Ansible - Pull
Ansible is a very basic tool, framework, and API for carrying out "remote things."
You can download your configuration from a Git repository. Apply it right away with the Ansible command ansible-pull. Running the ansible-pull command, feeding it the URL of a Git repository. It will do the rest of the work for you and will eliminate the need to maintain a server or an inventory list.
Used to update playbook sources via a source repository. And fetch a remote copy of ansible on each managed node. The pull design of ansible has almost infinite scalability potential. Inverted from its normal push architecture.
The parameters for ansible-pull. The cron frequency, and the logging sites can all be adjusted in the setup playbook. This is helpful for both frequent remediation and excessive scale-out. Gathering and analyzing remote logs from ansible-pull would be made possible. By using the 'fetch' module to obtain logs from ansible-pull runs.
Optional Argument
filename.yml
The name of a YAML file that should be used as a playbook by Ansible. This might be a relative checkout path. If no playbook is specified. Ansible-pull will search for one using the host's fully qualified domain name. Hostname, and ultimately local.yml.
Common Options
--accept-host-key
if not already added, adds the hostkey for the repository URL.
--ask-vault-password, --ask-vault-pass
demand the vault's password
--become-password-file <BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE>, --become-pass-file <BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE>
turn into a password file
--check
Don't modify anything; instead, try to anticipate some of the potential modifications.
--clean
The working repository's modified files will be removed.
--connection-password-file <CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE>, --conn-pass-file <CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE>
password file for connections
--diff
Show the differences in those files. When updating (small) files and templates; excellent with -check
--full
Make a complete clone rather than a shallow one.
--list-hosts
produces a list of matching hosts but doesn't carry out any other operations.
--private-key <PRIVATE_KEY_FILE>, --key-file <PRIVATE_KEY_FILE>
Utilize this file to verify the connection.
-s <SLEEP>, --sleep <SLEEP>
SLEEP sleep for a random duration (between 0 and n seconds). This is a helpful method for spreading out git requests.
-t, --tags
Run just the jobs and plays that have these values.
-u <REMOTE_USER>, --user <REMOTE_USER>
(Default: None) Connect using this user
-v, --verbose
in-depth mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable connection debugging)
-h, --help
display this help screen then quit
-i, --inventory, --inventory-file
specify a comma-separated host list or the inventory host path. -inventory-file is no longer supported.
-k, --ask-pass
requesting the connection password
Inventory
The hosts that Ansible might be able to work on are kept in an inventory. This could be a script, directory, ini-like file, or list. One host per line makes up the ini syntax. Group headers are acceptable and should be placed on a separate line. Encased in square brackets at the beginning of the line.
Manual Use of ansible-pull
Use a command like the one below to manually run the ansible-pull command:
url='https://github.com/jschulthess/ansible-pull-update.git'
# URL of the playbook repository
checkout='develop'
# branch/tag/commit to checkout
directory='/var/projects/ansible-pull-update'
# directory to checkout repository to where to put the logs
logfile='/var/log/ansible-pull-update.log'
sudo ansible-pull -o -C ${checkout} -d ${directory} -i ${directory}/inventory -U ${url} \
2>&1 | sudo tee -a ${logfile}
Environment
You can specify the following environment variables.
ANSIBLE_INVENTORY —alter the ansible inventory file's default settings
ANSIBLE_LIBRARY — Override the location of the ansible module library.
ANSIBLE_CONFIG — Override the default ansible config file with ANSIBLE CONFIG.
For the majority of settings in ansible.cfg, many more are accessible.
Files
/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg – config file, if present, used
~/.ansible.cfg – User configuration file, if present, replaces default configuration
Check out most important Git Interview Questions here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the two important files in Ansible?
You should think about the following three key files for Ansible. Ansible.cfg file, the main file, and the host/inventory file.
How many nodes can Ansible manage?
Ansible-applicability pulls vary depending on the use case. But in general, topologies with fewer than 500 nodes nearly never require it. Whereas topologies with more than 2000 nodes frequently do.
What does Ansible's inventory file mean?
The hosts and groups of hosts that the commands, modules, and tasks in a playbook depend on. They are specified in the Ansible inventory file.
How do you check Ansible syntax?
We can use $ ansible-playbook <playbook. yml> --syntax-check command to check the playbook for syntax errors.
Conclusion
We covered the Ansible Pull in this article. We hope this article helps you to learn something new. And if you're interested in learning more, see our posts on Ansible Interview Questions Part 1, Ansible Interview Questions Part 2, 12 Best DevOps Tools To Get Acquainted With, and DevOps Interview Questions.
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