Our software is created using our CI processes: we build and deploy artefacts of multiple technologies and test in the cloud.
However, when we come to deliver the s/w to the customer, we end up having zip files which are self contained: this contains scripts which can work standalone to deploy the same artefacts to the customer in a similar (but not exactly the same way) as our CI setup. This is of course because we can’t ssh over to our customers: they have separate networks and would not allow us to continuously deliver to them!
Can Ansible be used to create standalone packages to a customer site?
Absolutely: we are moving towards a single code base, but there will always be differences between our CI build and customer implementation ( we don’t want to blow away all the dbdbables at the customer but we will do before every CI build).
So the question is, can I use ansible locally at a customer to deploy artefacts in the package (apologies, I am quite new to all of this right now)?
Absolutely: we are moving towards a single code base, but there will always be
differences between our CI build and customer implementation ( we don't want to
blow away all the dbdbables at the customer but we will do before every CI
build).
That sounds like a good candidate for an option in the installer -
where the default is suitable for a customer.
It also implies that your CI builds actually do not test upgrades -
just clean installs. Testing of upgrades has to be done separately then.
So the question is, can I use ansible locally at a customer to deploy artefacts
in the package (apologies, I am quite new to all of this right now)?
Well - with different installation methods you will inevitably end up
with *some* amount of duplication of functionality. The trick is to
get it down to an acceptable level.
Perhaps you can embed ansible into the actual installation? Ansible
doesn't *have to* use SSH - it can run locally too - e.g. in "pull
mode". This should allow you to re-use a lot of the code...
Beware: I believe you can only redistribute ansible if the ansible
license is compatible with the licence for your application. Since
most of ansible is under GPL3+, this means you cannot embed it in your
proprietary app without requiring the composite result to be GPL3+
compatible...
According to the Debian packaging for Ansible 1.7, most bits of
Ansible seem to be under GPL 3+, some bits are GPL2, OFL (new one on
me), Apache-2.0 and even BSD-2.
Alternatively, you can package your app as a "proper" *.deb or *.rpm
package, and let the scripts inside do most of the grunt work. This
should reduce the ansible playbook to basically "apt:" or "yum:"
tasks...