Abstract

Presentation

This project aims to help me deploy and manage my homelab and a few other machines / services that I use, only for a personal purpose. It is also an opportunity for me to learn and improve my knowledge of Ansible,the IaC side of operations and systems administration.

What does it mean? The implications are that I will not be using external roles and collections unless they cover a part of my workflow that I do not wish to implement or have low value for me. The result of this premise is that this repository will probably not cover your use case and you should definitely not use this project as-is unless you thoroughly reviewed it, especially the system hardening and security tweaks that are implemented.

Roles

• common: all configurations and tools that are deployed everywhere, e.g. basic utilities, common QoL tweaks, shell customization.
• development: everything I use for development purposes, e.g. development tooling, assets and documentation creation, compilers and toolchains.
• gaming: gaming on linux, e.g. Steam and Heroic Games Launcher.
• security: security-related softwares and tweaks, e.g. applying custom system limits, installing an antivirus.
• server: common tooling for servers, e.g. monitoring, altering, firewall rules.
• workstation: tooling and configuration for an X11 graphical workstation.

Usage

Prerequisites

• curl or similar,
• python3.9+,
• go-task (or follow the instructions below to install it),

# To install Task for a Debian (amd64) based system you can execute the following
TEMP_WORKDIR=$(mktemp -d)
cd "${TEMP_WORKDIR}"
# retrieve the latest available version's tag
TASK_VERSION=$(curl -fsSL -XGET https://api.github.com/repos/go-task/task/releases/latest | grep tag_name | tr -d ' ",' | cut -d ':' -f 2)
# retrieve the Debian archive
curl -fsSLO https://github.com/go-task/task/releases/download/"${TASK_VERSION}"/task_linux_amd64.deb
# retrieve the checksums file
curl -fsSLO https://github.com/go-task/task/releases/download/"${TASK_VERSION}/"task_checksums.txt
# ensure the downloaded archive is OK
sha256sum -c task_checksums.txt --ignore-missing
# install the tool
sudo dpkg -i ./task_linux_amd64.deb
cd -
rm -r "${TEMP_WORKDIR}"
unset TEMP_WORKDIR

Setup

# Generate default ansible configuration
./scripts/generate_ansible_config.sh ./ansible.cfg

# Setup the project
task setup
# additionally install the dev dependencies if you need them
task setup:dev

# Prepare and edit your inventory as needed
cp inventory/inventory.yml.dist inventory/inventory.yml

Using Tasks

Tasks

All tasks are available in Taskfile.yml and are executed at the root of the project.

molecule

Execute a molecule command, e.g. task molecule -- converge to create and populate a test container.

venv

Execute a command using the Python wrapper that activates the virtual env, e.g. task venv --

docker

build: build all docker images available in /images, e.g. task docker:build

module:<module_name>

Directly execute a Python module located in collections/ansible_collections/nullified/infrastructure/plugins/modules with its default configuration (typically the path to a test YAML file). Used only for debugging purpose. Example call: task module:github_artifact.

test:collections

Executes molecule tests on each collections declared in collections/ansible_collections. Requires the collection to have a working molecule configuration. Useful to ensure playbooks behave as expected using a Docker container.

test:modules

Run Ansible's sanity tests on each collections declared in collections/ansible_collections.

nosey

Run noseyparker, a tool that aims to find potential data leak such as passwords and security token.

ansible🆕collection:<name>

Creates a new collection <name> and add an exception in .gitignore in order to let git track it. Example:

task ansible:new:collection:my_org.my_collection

ansible🆕role:<name>

Creates a new role <name> in the default or specified collection. Examples:

#New role for the default (nullified.infrastructure) collection
task ansible:new:role:my_new_role
# New role the collection "my_org.my_collection"
COLLECTION_NAME=my_org.my_collection task ansible:new:role:my_new_role

Examples

# encrypt vault
task venv -- ansible-vault encrypt configuration/host_vars/vault.yml
# decrypt vault if needed
task venv -- ansible-vault decrypt configuration/host_vars/vault.yml
# run ansible command with vault-encrypted data for one specific host
task venv -- ansible-playbook --ask-vault-password -l my_host playbooks/test.yml
# run a specific role, e.g. security, for a host
task venv -- ansible --ask-vault-password -m import_role --args 'name=nullified.infrastructure.security' my_host

Advanced Configuration

Global variables

Global variables are defined in inventory/group_vars/all/vars.yml and are used in multiple roles and playbooks.

• dns.type: what type of DNS configuration should be performed; also works as a selector for type related parameters;
• dns.default: default type of DNS configuration to setup; will use the corresponding dns.<type> dictionary retrieve corresponding data;
• dns.udp: IP addresses for basic DNS configuration;
• dns.dot: IP addresses for DNS-over-TLS configuration;
• dns.doh: IP addresses and HTTPS addresses for DNS-over-HTTPS configuration;

Notes

dir layout

• collections: ansible root dir for all collections to reside in;
• images: docker images, mostly used for ansible-test / molecule;
• inventory: all inventory related files are stored here;
• playbooks: top level playbooks, describe the way the infrastructure is laid out;
• scripts: various scripts and helpers;

TODO / Issues

• gpg setup for HC Vault should be done with current user or root only, not mixed