Trying to install AWX - a simple web application with db. on WSL
Why are we pushed towards kubernetes, docker, virtual environments.
There is so much complexity with virtual environments inside each other when at the end of the day this is a simple python web application. This is major overhead of installation packages to get it all working.
I want to learn Ansible not Kubernetes, minikube, docker etc. and spend my time debugging when they do not install or work correctly first go.
What a mess, what a waste of time.
Ill avoid AWX until there is a simple installawx.sh or similar.
AWX will not provide any mechanism for learning Ansible. It’s a UI tool for the purpose of pushing playbooks.
Virtual environments are great, easy to deploy, rebuild and trash with little need to understand the complexity of installing the underline application. Once you have learn core Ansible I would recommend learning Kubernetes
I would like to learn AWX to give me more of an overall Ansible knowledge.
The install page links to other install pages for the pre-requisites some of which link to further installation pages of pre-requisites.
When the install of one of the pre-requisites fail - as it does on WSL(or other non standard system), that leaves me chasing web sites for help.
Are there no alternative installation scripts?
The installation has increased the number of files, complexity, and time taken to install.
Keep it simple is the first thing i learned on the ansible introduction video.
I think the install has become a lot easier than three docker container. For me it is just installing the operator. And rancher makes the the easy. Boom the thing goes through. Yes there are some database concepts to understand and I would better feedback but I think the move to kubernetes is a good one.
@steve. I think there are some primary key concepts that you will have to learn ie kubernetes.
So i am doomed to learn kubernetes when all i want to have is a web interface?
It seems my list of learning grows exponentially with each project I encounter.
Ansible install does not require kubernetes, and so far none of the modules do either.
see you in a few months when i get back to square one again.
I suggest you get a platform to install your kubernetes workloads on. OKD, Rancher, whatever. It has a GUI where you can deploy things with.
It eases the transition.
I thank you for your advice.
My reason for installing AWX was to get a REST API for Ansible so I can integrate some functions with other projects that can send HTTP GET/POST API calls.
I would like to for example: add hosts, list hosts, or run playbooks from a HTTP json request.
As someone that has not had too much experience with Ansible - i thought this was the best way to go.
I currently have ansible installed within a Windows WSL instance for development on my local machine.
I think this is the major cause of the headache for me WSL does not simply work as expected.
I shall create a proper VM and install from there.
I have to agree with some of this. I like the idea of kube and docker (especially docker) as the simplicity of starting up a cluster is easy. I love some of the new ideas coming with the k8s stuff. However, this project is now forcing users towards a k8s environment when they may not even have one, or even want one, or even need one. It would be nice if the project could still maintain the docker component of it all.
Like lots of companies, we’re separated by departmental budgets when it comes to needing servers build out in our VM environment, etc. So in order to get this working in a k8s cluster we would need to request this whole build out of servers only to run a single thing inside that cluster. Because of the fact that the operator isn’t even a production ready release, we’re going to be on 15.0.1 for a very long time and hope that docker is supported again for the newer version in the near future.
Just pitching in, as I can see we completed a full circle. The initial complaint was that there is no simpler installation. For someone who already have a K8s environment, yes it makes sense, but for someone who does not have that level of complexity in place, you have to agree this is blocker. We almost impose that no K8s/docker? No AWX.
The complaint here it seems is that you don’t have an installation path for docker. There is a side folder in the project called here that has docker installation documentation for 18-19 if you decide to go down the route.
Imo I would suggest that as a precursor that this is an indication where things are going and that you guys start the transition to kubernetes for the future
Docker is no longer supported. Yes there is a way to do it yourself, but its nice to have it all official-like and not marked “only for development”.
Not everyone can transition to k8s which is my exact point. My example is a very real-world example here. I would have to requisition tens-of-thousands of dollars for a production ready k8s cluster in our datacenter solely to run a single thing.
This project is now taking away options instead of adding them and that defeats the purpose of easy automation for everyone; it’s now 100% rendered unusable for people who cannot setup any kind of k8s (or similar) technology.
Anyways, that’s just my 2c and I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way about the 180 direction this project took.
Then there is a misconception that a k8 cluster is going to cost a lot to implement. In fact it doesn’t. As the documents show you can use Minikube or other smaller versions. Like k3.
It won’t cost 10000 of dollars. Respectfully, I would suggest using docker install and then look to see how to transitioning to k3 or a smaller variant.
I would suggest that as a precursor that this is an indication where things are going and that you guys start the transition to kubernetes for the future
I just want to clarify that while the Docker-based install method is not recommended for production installations, it does still work as detailed at the link above, and it’s something that will likely continue to work going forward, as the entire group of AWX core maintainers use it on a regular basis to develop against.
With our recent shift in AWX toward playbook execution that is based on containers, a shift to K8S as the default platform just made sense for AWX. I understand that this feels like a drastic change, and it wasn’t one we took lightly, or wanted to rush. In fact, it’s one that we’ve been talking about for 18+ months in public spaces (like various AnsibleFest community events), and which we announced about six months ago here:
As others have mentioned, for those who don’t need this fanciness, the Docker-based deployment at https://github.com/ansible/awx/blob/devel/tools/docker-compose/README.md will continue to work, but will require slightly more more DIY and eblow grease than it did previously (namely, we don’t publish official images for it anymore).
Yep - my test environment is microk8s installed in 3 minutes on my Ubuntu desktop. Once you have installed the local storage provider, it isn't much different from docker-compose.
There's plenty of other parts of awx that are pretty much "only for development" (e.g. 3 releases with a partial UI, the EE tools seem very rough around the edges), but not this.
