in yaml format and 'yml' or 'yaml' file extension.

In order for Ansible to use the plugin and parse your roster file, several conditions must be met:

• Your yaml file must contain a line indicating that the file is in the roster format.

• You must activate plugins and enable the roster inventory plugin in your ansible.cfg, or in your .debops.cfg if using debops

Sample ansible.cfg

[defaults]
# The following line prevents having to pass -i to ansible-inventory.
# Filename can be anything as long as it has a 'yml' or 'yaml' extension although
inventory = roster.yml

[inventory]
# You must enable the roster plugin if 'auto' does not work for you.
# Use 'roster' if installed via the Python package,
# Use 'julien_lecomte.roster.roster' if installed via Ansible Galaxy
enable_plugins = julien_lecomte.roster.roster

Sample .debops.cfg

[ansible inventory]
enabled = roster
# Use 'roster' if installed via the Python package,
# Use 'julien_lecomte.roster.roster' if installed via Ansible Galaxy
enable_plugins = roster

Simpler syntax

A roster inventory has a subjectively simpler syntax than a Ansible yaml inventory file. Instead of specifing children which have to be known in advance, you specify the parents of your host.

A roster inventory is made of at least one yaml file where the plugin to be used is declared. and then the groups and hosts declared in yaml syntax.

A sample, commented, and minimal file named 'roster.yml.tpl' is located at the root of the git repository.

File inclusion

Instead of including every file found in a inventory folder, a roster inventory will only include explicitly specified files. Globbing is supported.

plugin: roster

include:
  # include an exact file match
  - distrib/debian.yml

  # include with wildcard:
  - hosts/*.yml

Ranges and Regex support

plugin: roster

hosts:
  # Generate 10 hosts: sql-0.example.com to sql-9.example.com
  sql-[0:9].example.com:

  # Generate 2 hosts: frontend.example.com and backend.example.com
  (front|back)end.example.com:

Development

To run unit tests, you can simply run the make target:

# run all tests:
make check

It's also possible to quickly check the output inventory:

export PYTHONPATH="$PYTHONPATH:$(pwd)"
ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_ENABLED=roster ansible-inventory --list -i roster.yml

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Locations

• Documentation: https://jlecomte.gitlab.io/projects/ansible-roster/
• GitLab: https://gitlab.com/jlecomte/projects/ansible-roster
• PyPi: https://pypi.org/project/ansible-roster
• Galaxy: https://galaxy.ansible.com/julien_lecomte/roster