Ansible Inventory Generator User Guide

RackPeek can generate production-ready Ansible inventory directly from your modeled infrastructure.

1. Making a Resource Ansible-Ready

A resource becomes an Ansible host when it has an address label.

Required Label

At minimum, set:

labels:
  ansible_host: 192.168.1.10

Without this, the resource will not appear in inventory.

Recommended Labels

labels:
  ansible_host: 192.168.1.10
  ansible_user: ubuntu
  ansible_port: 22
  ansible_ssh_private_key_file: ~/.ssh/id_rsa
  env: prod
  role: web

What these do

Label	Purpose
ansible_host	IP or DNS target
ansible_user	SSH user
ansible_port	SSH port
ansible_ssh_private_key_file	SSH key
env	Used for grouping
role	Used for grouping

2. Using Tags for Grouping

Tags are simple grouping mechanisms.

Example:

tags:
- prod
- web
- ansible

If you generate inventory with:

--group-tags prod,web

You will get:

[prod]
vm-web01 ...

[web]
vm-web01 ...

3. Using Labels for Structured Groups

Labels allow structured grouping.

Example:

labels:
  env: prod
  role: database

Generating with:

--group-labels env,role

Produces:

[env_prod]
vm-db01 ...

[role_database]
vm-db01 ...

This is cleaner and more scalable than raw tags.

4. Example Resource

- kind: System
  type: vm
  os: ubuntu-22.04
  cores: 4
  ram: 8
  name: vm-web01
  tags:
  - prod
  - web
  labels:
    ansible_host: 192.168.1.10
    ansible_user: ubuntu
    env: prod
    role: web

5. Generating Inventory

CLI

rpk ansible inventory \
  --group-tags prod,web \
  --group-labels env,role \
  --global-var ansible_user=ansible \
  --global-var ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Web UI

Navigate to:

/ansible/inventory

Set:

Group By Tags
Group By Labels
Global Variables

Click Generate.

6. Example Generated Inventory

[all:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
ansible_user=ansible

[env_prod]
vm-web01 ansible_host=192.168.1.10 ansible_user=ubuntu

[role_web]
vm-web01 ansible_host=192.168.1.10 ansible_user=ubuntu

[prod]
vm-web01 ansible_host=192.168.1.10 ansible_user=ubuntu

7. Writing Playbooks Against RackPeek Inventory

Example 1 – Ping Production

- name: Test production connectivity
  hosts: env_prod
  gather_facts: false

  tasks:
    - name: Ping hosts
      ansible.builtin.ping:

Run:

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini ping.yml

Example 2 – Deploy Web Servers

- name: Configure web servers
  hosts: role_web
  become: true

  tasks:
    - name: Install nginx
      ansible.builtin.apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present
        update_cache: true

    - name: Ensure nginx running
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: true

Example 3 – Database Setup

- name: Configure database servers
  hosts: role_database
  become: true

  tasks:
    - name: Install PostgreSQL
      ansible.builtin.apt:
        name: postgresql
        state: present
        update_cache: true

8. Best Practices

1. Use Labels for Structure

Prefer:

env: prod
role: web

Over raw tags when designing larger infrastructure.

2. Keep Global Vars Minimal

Use:

[all:vars]
ansible_user=ansible
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Override per host only when needed.

3. Separate Infrastructure and Services

Model:

Systems → Ansible hosts
Services → Applications running on systems

Deploy against systems, not services.

4. Keep Inventory Deterministic

Avoid:

Missing ansible_host
Mixed case group names
Unstructured tags

9. Advanced Pattern (Recommended)

Use both:

env
role

Then your structure becomes:

env_prod
env_staging
role_web
role_database

This allows extremely flexible play targeting:

ansible-playbook site.yml -l env_prod
ansible-playbook site.yml -l role_web
ansible-playbook site.yml -l env_prod:&role_web

10. Summary

To use RackPeek effectively with Ansible:

Add ansible_host label
Add env and role labels
Optionally add tags
Generate inventory
Write playbooks targeting groups

ansible-generator-guide.md 4.5 KB Pysyvä linkki Historia Raaka