Exercise 1.1 - Creating and Running a Job Template

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Exercise Description

This exercise will walk you through the steps required to create a job template and run it. A job template is a definition and set of parameters for running an Ansible job. In other words, a template combines an Ansible project playbook and the settings required to launch it, into one package.

Templates save setup time, for jobs that are launched repetitively. Once the template is set, it can be edited for future jobs, with different settings. Templates also drive uniformity, by running templates exactly the same way every time. And, because we’re using templates, production responsibilities can be delegated to less experienced production personnel.

Section1: Creating a job template

Step 1: Navigate to the Templates tab

Select TEMPLATES temp

Step 2: Create a new template

Click Add and select JOB TEMPLATE jobT

Step 3: Complete the job Template form

Complete the template form, by entering the following values:

NAME

Apache Basic Job Template

DESCRIPTION

Template for the apache-basic-playbook

JOB TYPE

Run

INVENTORY

Ansible Workshop Inventory

PROJECT

Ansible Workshop Project

PLAYBOOK

examples/apache-basic-playbook/site.yml

MACHINE CREDENTIAL

Workshop Credentials

LIMIT

web

VERBOSITY

0(Normal)

OPTIONS

  • Enable Privilege Escalation

at jt detail
Figure 11: Job Template Form

Step 4: Save

Click SAVE Save and then select ADD SURVEY Add Survey

Step 5: Complete survey

Job surveys provide extra playbook variables and present them in a user-friendly way. They also enable validation of the input you provide.

Complete the survey form with following values.

PROMPT

Please enter a test message for your new website

DESCRIPTION

Website test message prompt

ANSWER VARIABLE NAME

apache_test_message

ANSWER TYPE

Text

MINIMUM/MAXIMUM LENGTH

Use the defaults

DEFAULT ANSWER

Be creative, keep it clean, we’re all professionals here

at survey detail
Figure 12: Survey Form

Step 6: Add the survey input

Select +ADD

Step 7: Save

Select SAVE Save

Step 8: Save at the main page

Back on the main Job Template page, select SAVE Save again.

Section 2: Running a job template

Now that you’ve sucessfully created your Job Template, you are ready to launch it. You will be redirected to a job screen, which refreshes in realtime and displays the status of the job.

Step 1: Select the Template tab

Select TEMPLATES

Alternatively, if you haven’t navigated away from the job templates creation page, you can scroll down to see all existing job templates

Step 2: Access Apache Basic Job Template

Click the rocketship icon Add for the Apache Basic Job Template

Step 3: Enter test message

When prompted, enter your desired test message

at survey prompt
Figure 13: Survey Prompt

Step 4: Launch the job

Select LAUNCH Add

Step 5: View job summary

Sit back, watch the magic happen

One of the first things you will notice is the RESULTS section. This section provides job details, such as who launched it, what playbook it’s running, what the status is, i.e. Pending, Running, or Complete.

at job status
Figure 14: Job Summary

To the right, you can view standard output; the same way you could if you were running Ansible Core from the command line.

at job stdout
Figure 15: Job Standard Output

Step 6: View the new website

Once your job is sucessful, navigate to your new website, where workshopname is the name of your workshop, and # is your student number:

http://example.node.0.redhatgov.io

If all went well, you should see something like this, but with your own custom message:

at web tm
Figure 16: New Website with Personalized Test Message

End Result

At this point in the workshop, you’ve experienced the core functionality of Ansible Tower. But wait…​ there’s more! You’ve just begun to explore the possibilities of Ansible Core and Tower. Take a look at the resources page in this guide, to explore some more features.


Workshop Details

Domain Red Hat Logo
Workshop
Student ID

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