Chapter 4. Managing Ansible Roles

In Satellite, you can import Ansible roles and Red Hat Enterprise Linux system roles to help with automation of routine tasks. Ansible is enabled by default on Satellite and Capsule.

If you use custom or third party Ansible roles, you must add the roles to the /etc/ansible/roles directory of the Capsule or Satellite where you want to use them.

For more information about support levels for Ansible in Satellite, see the Support for Ansible in Satellite section of the New Features and Enhancements in the Release Notes.

You must import the Ansible roles into Satellite Server from the /etc/ansible/roles directory before you can use them.

4.1. Importing Ansible Roles

You can import Ansible roles from a Capsule that has Ansible enabled or from the /etc/ansible/roles directory where Satellite Server is installed.

To import Ansible roles, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Configure > Roles and click the Capsule that contains the roles that you want to import.
  2. From the list of Ansible roles, select the check box of the roles you want to import, and then click Update.

4.2. Adding Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles

Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles, which was introduced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 as a Technology Preview, is a configuration interface for Red Hat Enterprise Linux subsystems. You can use Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles to add Ansible roles in Satellite. Using Ansible Roles in Satellite can make configuration faster and easier.

For more information about Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles.

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To Add Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles:

  1. Ensure that the rhel-7-server-extras-rpms repository is enabled. 

    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-extras-rpms

  2. Install the rhel-system-roles package. 

    # yum install rhel-system-roles

    The rhel-system-roles package downloads to /usr/share/ansible/roles/. You can view and make any modifications that you want to the files before you import.

  3. Disable the rhel-7-server-extras-rpms repository: 

    # subscription-manager repos --disable=rhel-7-server-extras-rpms
  4. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Configure > Roles and click the Capsule that contains the roles that you want to import.
  5. From the list of Ansible roles, select the check box of the roles you want to import, and then click Update.

You can now assign Ansible roles to hosts or host groups. For more information, see Assigning Ansible Roles to Existing Hosts in the Managing Hosts guide.

You can also add the modules contained in these roles to your Ansible playbooks by adding them to Ansible Job Templates. You must include the hosts:all line in the job template. For more information, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) System Roles.