Build the Builder #

The Builder is the site’s Ansible control node, and everything else is built from it. It serves the artifacts, network boot and DHCP that every other host installs from, and it runs the automation that configures them. This page makes one from a bare machine, with nothing on the site to help: the starting point when the Builder is lost without warning, or when a site is built for the first time. When the Builder is still there to help, Repave the Builder is the gentler path.

This page is assembled from the automation as it stands and has not yet been run from a bare machine end to end. Each step names the code it relies on.

What you need #

Gather these before you start; the Builder needs the internet until it has staged its artifacts:

1. Install Fedora by hand #

This is the one manual install on the site. Every other host installs from the Builder over the network; the Builder can’t, because nothing is serving yet.

Install Fedora from the USB stick, with a local administrator account. Connect it to the internet.

2. Point the inventory at this machine #

The Builder is dv00bld001p01 in the inventory, and its configuration follows its MAC addresses. If this is replacement hardware, update the interfaces in the Builder’s host_vars to the new MACs first: roles/base/tasks/configure_interfaces.yml matches each declared interface by MAC and leaves any it can’t find alone.

3. Install Git and Ansible #

sudo dnf install -y git ansible-core make

The base role installs Ansible again later, as part of the Builder’s own baseline.

4. Clone the repositories #

Every repository lives under /srv/dvnt, which the collections’ ansible.cfg files assume: each points its inventory at ../ansible-inventory-deevnet/mobile.

sudo install -d -o "$USER" /srv/dvnt && cd /srv/dvnt
for r in ansible-inventory-deevnet ansible-collection-deevnet.builder \
         ansible-collection-deevnet.net ansible-collection-deevnet.mgmt \
         deevnet-image-factory deevnet-container-image-factory deevnet-tenant-fabric \
         deevnet-provisioning-api terraform-provider-deevnet deevnet-log-bridge deevnet-docs; do
  git clone "https://github.com/deevnet/$r.git"
done

5. Unlock the vault #

cd /srv/dvnt/ansible-inventory-deevnet
make install-hooks
make unvault        # asks for the vault password

See Vault Operations. Re-encrypt with make vault when the build is done.

6. Build the Builder from itself #

The Builder runs its own roles against itself, locally, so it needs no SSH to reach itself:

cd /srv/dvnt/ansible-collection-deevnet.builder
make rebuild        # collection dependencies, then the collection itself
ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml --limit dv00bld001p01 \
  -e ansible_connection=local --ask-become-pass

site.yml applies the roles for every group the Builder is in:

The artifacts role is the same step as Stage Artifacts, which is the next page.

7. Load the automation key #

From here the Builder reaches the rest of the site as a_autoprov. Load the private key into your agent on the computer you connect from, as Operator Access describes, and check one host:

ssh a_autoprov@dv02hyp001p01.mobile.deevnet.net true

What doesn’t come back #

A few things lived only on the old Builder. A new one starts without them:

Next: Stage Artifacts.