1. Getting Started with Ansible in Foreman

Use this guide to configure Foreman to use Ansible, and then information about how to use Ansible for remote execution.

1.1. Supported Ansible Versions

Foreman uses Ansible as provided by the base operating system of Foreman server or any Smart Proxies for remote execution. Therefore, the supported version of Ansible depends on your base OS configuration.

1.2. Configuring your Deployment to Run Ansible Roles

In Foreman, you can import Ansible roles to help with automation of routine tasks. To enable the Ansible plug-in in Foreman, enter the following command:

# foreman-installer --enable-foreman-plugin-ansible \
--enable-foreman-proxy-plugin-ansible
Ansible paths

Foreman imports Ansible roles and variables from paths based on configuration in /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg. Foreman then runs imported roles from paths based on configuration in /etc/foreman-proxy/ansible.cfg. In both cases, Foreman reads the paths from roles_path and collections_paths directives. Keep these two cfg files in sync, otherwise you might import roles that cannot be run or you will not see roles you can run.

If none of the paths are specified in the configuration files, the following default paths are used:

  • /etc/ansible/roles

  • /usr/share/ansible/roles

  • /etc/ansible/collections

  • /usr/share/ansible/collections

Procedure

  1. Configure your Ansible paths on the Foreman server and all Smart Proxy servers where you want to use the roles.

  2. Add the roles to a directory in an Ansible path on the Foreman server and all Smart Proxy servers from where you want to use the roles. If you want to use custom or third party Ansible roles, ensure to configure an external version control system to synchronize roles between Foreman server and Smart Proxy servers.

  3. On all Smart Proxy servers that you want to use to run Ansible roles on hosts, enable the Ansible plug-in:

    # foreman-installer --no-enable-foreman \
--enable-foreman-proxy-plugin-ansible

  4. Distribute SSH keys to enable Smart Proxies to connect to hosts using SSH. For more information, see Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution in Managing Hosts. Foreman runs Ansible roles the same way it runs remote execution jobs.

  5. Import the Ansible roles into Foreman.

  6. Proceed to Using Ansible Roles to Automate Repetitive Tasks on Foreman Hosts.

1.3. Importing Ansible Roles and Variables

You can import Ansible roles and variables from the Ansible paths on Foreman server or Smart Proxy that has Ansible enabled.

Note that some roles take longer to import than others.

Prerequisite

  • Ensure that the roles and variables that you import are located in the Ansible paths on all Smart Proxies from where you want to use the roles.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Roles.

  2. Click Import to select the Smart Proxy from which you want to import.

  3. Select the roles that you want to import.

  4. Click Submit.

1.4. Overriding Ansible Variables in Foreman

If you run Ansible roles in Foreman, you can use Foreman to override Ansible variables for those roles.

The following procedure refers to hosts and host groups. For more information, see Managing Hosts.

Precedence in Overriding Variables

If you use an Ansible role to run a task as a user that is not the Effective User, there is a strict order of precedence for overriding Ansible variables. To ensure the variable that you override follows the correct order of precedence, see Variable precedence: Where should I put a variable?

Prerequisite
Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Variables.

  2. Select the Ansible variable that you want to override and manage with Foreman.

  3. In the Default Behavior area, select the Override checkbox.

  4. In the Parameter Type field, select the value type for validation such as string or boolean. The types array and hash have further options for handling upon a variable match. For more information, see the Prioritize Attribute Order area below.

  5. In the Default Value field, enter the default value that you want to use if there is no match for the variable.

  6. Optional: If you do not want to display the value of the variable as plain text in the Foreman web UI, select the Hidden Value checkbox to display the content of the variable as asterisks. This is useful for sensitive values such as passwords or secret tokens.

  7. Optional: Expand the Optional Input Validator area and specify conditions that will be used to validate concrete values of the variable:

    • Select Required if you want to enforce users to fill in this variable.

    • In the Validator Type field, select how the value will be validated:

      • list – The value will be validated against an enumeration of allowed values.

      • regex – The value will be validated against a regular expression pattern.

  8. Optional: In the Prioritize Attribute Order area, specify the order of priority to match an override with a host by host attributes. Order at the top takes higher precedence. The first match wins.

    You can combine multiple attributes into a single matcher key using a comma as the AND operation. For example, the matcher key of hostgroup, environment would expect matchers such as hostgroup = "web servers" AND environment = production.

    If you use the parameter type array or hash, you can further set:

    • Merge Overrides – Merges members of the arrays/hashes instead of replacing the whole array or hash. If the hashes contain the same key, the value is overwritten by the value of the host.

    • Merge Default – Adds the default value to the array or hash.

    • Avoid Duplicates – Ensures that the values in the array or hash are unique.

  9. Optional: Expand the Specify Matchers area and specify criteria for selecting hosts on which the variable overrides.

  10. To save the override settings, click Submit.

To use the Ansible variable, add the variable as a parameter to your host or host group, or add the variable as a global parameter.

Adding the Variable to a Host

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the host that you want to use.

  2. Click the Ansible tab, and in the Variables area, click the pencil icon to edit the value of the variable.

  3. Click the tick icon to accept the value of the changed variable or the cross icon to cancel the change.

Adding the Variable to a Host Group

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups, and select the host group that you want to use.

  2. Click the Parameters tab, and in the Host Group Parameters area, click Add Parameter.

  3. In the Name field, add the Ansible variable name.

  4. From the Type list, select the type of the variable for validation.

  5. In the Value field, enter the value for the variable.

Adding the Variable as a Global Parameter

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Global Parameters, and click Create Parameter.

  2. In the Name field, add the Ansible variable name.

  3. From the Type list, select the type of the variable for validation.

  4. In the Value field, enter the value for the variable.

  5. Optional: If you do not want to display the Ansible variable in plain text, select the Hidden Values checkbox to display the content of the variable as asterisks in the Foreman web UI.

1.5. Adding Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles

Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles is a configuration interface to remotely manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers. You can use Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles to add Ansible roles in Foreman. Using Ansible Roles in Foreman can make configuration faster and easier.

Support levels for some of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles might be in Technology Preview. For up-to-date information about support levels and general information about Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles.

Before subscribing to the Extras channels, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extras Product Life Cycle article.

Procedure

  1. Ensure that the following repository is enabled:

    • On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, ensure that the Extras repository is enabled:

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

    • On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, ensure that the Appstream repository is enabled:

      # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-8-for-architecture-appstream-rpms

      You must enable an Appstream repository that is designated for your architecture.

  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. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Roles and click the Smart Proxy that contains the roles that you want to import.

  4. From the list of Ansible roles, select the checkbox 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 an Existing Host.

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.

1.6. Synchronizing Ansible Collections

On Foreman, you can synchronize your Ansible Collections from Private Automation Hub, console.redhat.com, and other Foreman instances. Ansible Collections will appear on Foreman as a new repository type in the Foreman web UI menu under Content after the sync.

Note
 Ansible Collections live in the Library environment and the lifecycle management is not supported. Smart Proxies with Pulp 3 have collections support and will sync collection repositories if tied to the Library environment. You can also use Export functionality for Inter-Server Synchronization.
Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Content > Products.

  2. Select the required product name.

  3. In the Products window, select the name of a product that you want to create a repository for.

  4. Click the Repositories tab, and then click New Repository.

  5. In the Name field, enter a name for the repository.

    The Label field is populated automatically based on the name.

  6. From the Type list, select ansible collection.

  7. In the Upstream URL field, enter the URL for the upstream collections repository.

    The URL can be any Galaxy endpoint. For example, https://console.redhat.com/api/automation-hub/.

  8. Optional: In the Requirements.yml field, you can specify the list of collections you want to sync from the endpoint, as well as their versions.

    If you do not specify the list of collections, everything from the endpoint will be synced.

    ---
collections:
- name: my_namespace.my_collection
  version: 1.2.3

    For more information, see Install multiple collections with a requirements file in the Galaxy User Guide.

  9. Authenticate.

    1. To sync Foreman from Private Automation Hub, enter your token in the Auth Token field.

      For more information, see Connect Private Automation Hub in the Connect to Hub guide.

    2. To sync Foreman from console.redhat.com, enter your token in the Auth Token field and enter your SSO URL in the the Auth URL field.

    3. To sync Foreman from Foreman, leave both authentication fields blank.

  10. Click Save.

  11. Navigate to the Ansible Collections repository.

  12. From the Select Action menu, select Sync Now.

2. Using Ansible Roles to Automate Repetitive Tasks on Foreman Hosts

2.1. Assigning Ansible Roles to an Existing Host

You can use Ansible roles for remote management of Enterprise Linux versions 8, 7, and 6.9 or later.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that you have configured and imported Ansible roles.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  2. Select the host and click Edit.

  3. On the Ansible Roles tab, select the role that you want to add from the Available Ansible Roles list.

  4. Click the + icon to add the role to the host. You can add more than one role.

  5. Click Submit.

After you assign Ansible roles to hosts, you can use Ansible for remote execution. For more information, see Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution.

Overriding Parameter Variables

On the Parameters tab, click Add Parameter to add any parameter variables that you want to pass to job templates at run time. This includes all Ansible playbook parameters and host parameters that you want to associate with the host. To use a parameter variable with an Ansible job template, you must add a Host Parameter.

2.2. Removing Ansible Roles from a Host

Use the following procedure to remove Ansible roles from a host.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  2. Select the host and click Edit.

  3. Select the Ansible Roles tab.

  4. In the Assigned Ansible Roles area, click the - icon to remove the role from the host. Repeat to remove more roles.

  5. Click Submit.

2.3. Changing the Order of Ansible Roles

Use the following procedure to change the order of Ansible roles applied to a host.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  2. Select a host.

  3. Select the Ansible Roles tab.

  4. In the Assigned Ansible Roles area, you can change the order of the roles by dragging and dropping the roles into the preferred position.

  5. Click Submit to save the order of the Ansible roles.

2.4. Running Ansible Roles on a Host

You can run Ansible roles on a host through the Foreman web UI.

Prerequisites
Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  2. Select the checkbox of the host that contains the Ansible role you want to run.

  3. From the Select Action list, select Run all Ansible roles.

You can view the status of your Ansible job on the Run Ansible roles page. To rerun a job, click the Rerun button.

2.5. Assigning an Ansible Role to a Host Group

You can use Ansible roles for remote management of Enterprise Linux versions 8, 7, and 6.9 or later.

Prerequisite
Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups.

  2. Click the host group name to which you want to assign an Ansible role.

  3. On the Ansible Roles tab, select the role that you want to add from the Available Ansible Roles list.

  4. Click the + icon to add the role to the host group. You can add more than one role.

  5. Click Submit.

2.6. Running Ansible Roles on a Host Group

You can run Ansible roles on a host group through the Foreman web UI.

Prerequisites

  • You must configure your deployment to run Ansible roles. For more information, see Configuring your Deployment to Run Ansible Roles.

  • You must have assigned the Ansible roles to the host group.

  • You must have at least one host in your host group.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups.

  2. From the list in the Actions column for the host group, select Run all Ansible roles.

You can view the status of your Ansible job on the Run Ansible roles page. To rerun a job, click the Rerun button.

2.7. Running Ansible Roles in Check Mode

You can run Ansible roles in check mode through the Foreman web UI.

Prerequisites

  • You must configure your deployment to run Ansible roles. For more information, see Configuring your Deployment to Run Ansible Roles.

  • You must have assigned the Ansible roles to the host group.

  • You must have at least one host in your host group.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  2. Click Edit for the host you want to enable check mode for.

  3. In the Parameters tab, ensure that the host has a parameter named ansible_roles_check_mode with type boolean set to true.

  4. Click Submit.

3. Configuring and Setting Up Remote Jobs

Use this section as a guide to configuring Foreman to execute jobs on remote hosts.

Any command that you want to apply to a remote host must be defined as a job template. After you have defined a job template you can execute it multiple times.

3.1. About Running Jobs on Hosts

You can run jobs on hosts remotely from Smart Proxies using shell scripts or Ansible tasks and playbooks. This is referred to as remote execution.

For custom Ansible roles that you create, or roles that you download, you must install the package containing the roles on the Smart Proxy base operating system. Before you can use Ansible roles, you must import the roles into Foreman from the Smart Proxy where they are installed.

Communication occurs through Smart Proxy server, which means that Foreman server does not require direct access to the target host, and can scale to manage many hosts. Remote execution uses the SSH service that must be enabled and running on the target host. Ensure that the remote execution Smart Proxy has access to port 22 on the target hosts.

Foreman uses ERB syntax job templates. For more information, see Template Writing Reference in the Managing Hosts guide.

Several job templates for shell scripts and Ansible are included by default. For more information, see Setting up Job Templates.

Note

Any Smart Proxy server base operating system is a client of Foreman server’s internal Smart Proxy, and therefore this section applies to any type of host connected to Foreman server, including Smart Proxies.

You can run jobs on multiple hosts at once, and you can use variables in your commands for more granular control over the jobs you run. You can use host facts and parameters to populate the variable values.

In addition, you can specify custom values for templates when you run the command.

For more information, see Executing a Remote Job.

3.2. Remote Execution Workflow

When you run a remote job on hosts, for every host, Foreman performs the following actions to find a remote execution Smart Proxy to use.

Foreman searches only for Smart Proxies that have the Ansible feature enabled.

  1. Foreman finds the host’s interfaces that have the Remote execution checkbox selected.

  2. Foreman finds the subnets of these interfaces.

  3. Foreman finds remote execution Smart Proxies assigned to these subnets.

  4. From this set of Smart Proxies, Foreman selects the Smart Proxy that has the least number of running jobs. By doing this, Foreman ensures that the jobs load is balanced between remote execution Smart Proxies.

If you have enabled Prefer registered through Smart Proxy for remote execution, Foreman runs the REX job using the Smart Proxy the host is registered to.

By default, Prefer registered through Smart Proxy for remote execution is set to No. To enable it, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and on the Content tab, set Prefer registered through Smart Proxy for remote execution to Yes. This ensures that Foreman performs REX jobs on hosts by the Smart Proxy to which they are registered to.

If Foreman does not find a remote execution Smart Proxy at this stage, and if the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman adds another set of Smart Proxies to select the remote execution Smart Proxy from. Foreman selects the most lightly loaded Smart Proxy from the following types of Smart Proxies that are assigned to the host:

  • DHCP, DNS and TFTP Smart Proxies assigned to the host’s subnets

  • DNS Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s domain

  • Realm Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s realm

  • Puppet server Smart Proxy

  • Puppet CA Smart Proxy

  • OpenSCAP Smart Proxy

If Foreman does not find a remote execution Smart Proxy at this stage, and if the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman selects the most lightly loaded remote execution Smart Proxy from the set of all Smart Proxies in the host’s organization and location to execute a remote job.

3.3. Permissions for Remote Execution

You can control which roles can run which jobs within your infrastructure, including which hosts they can target. The remote execution feature provides two built-in roles:

  • Remote Execution Manager: Can access all remote execution features and functionality.

  • Remote Execution User: Can only run jobs.

You can clone the Remote Execution User role and customize its filter for increased granularity. If you adjust the filter with the view_job_templates permission on a customized role, you can only see and trigger jobs based on matching job templates. You can use the view_hosts and view_smart_proxies permissions to limit which hosts or Smart Proxies are visible to the role.

The execute_template_invocation permission is a special permission that is checked immediately before execution of a job begins. This permission defines which job template you can run on a particular host. This allows for even more granularity when specifying permissions.

You can run remote execution jobs against Foreman and Smart Proxy registered as hosts to Foreman with the execute_jobs_on_infrastructure_hosts permission. Standard Manager and Site Manager roles have this permission by default. If you use either the Manager or Site Manager role, or if you use a custom role with the execute_jobs_on_infrastructure_hosts permission, you can execute remote jobs against registered Foreman and Smart Proxy hosts.

For more information on working with roles and permissions, see Creating and Managing Roles in the Administering Foreman guide.

The following example shows filters for the execute_template_invocation permission:

name = Reboot and host.name = staging.example.com
name = Reboot and host.name ~ *.staging.example.com
name = "Restart service" and host_group.name = webservers

Use the first line in this example to apply the Reboot template to one selected host. Use the second line to define a pool of hosts with names ending with .staging.example.com. Use the third line to bind the template with a host group.

Note

Permissions assigned to users with these roles can change over time. If you have already scheduled some jobs to run in the future, and the permissions change, this can result in execution failure because permissions are checked immediately before job execution.

3.4. Creating a Job Template

Use this procedure to create a job template. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Job templates.

  2. Click New Job Template.

  3. Click the Template tab, and in the Name field, enter a unique name for your job template.

  4. Select Default to make the template available for all organizations and locations.

  5. Create the template directly in the template editor or upload it from a text file by clicking Import.

  6. Optional: In the Audit Comment field, add information about the change.

  7. Click the Job tab, and in the Job category field, enter your own category or select from the default categories listed in Default Job Template Categories.

  8. Optional: In the Description Format field, enter a description template. For example, Install package %{package_name}. You can also use %{template_name} and %{job_category} in your template.

  9. From the Provider Type list, select SSH for shell scripts and Ansible for Ansible tasks or playbooks.

  10. Optional: In the Timeout to kill field, enter a timeout value to terminate the job if it does not complete.

  11. Optional: Click Add Input to define an input parameter. Parameters are requested when executing the job and do not have to be defined in the template. For examples, see the Help tab.

  12. Optional: Click Foreign input set to include other templates in this job.

  13. Optional: In the Effective user area, configure a user if the command cannot use the default remote_execution_effective_user setting.

  14. Optional: If this template is a snippet to be included in other templates, click the Type tab and select Snippet.

  15. Click the Location tab and add the locations where you want to use the template.

  16. Click the Organizations tab and add the organizations where you want to use the template.

  17. Click Submit to save your changes.

You can extend and customize job templates by including other templates in the template syntax. For more information, see the appendices in the Managing Hosts guide.

CLI procedure

  1. To create a job template using a template-definition file, enter the following command:

    # hammer job-template create \
--file "path_to_template_file" \
--name "template_name" \
--provider-type SSH \
--job-category "category_name"

3.5. Configuring the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy Remote Execution Setting in Foreman

You can enable the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting to configure Foreman to search for remote execution Smart Proxies from the list of Smart Proxies that are assigned to hosts. This can be useful if you need to run remote jobs on hosts that have no subnets configured or if the hosts' subnets are assigned to Smart Proxies that do not have the remote execution feature enabled.

If the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman adds another set of Smart Proxies to select the remote execution Smart Proxy from. Foreman also selects the most lightly loaded Smart Proxy from the set of all Smart Proxies assigned to the host, such as the following:

  • DHCP, DNS and TFTP Smart Proxies assigned to the host’s subnets

  • DNS Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s domain

  • Realm Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s realm

  • Puppet server Smart Proxy

  • Puppet CA Smart Proxy

  • OpenSCAP Smart Proxy

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.

  2. Click Remote Execution.

  3. Configure the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting.

CLI procedure

Enter the hammer settings set command on Foreman to configure the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting. For example, to set the value to true, enter the following command:

# hammer settings set --name=remote_execution_fallback_proxy --value=true

3.6. Configuring the Global Smart Proxy Remote Execution Setting in Foreman

By default, Foreman searches for remote execution Smart Proxies in hosts' organizations and locations regardless of whether Smart Proxies are assigned to hosts' subnets or not. You can disable the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting if you want to limit the search to the Smart Proxies that are assigned to hosts' subnets.

If the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman adds another set of Smart Proxies to select the remote execution Smart Proxy from. Foreman also selects the most lightly loaded remote execution Smart Proxy from the set of all Smart Proxies in the host’s organization and location to execute a remote job.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.

  2. Click Remote Execution.

  3. Configure the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting.

CLI procedure

  • Enter the hammer settings set command on Foreman to configure the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting. For example, to set the value to true, enter the following command:

    # hammer settings set --name=remote_execution_global_proxy --value=true

3.7. Configuring Foreman to Use an Alternative Directory to Execute Remote Jobs on Hosts

Ansible puts its own files it requires into the $HOME/.ansible/tmp directory, where $HOME is the home directory of the remote user. You have the option to set a different directory if required.

Procedure

  1. Create a new directory, for example new_place:

    # mkdir /remote_working_dir

  2. Copy the SELinux context from the default var directory:

    # chcon --reference=/var /remote_working_dir

  3. Configure the system:

    # foreman-installer --foreman-proxy-plugin-ansible-working-dir /remote_working_dir

3.8. Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution

To use SSH keys for authenticating remote execution connections, you must distribute the public SSH key from Smart Proxy to its attached hosts that you want to manage. Ensure that the SSH service is enabled and running on the hosts. Configure any network or host-based firewalls to enable access to port 22.

Use one of the following methods to distribute the public SSH key from Smart Proxy to target hosts:

  1. Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution Manually.

  2. Using the Foreman API to Obtain SSH Keys for Remote Execution.

  3. Configuring a Kickstart Template to Distribute SSH Keys during Provisioning.

  4. For new Foreman hosts, you can deploy SSH keys to Foreman hosts during registration using the global registration template. For more information, see Registering a Host to Foreman Using the Global Registration Template.

Foreman distributes SSH keys for the remote execution feature to the hosts provisioned from Foreman by default.

If the hosts are running on Amazon Web Services, enable password authentication. For more information, see https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/new-user-accounts-linux-instance.

3.9. Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution Manually

To distribute SSH keys manually, complete the following steps:

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command on Smart Proxy. Repeat for each target host you want to manage:

    # ssh-copy-id -i ~foreman-proxy/.ssh/id_rsa_foreman_proxy.pub root@target.example.com

  2. To confirm that the key was successfully copied to the target host, enter the following command on Smart Proxy:

    # ssh -i ~foreman-proxy/.ssh/id_rsa_foreman_proxy root@target.example.com

3.10. Using the Foreman API to Obtain SSH Keys for Remote Execution

To use the Foreman API to download the public key from Smart Proxy, complete this procedure on each target host.

Procedure

  1. On the target host, create the ~/.ssh directory to store the SSH key:

    # mkdir ~/.ssh

  2. Download the SSH key from Smart Proxy:

    # curl https://smartproxy.example.com:8443/ssh/pubkey >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

  3. Configure permissions for the ~/.ssh directory:

    # chmod 700 ~/.ssh

  4. Configure permissions for the authorized_keys file:

    # chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

3.11. Configuring a Kickstart Template to Distribute SSH Keys during Provisioning

You can add a remote_execution_ssh_keys snippet to your custom kickstart template to deploy SSH Keys to hosts during provisioning. Kickstart templates that Foreman ships include this snippet by default. Therefore, Foreman copies the SSH key for remote execution to the systems during provisioning.

Procedure

  • To include the public key in newly-provisioned hosts, add the following snippet to the Kickstart template that you use:

    <%= snippet 'remote_execution_ssh_keys' %>

3.12. Configuring a keytab for Kerberos Ticket Granting Tickets

Use this procedure to configure Foreman to use a keytab to obtain Kerberos ticket granting tickets. If you do not set up a keytab, you must manually retrieve tickets.

Procedure

  1. Find the ID of the foreman-proxy user:

    # id -u foreman-proxy

  2. Modify the umask value so that new files have the permissions 600:

    # umask 077

  3. Create the directory for the keytab:

    # mkdir -p "/var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID"

  4. Create a keytab or copy an existing keytab to the directory:

    # cp your_client.keytab /var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID/client.keytab

  5. Change the directory owner to the foreman-proxy user:

    # chown -R foreman-proxy:foreman-proxy "/var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID"

  6. Ensure that the keytab file is read-only:

    # chmod -wx "/var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID/client.keytab"

  7. Restore the SELinux context:

    # restorecon -RvF /var/kerberos/krb5

3.13. Configuring Kerberos Authentication for Remote Execution

You can use Kerberos authentication to establish an SSH connection for remote execution on Foreman hosts.

Prerequisites

  • Enroll Foreman server on the Kerberos server

  • Enroll the Foreman target host on the Kerberos server

  • Configure and initialize a Kerberos user account for remote execution

  • Ensure that the foreman-proxy user on Foreman has a valid Kerberos ticket granting ticket

Procedure

  1. To install and enable Kerberos authentication for remote execution, enter the following command:

    # foreman-installer --scenario foreman \
 --foreman-proxy-plugin-remote-execution-ssh-ssh-kerberos-auth true

  2. To edit the default user for remote execution, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings and click the Remote Execution tab. In the SSH User row, edit the second column and add the user name for the Kerberos account.

  3. Navigate to remote_execution_effective_user and edit the second column to add the user name for the Kerberos account.

To confirm that Kerberos authentication is ready to use, run a remote job on the host.

3.14. Setting up Job Templates

Foreman provides default job templates that you can use for executing jobs. To view the list of job templates, navigate to Hosts > Job templates. If you want to use a template without making changes, proceed to Executing a Remote Job.

You can use default templates as a base for developing your own. Default job templates are locked for editing. Clone the template and edit the clone.

Procedure

  1. To clone a template, in the Actions column, select Clone.

  2. Enter a unique name for the clone and click Submit to save the changes.

Job templates use the Embedded Ruby (ERB) syntax. For more information about writing templates, see the Template Writing Reference in the Managing Hosts guide.

Ansible Considerations

To create an Ansible job template, use the following procedure and instead of ERB syntax, use YAML syntax. Begin the template with ---. You can embed an Ansible playbook YAML file into the job template body. You can also add ERB syntax to customize your YAML Ansible template. You can also import Ansible playbooks in Foreman. For more information, see Synchronizing Repository Templates in the Managing Hosts guide.

Parameter Variables

At run time, job templates can accept parameter variables that you define for a host. Note that only the parameters visible on the Parameters tab at the host’s edit page can be used as input parameters for job templates. If you do not want your Ansible job template to accept parameter variables at run time, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings and click the Ansible tab. In the Top level Ansible variables row, change the Value parameter to No.

3.15. Executing a Remote Job

You can execute a job that is based on a job template against one or more hosts.

To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the target hosts on which you want to execute a remote job. You can use the search field to filter the host list.

  2. From the Select Action list, select Schedule Remote Job.

  3. On the Job invocation page, define the main job settings:

  4. Select the Job category and the Job template you want to use.

  5. Optional: Select a stored search string in the Bookmark list to specify the target hosts.

  6. Optional: Further limit the targeted hosts by entering a Search query. The Resolves to line displays the number of hosts affected by your query. Use the refresh button to recalculate the number after changing the query. The preview icon lists the targeted hosts.

  7. The remaining settings depend on the selected job template. See Creating a Job Template for information on adding custom parameters to a template.

  8. Optional: To configure advanced settings for the job, click Display advanced fields. Some of the advanced settings depend on the job template, the following settings are general:

    • Effective user defines the user for executing the job, by default it is the SSH user.

    • Concurrency level defines the maximum number of jobs executed at once, which can prevent overload of systems' resources in a case of executing the job on a large number of hosts.

    • Timeout to kill defines time interval in seconds after which the job should be killed, if it is not finished already. A task which could not be started during the defined interval, for example, if the previous task took too long to finish, is canceled.

    • Type of query defines when the search query is evaluated. This helps to keep the query up to date for scheduled tasks.

    • Execution ordering determines the order in which the job is executed on hosts: alphabetical or randomized.

      Concurrency level and Timeout to kill settings enable you to tailor job execution to fit your infrastructure hardware and needs.

  9. To run the job immediately, ensure that Schedule is set to Execute now. You can also define a one-time future job, or set up a recurring job. For recurring tasks, you can define start and end dates, number and frequency of runs. You can also use cron syntax to define repetition. For more information about cron, see the Automating System Tasks section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 System Administrator’s Guide.

  10. Click Submit. This displays the Job Overview page, and when the job completes, also displays the status of the job.

CLI procedure

  • Enter the following command on Foreman:

# hammer settings set --name=remote_execution_global_proxy --value=false

To execute a remote job with custom parameters, complete the following steps:

  1. Find the ID of the job template you want to use:

    # hammer job-template list

  2. Show the template details to see parameters required by your template:

    # hammer job-template info --id template_ID

  3. Execute a remote job with custom parameters:

    # hammer job-invocation create \
--job-template "template_name" \
--inputs key1="value",key2="value",... \
--search-query "query"

    Replace query with the filter expression that defines hosts, for example "name ~ rex01". For more information about executing remote commands with hammer, enter hammer job-template --help and hammer job-invocation --help.

3.16. Scheduling a Recurring Ansible Job for a Host

You can schedule a recurring job to run Ansible roles on hosts.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the target host on which you want to execute a remote job.

  2. On the Ansible tab, select Jobs.

  3. Click Schedule recurring job.

  4. Define the repetition frequency, start time, and date of the first run in the Create New Recurring Ansible Run window.

  5. Click Submit.

  6. Optional: View the scheduled Ansible job in host overview or by navigating to Ansible > Jobs.

3.17. Scheduling a Recurring Ansible Job for a Host Group

You can schedule a recurring job to run Ansible roles on host groups.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host groups.

  2. In the Actions column, select Configure Ansible Job for the host group you want to schedule an Ansible roles run for.

  3. Click Schedule recurring job.

  4. Define the repetition frequency, start time, and date of the first run in the Create New Recurring Ansible Run window.

  5. Click Submit.

3.18. Monitoring Jobs

You can monitor the progress of the job while it is running. This can help in any troubleshooting that may be required.

Ansible jobs run on batches of 100 hosts, so you cannot cancel a job running on a specific host. A job completes only after the Ansible playbook runs on all hosts in the batch.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Jobs. This page is automatically displayed if you triggered the job with the Execute now setting. To monitor scheduled jobs, navigate to Monitor > Jobs and select the job run you wish to inspect.

  2. On the Job page, click the Hosts tab. This displays the list of hosts on which the job is running.

  3. In the Host column, click the name of the host that you want to inspect. This displays the Detail of Commands page where you can monitor the job execution in real time.

  4. Click Back to Job at any time to return to the Job Details page.

CLI procedure

To monitor the progress of a job while it is running, complete the following steps:

  1. Find the ID of a job:

    # hammer job-invocation list

  2. Monitor the job output:

    # hammer job-invocation output \
--id job_ID \
--host host_name

  3. Optional: to cancel a job, enter the following command:

    # hammer job-invocation cancel \
--id job_ID

4. Integrating Foreman and AWX

You can integrate Foreman and AWX to use Foreman server as a dynamic inventory source for AWX.

You can also use the provisioning callback function to run playbooks on hosts managed by Foreman, from either the host or AWX. When provisioning new hosts from Foreman server, you can use the provisioning callback function to trigger playbook runs from AWX. The playbook configures the host following Kickstart deployment.

4.1. Adding Foreman server to AWX as a Dynamic Inventory Item

To add Foreman server to AWX as a dynamic inventory item, you must create a credential for a Foreman server user on AWX, add an AWX user to the credential, and then configure an inventory source.

Prerequisites

  • If your Foreman deployment is large, for example, managing tens of thousands of hosts, using a non-admin user can negatively impact performance because of time penalties that accrue during authorization checks. For large deployments, consider using an admin user.

  • For non-admin users, you must assign the Ansible Tower Inventory Reader role to your Foreman server user. For more information about managing users, roles, and permission filters, see Creating and Managing Roles in Administering Foreman.

  • You must host your Foreman server and AWX on the same network or subnet.

Procedure

  1. In the AWX web UI, create a credential for your Foreman. For more information about creating credentials, see Add a New Credential and Foreman Credentials in the Automation Controller User Guide.

    Table 1. Foreman Credentials
    Credential Type: Foreman

    Foreman URL:

    https://foreman.example.com

    Username:

    The username of the Foreman user with the integration role.

    Password:

    The password of the Foreman user.

  2. Add an AWX user to the new credential. For more information about adding a user to a credential, see Getting Started with Credentials in the Automation Controller User Guide.

  3. Add a new inventory. For more information, see Add a new inventory in the Automation Controller User Guide.

  4. In the new inventory, add Foreman server as the inventory source, specifying the following inventory source options. For more information, see Add Source in the Automation Controller User Guide.

    Table 2. Inventory Source Options
    Source Foreman

    Credential

    The credential you create for Foreman server.

    Overwrite

    Select

    Overwrite Variables

    Select

    Update on Launch

    Select

    Cache Timeout

    90

  5. Ensure that you synchronize the source that you add.

4.2. Configuring Provisioning Callback for a Host

When you create hosts in Foreman, you can use AWX to run playbooks to configure your newly created hosts. This is called provisioning callback in AWX.

The provisioning callback function triggers a playbook run from AWX as part of the provisioning process. The playbook configures the host after Kickstart deployment.

For more information about provisioning callbacks, see Provisioning Callbacks in the Automation Controller User Guide.

In Foreman server, the Kickstart Default and Kickstart Default Finish templates include three snippets:

  1. ansible_provisioning_callback

  2. ansible_tower_callback_script

  3. ansible_tower_callback_service

You can add parameters to hosts or host groups to provide the credentials that these snippets can use to run Ansible playbooks on your newly created hosts.

Prerequisites

Before you can configure provisioning callbacks, you must add Foreman as a dynamic inventory in AWX. For more information, see Integrating Foreman and AWX.

In the AWX web UI, you must complete the following tasks:

  1. Create a machine credential for your new host. Ensure that you enter the same password in the credential that you plan to assign to the host that you create in Foreman. For more information, see Add a New Credential in the Automation Controller User Guide.

  2. Create a project. For more information, see Projects in the AWX User Guide.

  3. Add a job template to your project. For more information, see Job Templates in the Automation Controller User Guide.

  4. In your job template, you must enable provisioning callbacks, generate the host configuration key, and note the template_ID of your job template. For more information about job templates, see Job Templates in the Automation Controller User Guide.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Group.

  2. Create a host group or edit an existing host group.

  3. In the Host Group window, click the Parameters tab.

  4. Click Add Parameter.

  5. Enter the following information for each new parameter:

    Table 3. Host Parameters
    Name Value Description

    ansible_tower_provisioning

    true

    Enables Provisioning Callback.

    ansible_tower_fqdn

    controller.example.com

    The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of your AWX. Do not add https because this is appended by Foreman.

    ansible_job_template_id

    template_ID

    The ID of your provisioning template that you can find in the URL of the template: /templates/job_template/5.

    ansible_host_config_key

    config_KEY

    The host configuration key that your job template generates in AWX.

  6. Click Submit.

  7. Create a host using the host group.

  8. On the new host, enter the following command to start the ansible-callback service:

    # systemctl start ansible-callback

  9. On the new host, enter the following command to output the status of the ansible-callback service:

    # systemctl status ansible-callback

    Provisioning callback is configured correctly if the command returns the following output:

    SAT_host systemd[1]: Started Provisioning callback to AWX...
Manual Provisioning Callback

You can use the provisioning callback URL and the host configuration key from a host to call AWX. For example:

# curl -k -s --data curl --insecure --data host_config_key=my_config_key \
https://controller.example.com/api/v2/job_templates/8/callback/

Ensure that you use https when you enter the provisioning callback URL.

This triggers the playbook run specified in the template against the host.

5. Job Template Examples and Extensions

Use this section as a reference to help modify, customize, and extend your job templates to suit your requirements.

5.1. Customizing Job Templates

When creating a job template, you can include an existing template in the template editor field. This way you can combine templates, or create more specific templates from the general ones.

The following template combines default templates to install and start the httpd service on Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems:

<%= render_template 'Package Action - SSH Default', :action => 'install', :package => 'httpd' %>
<%= render_template 'Service Action - SSH Default', :action => 'start', :service_name => 'httpd' %>

The above template specifies parameter values for the rendered template directly. It is also possible to use the input() method to allow users to define input for the rendered template on job execution. For example, you can use the following syntax:

<%= render_template 'Package Action - SSH Default', :action => 'install', :package => input("package") %>

With the above template, you have to import the parameter definition from the rendered template. To do so, navigate to the Jobs tab, click Add Foreign Input Set, and select the rendered template from the Target template list. You can import all parameters or specify a comma separated list.

5.2. Default Job Template Categories

Job template category Description

Packages

Templates for performing package related actions. Install, update, and remove actions are included by default.

Puppet

Templates for executing Puppet runs on target hosts.

Power

Templates for performing power related actions. Restart and shutdown actions are included by default.

Commands

Templates for executing custom commands on remote hosts.

Services

Templates for performing service related actions. Start, stop, restart, and status actions are included by default.

Katello

Templates for performing content related actions. These templates are used mainly from different parts of the Foreman web UI (for example bulk actions UI for content hosts), but can be used separately to perform operations such as errata installation.

5.3. Example restorecon Template

This example shows how to create a template called Run Command - restorecon that restores the default SELinux context for all files in the selected directory on target hosts.

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Job templates. Click New Job Template.

  2. Enter Run Command - restorecon in the Name field. Select Default to make the template available to all organizations. Add the following text to the template editor:

    restorecon -RvF <%= input("directory") %>

    The <%= input("directory") %> string is replaced by a user-defined directory during job invocation.

  3. On the Job tab, set Job category to Commands.

  4. Click Add Input to allow job customization. Enter directory to the Name field. The input name must match the value specified in the template editor.

  5. Click Required so that the command cannot be executed without the user specified parameter.

  6. Select User input from the Input type list. Enter a description to be shown during job invocation, for example Target directory for restorecon.

  7. Click Submit.

See Executing a restorecon Template on Multiple Hosts for information on how to execute a job based on this template.

5.4. Rendering a restorecon Template

This example shows how to create a template derived from the Run command - restorecon template created in Example restorecon Template. This template does not require user input on job execution, it will restore the SELinux context in all files under the /home/ directory on target hosts.

Create a new template as described in Setting up Job Templates, and specify the following string in the template editor:

<%= render_template("Run Command - restorecon", :directory => "/home") %>

5.5. Executing a restorecon Template on Multiple Hosts

This example shows how to run a job based on the template created in Example restorecon Template on multiple hosts. The job restores the SELinux context in all files under the /home/ directory.

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts and select target hosts. Select Schedule Remote Job from the Select Action list.

  2. In the Job invocation page, select the Commands job category and the Run Command - restorecon job template.

  3. Type /home in the directory field.

  4. Set Schedule to Execute now.

  5. Click Submit. You are taken to the Job invocation page where you can monitor the status of job execution.

5.6. Including Power Actions in Templates

This example shows how to set up a job template for performing power actions, such as reboot. This procedure prevents Foreman from interpreting the disconnect exception upon reboot as an error, and consequently, remote execution of the job works correctly.

Create a new template as described in Setting up Job Templates, and specify the following string in the template editor:

<%= render_template("Power Action - SSH Default", :action => "restart") %>