Configurator

Welcome to the Configurator! Configurator is a Python-based command line interface (CLI) which issues commands based on user-defined "tasks" to "hosts" over SSH.

Installation

Option 1: Install from TestPyPI

1. Install the configurator: pip install atkinsonm-configurator

Option 2: Install from Source

1. Clone this package.
2. cd part-two.
3. sudo python3 setup.py.
4. Run atkinsonm-configurator --help to confirm the install.

Using the Configurator

atkinsonm-configurator --help is your friend.

Configuring Hosts

atkinsonm-configurator host --help lists commands for managing hosts. You can also manage the hosts file by hand. See samples/hosts.yaml for examples.

At this time we support password authentication only and assume the password is for the root user. We only support specifying hosts by IP address at this time.

The hosts must have a root user, must allow logins to the root user using password authentication, and must be accessible over SSH. No other dependencies are required for installation on target hosts (and therefore no bootstrap.sh is provided with this package).

Configuring Tasks

Modify the hosts file (YAML format, default location /home/$USER/configurator-tasks.yaml) by hand using the supported task types below. The format of the file is a top-level key called tasks which is a list of task definitions.

See samples/tasks.yaml for examples.

Tasks are executed in the order they are defined. Define related task dependencies before successors.

Shared Properties

All tasks have these properties.

• name: str

Tasks which support specifying a service to restart have these additional properties:

• restart_service (str): the name of a service to restart with service <service-name> restart

Supported Task Types

File

Create files, set content and metadata

This will replace any files/contents already present at specified locations. Use with caution.

• type: file
• path (str): absolute path or relative path (from the root user's home directory) of the file to create
• contents (str): the file contents
• owner (str) the file owner (user)
• group (str) the file owner (group)
• mode (int) the file mode

tasks:
- name: hello
  type: file
  path: /root/hello
  contents: hello!
  owner: root
  group: root
  mode: 644

Escape single quotes in contents.

File Remove

Removes a file at the specified path.

• type: file_remove
• path (str): absolute path or relative path (from the root user's home directory) of the file to remove

- name: remove default index
  type: file_remove
  path: /var/www/html/index.html

Package

Installs and uninstalls packages (apt support only)

• type: package
• install (bool): True or False. True means install, False means uninstall
• package_name (str): the name of the package

Running Commands

Use atkinsonm-configurator task run to run all tasks on all hosts in sequence.

Configuring an Ubuntu Server with Apache and PHP

samples/webserver-tasks.yaml has tasks to set up an Ubuntu server to install Apache and PHP and run a Hello World program in PHP. To run it:

1. Install atkinsonm-configurator (command above)
2. Copy the contents of samples/webserver-tasks.yaml to a local file (e.g. /home/$USER/webserver-config.yaml)
3. Configure hosts per instructions above (hosts file not included here for security reasons)
4. Run atkinsonm-configurator task run -t /home/$USER/webserver-config.yaml
5. Test your new webserver with curl -sv "http://ADDRESS"

Future Improvements

There are a number of improvements I would make to this application given more time. Many TODOs are called out in code comments. I will highlight a few significant ones here:

• Support authentication other than root user
  • Privilege escalation (sudo) where necessary for non-root users
• SSH key-based authentication
• Support for other package managers
• General code cleanliness