Task workflow

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1

Hi everyone!

Before Ansible I was using Rundeck (actually I still am) and there is one thing which is in Rundeck and which I miss in Ansible (or I just cant find it) - task workflow. Is there a way to define in what order tasks are performed? What I mean is - sometimes I need to perform all tasks on one node after another, node by node. But then again I might need to perform one task on all nodes and then next task on all nodes… task by task. Is this possible in Ansible?

I hope explained clear enough.

Thanks,
Edgars

2

put all tasks you want to run on each host in one play, create plays for tasks you want to run across all hosts before going on to the next play.

3

Also, check out the serial option, this allows you to limit how many
hosts a play happens on before moving onto the next host:

http://ansible.cc/docs/playbooks2.html?highlight=serial#rolling-updates

Romeo

4

So would Ansbile replace completely the need and usage for rundeck?

6

Yes, rundeck is basically a GUI for pushing scripts (but lacks the resource model).

Also, if you want a GUI, AnsibleWorks AWX completely eliminates the need for something like a Rundeck by allowing you to trigger playbooks graphically (and dive into their results and track their history over time).

We demoed this at AnsibleFest and should have some more details up on our website soon.

7

whatis GUI? this webby interface you speak of sounds forgein to me.

8

http://www.ansibleworks.com/ansibleworks-awx/

9

I haven’t used Rundeck for a while, but last time when I did, it was just command dispatcher with GUI. It lacked a lot of features to be called configuration manager.

Edgars

10

Actually Rundeck has a resource model and a number of plugins associated with it

http://rundeck.org/docs/administration/node-resource-sources.html

I should also mention that Rundeck is more than just a GUI. It can be used completely in the shell. One benefit is has over AWX is that there is no limit in the number of nodes you can use for free.

ps. I’m not affiliated with Rundeck. I actually use both systems for different reasons. I think of Rundeck as the Jenkins for Ops.

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Many many thousands of people use Ansible with Jenkins.

– Michael