debops.secret

debops.secret role enables you to have a separate directory on the Ansible Controller (different than the playbook directory and inventory directory) which can be used as a handy "workspace" for other roles.

Some usage examples of this role in DebOps include:

  • password lookups, either from current role, or using known location of passwords from other roles, usually dependencies (for example debops.mariadb role can manage an user account in the database with random password and other role can lookup that password to include in a generated configuration file);

  • secure file storage, for example for application keys generated on remote hosts (debops.boxbackup role retrieves client keys for backup purposes), for that reason secret directory should be protected by an external means, for example encrypted filesystem (currently there is no encryption provided by default);

  • secure workspace (debops.boxbackup role, again, uses the secret directory to create and manage Root CA for backup servers – client and server certificates are automatically downloaded to Ansible Controller, signed and uploaded to destination hosts);

  • simple centralized backup (specific roles like debops.sshd, debops.pki and debops.monkeysphere have separate task lists that are invoked by custom playbooks to allow backup and restoration of ssh host keys and SSL certificates. Generated .tar.gz files are kept on Ansible Controller in secret directory).