Custom environment variables

In certain situations, for example on a network where direct Internet access is not allowed and users are required to use a HTTP proxy, you might need to define a custom set of environment variables for Ansible to execute playbooks. The DebOps playbooks allow you to do that using a set of Ansible inventory variables which should be defined as YAML dictionaries:

inventory__environment
This variable is meant to set environment variables on all hosts in Ansible inventory.
inventory__group_environment
This variable is meant to be used on a group of hosts in Ansible inventory. Only one group is supported.
inventory__host_environment
This variable is meant to set environment variables on specific hosts in Ansible inventory.

The configured environment variables will be active in all of the DebOps playbooks included in this repository. The more specific variables override the more general ones, just like normal Ansible variables.

The environment variables defined using these YAML dictionaries only have effect during the ansible-playbook run. Normal ansible commands as well as commands/services executed on remote hosts will not use them. To configure desired environment variables on remote hosts, you might want to check the debops.environment role.

Examples

To configure a HTTP proxy which should be used by Ansible roles on all hosts, add in the ansible/inventory/group_vars/all/inventory.yml file:

inventory__environment:
  http_proxy: 'http://proxy.{{ ansible_domain }}:3128'

To add support for these variables in your own playbooks, make sure that they contain the following code:

- name: Configure a custom service
  hosts: [ 'debops_service_custom' ]
  become: True

  environment: '{{ inventory__environment | d({})
                   | combine(inventory__group_environment | d({}))
                   | combine(inventory__host_environment  | d({})) }}'

  roles:

    - role: custom-role
      tags: [ 'role::custom' ]