So you have learned about Ansible Roles and the importance of using roles. Ansible Galaxy is a public library where you can find thousands of roles written by other ansible users and administrators. Ansible Galaxy is arranged with a searchable database where you can easily find suitable role which you can re-use in your ansible environment.
See all parts of Automation with Ansible Guides here.
Login to Ansible Galaxy and explore the portal; you can also find the docuemention on how to use roles from Ansible Galaxy, how to upload your roles to the library etc.
ansible-galaxy command line
You can use ansible-galaxy command to search, install or get information about the roles from Ansible Galaxy. In below example, we are searching for a role with word java.
[root@ansible-box ansible]# ansible-galaxy search "java"
Found 775 roles matching your search:
Name Description
---- -----------
4ARMED.java8 Java 8 Installation for Debian-based OSes
5KYDEV0P5.skydevops-java Installs and configures Oracle Java 1.8.x
5KYDEV0P5.skydevops-maven Install and configure Apache Mvaen 3.x.x
aaronpederson.python Python is a programming language that lets you work quick
aaronpederson.webgoat Webgoat - a deliberately insecure JavaEE application to t
abelboldu.zookeeper Zookeeper cluster role for MidoNet deployments.
aberwag.java Java for Linux
abessifi.fitnesse Install FitNesse acceptance testing framework on GNU/Linu
abessifi.java Java for GNU/Linux systems
abessifi.osb Install and configure Oracle Service Bus
abessifi.weblogic Install and configure Oracle Weblogic Server
abn.ec2-api-tools-java Install and configure AWS ec2-api-tools on a target node
adamcin.ansible-zookeeper Ansible Zookeeper RoleOr another example with author name
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# ansible-galaxy search elasticsearch --author geerlingguy
Found 5 roles matching your search:
Name Description
---- -----------
geerlingguy.elasticsearch Elasticsearch for Linux.
geerlingguy.elasticsearch-curator Elasticsearch curator for Linux.
geerlingguy.filebeat Filebeat for Linux.
geerlingguy.kibana Kibana for Linux.
geerlingguy.logstash Logstash for Linux.below command with option info will display the information about the role, like the author, license, creation date etc.
[root@ansible-box ansible]# ansible-galaxy info geerlingguy.git
Role: geerlingguy.git
description: Git version control software
active: True
commit: 6d4696d59dfb6af69315978a47cb283b3aaaaa9c
commit_message: Fix deprecation warnings in Ansible 2.5 for state 'present'.
commit_url: https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-git/commit/6d4696d59dfb6af69315978a47cb283b3aaaa
company: Midwestern Mac, LLC
created: 2014-03-01T02:53:28.033086Z
download_count: 86310
forks_count: 61
github_branch: master
github_repo: ansible-role-git
github_user: geerlingguy
id: 431
imported: 2018-04-04T19:50:26.043014-04:00
is_valid: True
issue_tracker_url: https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-git/issues
license: license (BSD, MIT)
min_ansible_version: 2.4
modified: 2018-06-30T05:11:01.375198Z
open_issues_count: 8
path: [u'/root/.ansible/roles', u'/usr/share/ansible/roles', u'/etc/ansible/roles']
role_type: ANS
stargazers_count: 105
travis_status_url: https://travis-ci.org/geerlingguy/ansible-role-git.svg?branch=masterAnd you can install the role with install option. I am creating a new directoty and installing new role there by mentioning the option -p.
[root@ansible-box ansible]# mkdir galaxy-roles
[root@ansible-box ansible]# cd galaxy-roles/
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.git -p ./
- downloading role 'git', owned by geerlingguy
- downloading role from https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-role-git/archive/2.0.2.tar.gz
- extracting geerlingguy.git to /root/ansible/galaxy-roles/geerlingguy.git
- geerlingguy.git (2.0.2) was installed successfullyAnd now we verify the content of the geerlingguy.git role installed.
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# tree
.
└── geerlingguy.git
├── defaults
│ └── main.yml
├── LICENSE
├── meta
│ └── main.yml
├── README.md
├── tasks
│ ├── install-from-source.yml
│ └── main.yml
├── tests
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── test-source.yml
│ └── test.yml
└── vars
├── Debian.yml
├── Fedora.yml
├── main.yml
└── RedHat.ymlYou can even install muliple roles with a file as below. The yml file contains the details of roles to be installed using ansible-galaxy.
$ ansible-galaxy install -r roles2install.ymlOnce you have installed role, we can simply use it inside our playbook as normal.
roles:
- geerlingguy.gitManaging installed roles
You can list and remove those installed roles with same ansible-galaxy command.
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# ansible-galaxy list
- geerlingguy.git, 2.0.2
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# ansible-galaxy remove geerlingguy.git
- successfully removed geerlingguy.git
Using ansible-galaxy to create role
You can use ansible-galaxy init commnd to initilize a role with default directory structure. Using –offline option can use if you want to do this activitiy without interacting with internet (Ansible Galaxy portal)
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# ansible-galaxy init --offline mynewrole
- mynewrole was created successfully
[root@ansible-box galaxy-roles]# tree
.
└── mynewrole
├── defaults
│ └── main.yml
├── files
├── handlers
│ └── main.yml
├── meta
│ └── main.yml
├── README.md
├── tasks
│ └── main.yml
├── templates
├── tests
│ ├── inventory
│ └── test.yml
└── vars
└── main.ymlThen you can modify the file contents as usual.
Refer more on ansible-galaxy cli documentation.
See all parts of Automation with Ansible Guides here.