100-Days-Of-DevOps-Challenge-KodeKloud

Ansible Blockinfile Module

The Nautilus DevOps team wants to install and set up a simple httpd web server on all app servers in Stratos DC. Additionally, they want to deploy a sample web page for now using Ansible only. Therefore, write the required playbook to complete this task. Find more details about the task below.

We already have an inventory file under /home/thor/ansible directory on jump host. Create a playbook.yml under /home/thor/ansible directory on jump host itself.

• Using the playbook, install httpd web server on all app servers. Additionally, make sure its service should up and running.

• Using blockinfile Ansible module add some content in /var/www/html/index.html file. Below is the content:

    Welcome to XfusionCorp!
  
    This is  Nautilus sample file, created using Ansible!
  
    Please do not modify this file manually!
  

• The /var/www/html/index.html file’s user and group owner should be apache on all app servers.

• The /var/www/html/index.html file’s permissions should be 0644 on all app servers.

Note:

i. Validation will try to run the playbook using command ansible-playbook -i inventory playbook.yml so please make sure the playbook works this way without passing any extra arguments.

ii. Do not use any custom or empty marker for blockinfile module.

Steps

1. Move into ansible directory

    cd ansible
   

2. Create an empty playbook.yml file:

    touch playbook.yml
   

3. Add contents to playbook.yml from this YAML file

    vi playbook.yml
   

   copy-paste contents

4. Run the playbook command:

    ansible-playbook -i inventory playbook.yml
   

Good to Know?

Ansible blockinfile Module

• Purpose: Insert/update/remove blocks of text in files
• Markers: Identify block boundaries in target file
• Idempotent: Safe to run multiple times
• Block Management: Add, modify, or remove text blocks

Block Markers

• Default Markers: # BEGIN ANSIBLE MANAGED BLOCK and # END ANSIBLE MANAGED BLOCK
• Custom Markers: Define custom marker text
• Marker Format: Markers help identify managed content
• Preservation: Content outside markers is preserved

Web Server Configuration

• Document Root: /var/www/html is standard Apache location
• Index Files: index.html is default page
• File Ownership: apache user owns web content
• Permissions: 0644 allows read access for web server

File Management Modules

• blockinfile: Manage blocks of text
• lineinfile: Manage single lines
• replace: Replace text patterns
• template: Process Jinja2 templates

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