Integrating Ansible with Applications Manager

• Overview
• How Ansible works in Applications Manager
• Prerequisites
• Configuring the Ansible integration
  • Managing the integration
• Creating an Ansible Action
  • Action settings
  • Approval workflow
• Managing and running Ansible Actions
  • Execution status
• Troubleshooting
• Related topics

Overview

Applications Manager can run Ansible playbooks automatically when an alarm is raised. Configure an Ansible control node once, then create Ansible Actions and associate them with monitors, thresholds, or alarm policies.

Ansible is an open-source automation platform for configuring systems, deploying software, and orchestrating IT tasks. Automation steps are stored in plain-text playbooks with the .yml or .yaml extension. Applications Manager connects to the control node over SSH or Telnet and runs the selected playbook with the arguments you provide.

How Ansible works in Applications Manager

1. A monitor attribute crosses its threshold and Applications Manager raises an alarm.
2. The Ansible Action associated with the alarm is triggered.
3. Applications Manager connects to the Ansible control node using the configured credential.
4. The selected playbook runs with the configured arguments. Alarm details such as monitor name, host IP, and severity can be passed as arguments.
5. The result and playbook output are recorded in Execution Logs. An optional E-mail Action can notify you of the outcome.

Important: Ansible Actions open a connection to the control node and can change the state of your servers. Use playbooks and credentials with care.

Prerequisites

• A Linux machine with Ansible installed. The ansible-playbook command must be available to the login user.
• Network access from the Applications Manager server to the control node over SSH or Telnet.
• An SSH or Telnet credential saved in Applications Manager Credential Manager. Use an account with only the privileges required to run the playbooks.
• A playbook folder on the control node. The credential user must be able to read the folder and its sub-folders.
• Unattended playbooks. Interactive password options such as -k, -K, --ask-pass, --ask-become-pass, and --ask-vault-pass are not supported in Arguments.
• Administrator access to add or edit the integration.

Configuring the Ansible integration

Go to Settings > Integrations (Add-On Settings) > IT Automation and select Ansible.

1. Enter the Ansible Control Node host name or IP address.
2. Enter the Playbook Folder Path, such as /etc/ansible/playbooks. Applications Manager also scans sub-folders and accepts home-relative paths such as ~/playbooks.
3. Select an SSH or Telnet credential from Credentials. Select Add New Credential to create a credential without leaving the page.
4. Click Test Configuration to verify that the host and credential are reachable, ansible-playbook is installed, and the playbook folder is accessible.
5. Click Save to store the integration. A successful test is recommended, but it is not required to save the configuration.

Managing the integration

• The Ansible card displays the configured Control Node and Playbook Folder Path.
• Select Edit on the card to change the integration settings.
• Select Delete to remove the integration. Deleting the integration also deletes all Ansible Actions created under it after confirmation.
• Every add, update, and delete operation is recorded in the Audit Log under Ansible Integration.

Creating an Ansible Action

Use either Actions > Ansible Action or Settings > Actions > Ansible > Add New. Configure the Ansible integration before creating an action.

Action settings

1. Enter a Profile Name.
2. Select the Playbook Path and optionally enter Arguments.
3. Set the Timeout and select success and failure notifications.
4. Configure Business Hours if the action should run only during or outside a specific time window.
5. Click Save or Update.

Approval workflow

• An Administrator or Delegated Administrator creates or edits an action in Pending Approval status. The action remains disabled until a Super Administrator approves it.
• A Super Administrator approves a pending action by opening it and saving it. The Actions page displays the approval status and an Approve button.
• Actions created by a Super Administrator are approved immediately.
• Unapproved actions are not executed by alarms, manual execution, or the REST API.

Managing and running Ansible Actions

The Ansible section on the Actions page lists the profile name, playbook path, arguments, timeout, notification actions, usage, Business Hours setting, approval status, and Edit or Execute controls.

• Use Add New, Delete, Enable, or Disable to manage selected actions.
• Use Audit Log to review action changes.
• Use Export to download the listed actions as a CSV file.
• Use Execution Logs to review each playbook run, including the control node, playbook, arguments, trigger, status, and returned message. Logs are retained for 30 days.

After approval, associate the action with threshold profiles, monitor or monitor-group alarms, alarm escalation, or manual execution from the Alarms page action menu. The action runs when its associated alarm is generated, subject to the configured Business Hours setting.

Execution status

• Success: The playbook finished with exit code 0.
• Fail: The playbook returned a non-zero exit code or could not be started.
• Timed out: The run exceeded the configured timeout and is reported as a failure.

The full ansible-playbook output is available in Execution Logs. Applications Manager sends the configured Success or Failure E-mail Action after execution.

Troubleshooting

Related topics

• Creating actions
• Listing actions
• Business Hours actions