Ansible plugin, usage with AWX.

Tristis Oris

Greetings. trying to setup new ansible plugin as inventory source for AWX 19.5.

created custom EE with comunity plugin.
used a basic code from example https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/collections/community/general/xen_orchestra_inventory.html

file named xen_orchestra.yml

simple_config_file:
    plugin: community.general.xen_orchestra
    api_host: ip
    user: awx
    password: awx
    validate_certs: no
    use_ssl: no

output for inventory update success, but:

ansible-inventory [core 2.11.7.post0] 
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/home/runner/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /runner/requirements_collections:/home/runner/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections:/usr/share/automation-controller/collections
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible-inventory
  python version = 3.8.8 (default, Aug 25 2021, 16:13:02) [GCC 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-3)]
  jinja version = 2.10.3
  libyaml = True
No config file found; using defaults
setting up inventory plugins
host_list declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
script declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
[WARNING]: Skipping key (plugin) in group (simple_config_file) as it is not a
mapping, it is a <class 'ansible.parsing.yaml.objects.AnsibleUnicode'>
[WARNING]: Skipping key (api_host) in group (simple_config_file) as it is not a
mapping, it is a <class 'ansible.parsing.yaml.objects.AnsibleUnicode'>
[WARNING]: Skipping key (user) in group (simple_config_file) as it is not a
mapping, it is a <class 'ansible.parsing.yaml.objects.AnsibleUnicode'>
[WARNING]: Skipping key (password) in group (simple_config_file) as it is not a
mapping, it is a <class 'ansible.parsing.yaml.objects.AnsibleUnicode'>

if remove "simple_config_file:"

ansible-inventory [core 2.11.7.post0] 
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/home/runner/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /runner/requirements_collections:/home/runner/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections:/usr/share/automation-controller/collections
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible-inventory
  python version = 3.8.8 (default, Aug 25 2021, 16:13:02) [GCC 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-3)]
  jinja version = 2.10.3
  libyaml = True
No config file found; using defaults
setting up inventory plugins
host_list declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
script declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
Loading collection community.general from /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/general
toml declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml with
auto plugin: [Errno 111] Connection refused
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/inventory/manager.py", line 290, in parse_source
    plugin.parse(self._inventory, self._loader, source, cache=cache)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/plugins/inventory/auto.py", line 58, in parse
    plugin.parse(inventory, loader, path, cache=cache)

why all keys not valid?

olivierlambert

A question for @shinuza

shinuza

@tristis-oris Hey, so yeah. The doc was confusing, I've created a pull request to fix it.

As for your issue. It says auto plugin: [Errno 111] Connection refused, meaning you can't connect to the API from the machine that tries to execute the inventory.

Tristis Oris

@shinuza but no refused error with a structure:

simple_config_file:
    plugin: community.general.xen_orchestra

shinuza

@tristis-oris As I said, this was an error in the example config. You need to use

  plugin: community.general.xen_orchestra
  api_host: ip
  user: awx
  password: awx
  validate_certs: no
  use_ssl: no

Tristis Oris

@shinuza got it. any reason why it can be refused?
i created a user account, is it enough?
or a screening password.

Tristis Oris

with a

plugin: community.general.xen_orchestra
api_host: ip
user: awx
password: "awx"
validate_certs: no
use_ssl: no

i got

ansible-inventory [core 2.11.7.post0] 
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/home/runner/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /runner/requirements_collections:/home/runner/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections:/usr/share/automation-controller/collections
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible-inventory
  python version = 3.8.8 (default, Aug 25 2021, 16:13:02) [GCC 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-3)]
  jinja version = 2.10.3
  libyaml = True
No config file found; using defaults
setting up inventory plugins
host_list declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
script declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
Loading collection community.general from /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/general
toml declined parsing /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml with
auto plugin: 'result'
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/inventory/manager.py", line 290, in parse_source
    plugin.parse(self._inventory, self._loader, source, cache=cache)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/plugins/inventory/auto.py", line 58, in parse
    plugin.parse(inventory, loader, path, cache=cache)

shinuza

@tristis-oris It's not a credentials issue, if it was the plugin would explicitly say so. Errno 111 means the low-level socket connection can't be established. Try connecting with telnet?

Tristis Oris

@shinuza both VM in same network, disabled firewall at orchestra.
same error. what it could be?

  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/websocket/_http.py", line 130, in connect
    sock = _open_socket(addrinfo_list, options.sockopt, options.timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/websocket/_http.py", line 208, in _open_socket
    raise err
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/websocket/_http.py", line 185, in _open_socket
    sock.connect(address)
[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml with
yaml plugin: Plugin configuration YAML file, not YAML inventory
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/inventory/manager.py", line 290, in parse_source
    plugin.parse(self._inventory, self._loader, source, cache=cache)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/plugins/inventory/yaml.py", line 112, in parse
    raise AnsibleParserError('Plugin configuration YAML file, not YAML inventory')
[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml with
ini plugin: Invalid host pattern 'plugin:' supplied, ending in ':' is not
allowed, this character is reserved to provide a port.
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/inventory/manager.py", line 290, in parse_source
    plugin.parse(self._inventory, self._loader, source, cache=cache)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible/plugins/inventory/ini.py", line 136, in parse
    raise AnsibleParserError(e)
[WARNING]: Unable to parse /runner/project/inventory/xen_orchestra.yml as an
inventory source
ERROR! No inventory was parsed, please check your configuration and options.

shinuza

@tristis-oris It's hard to say remotely, you could try install xo-cli on the same machine you are trying to run ansible-inventory.

Maybe there will be more details on why the connection is failing.

Tristis Oris

@shinuza it's a password.

with long one with symbols xo-cli can't register.
changed to simple, it works now.

tried "" or '' in playbook, it didnt work.

Tristis Oris

is it any way to translate uuid to names at inventory?

shinuza

@tristis-oris Nope, unfortunately:

ansible needs a stable unique id to identify hosts
name-labels from the xo api are not stable and may not be unique
if a vm doesn't have the guest-tools installed then we cannot know its ip and or hostname.
the only property that's stable between pools, hosts and vms are the uuid

Using hostnames or ip as inventory id means there's no way to for example to: start a vm using the inventory, but you can do it using the inventory and a JSON-RPC call.

Tristis Oris

@shinuza got it, thanks. sad of course(

"ansible needs a stable unique id to identify hosts"
not realy, with manual host lists awx download new every time and remove old\chenged info.
same for netbox integration.

for most of task just enough tags like linux, db, etc.