Running the Setup Play

As a final configuration check list your servers from within the momod directory:

cd momod
ansible all --list-hosts

If that looks good then run the setup playbook:

ansible-playbook play/setup.yml

# Note: this play doesn't use any encrypted variables but
# Ansible looks at any defined in the host_vars anyway. If
# you've encrypted your vault.yml you may need
# to use --ask-vault-pass

ansible-playbook --ask-vault-pass play/setup.yml

The setup playbook specifies the [setup] group and will only run on hosts in that group.

Once setup has run successfully remove your hosts from the [setup] group in hosts.ini and move it to [prod] or any other groups you choose to define.

If you ever wish to rerun setup you’ll need to change setup_ansible_user to your ‘ansible_user account’, usually yourself.

Test SSH login

Your user account (as defined in host_vars/alice/main.yml) should now be set up. Try logging in:

ssh 2001:DB8::93ee:f03d:fe06::1
# replace with your server's IP address, or alias the IP in your .ssh/config to a name matching yuour server name.

You’ll get an error message! The sshd role run during the setup play regenerates the host SSH keys to stronger versions. You need to edit your local .ssh/known_hosts file to remove the old keys then try again:

ssh 2001:DB8::93ee:f03d:fe06::1
# replace with your server's IP address

You’ll be asked whether to allow the connection (as usual for a first time SSH connection) answer yes and you should be connected.

Here’s a screenshot of the configured shell prompt and a file listing.

We’re now ready to run the main playbook and get the server doing something useful. (But take a break now if you need too!)