Ansible Role: virt_install_vm

An Ansible role to install a libvirt virtual machine with virt-install and cloud-init. It is "designed" to be flexible.

When you like this role, you might also like the

• stafwag.delegated_vm_install https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-delegated_vm_install role. This role was developed as the basis for this role.

Example templates are provided to set up a Debian 11 and a Debian 12 systems. The cloud-init templates should work with other (GNU)/Linux systems that supports cloud-init.

But there are (currently) only tested with Debian GNU/Linux.

Requirements

The role is a wrapper around the following roles:

• stafwag.libvirt: https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-libvirt
• stafwag.qemu_img: https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-qemu_img
• stafwag.cloud_localds: https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-cloud_localds
• stafwag.virt_install_import: https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-virt_install_import

Install the required roles with

$ ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml

this will install the latest default branch releases.

Or follow the installation instruction for each role on Ansible Galaxy.

https://galaxy.ansible.com/stafwag

Installation

Ansible galaxy

The role is available on Ansible Galaxy.

To install the role from Ansible Galaxy execute the command below.

$ ansible-galaxy install stafwag.virt_install_vm

Source Code

If you want to use the source code directly.

Clone the role source code.

$ git clone https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-virt_install_vm stafwag.virt_install_vm

and put it into the role search path

Supported GNU/Linux Distributions

It should work on most GNU/Linux distributions.

On Linux distributions that have the cloud-localds package available the cloud-localds command is used to create an iso image with the cloud-init configuration.

On Distributions that don't provide the cloud-localds, the xorriso command is used to create the iso image.

• Archlinux
• Debian
• Centos 7 ( cloud_localds provider )
• Centos 8 & 9 ( xorriso provider )
• RedHat 7 ( cloud_localds provider )
• RedHat 8 & 9 ( xorriso provider )
• Suse ( xorriso provider )
• Ubuntu

Role Variables and templates

Role Variables

See the documentation of the roles in the Requirements section.

• virt_install_vm: "namespace"

  • skip_if_deployed: boolean default: false. \

    • When true:
      Skip role if the VM is already deployed. The role will exit successfully. \
    • When false:
      The role will exit with an error if the VM is already deployed.

Return values:

• virt_install_vm_installed: Default: false. Set to true when the vm is installed by the role.

Templates

Templates files

• templates/simple_debian: Example template to create a Debian virtual machine.
  This template use cloud_localds.cloudinfo to configure the cloud-init user-data.
  See the Usage section for an example.

Template variables

The template uses the following variables.

• cloud_localds.cloud_config:
  • system_info:
    • default_user: The default user
      • name: Optional. Default: debian
      • passwd: Optional. Default: false. When set to false the user will be locked.
      • ssh_authorized_keys: An array with the authorized_key array.
  • disable_cloud_init: Optional. Default undefined. When set to true. cloud-init will be disabled on the VM.
  • network:
    • dns_nameservers: List with the nameservers.
    • dns_search: The dns search string.
    • interface: The default network interface to configure.
      • name: The interface name.
      • address: The ip address.
      • gateway: The gateway.
  • commands: Array with commands to execute on the VM.
  • poweroff: Poeroff the VM after the VM is installed.
  • reboot: Reboot the VM after the VM is installed.

Usage

Create a virtual machine template

This is a file with the role variables to set set up a virtual machine with all the common settings for the virtual machines. In this example vm.hostname and vm.ip_address can be configured for each virtual machine.

• debian_vm_template.yml:

---
qemu_img:
  dest: "/var/lib/libvirt/images/{{ vm.hostname }}.qcow2"
  format: qcow2
  src: /Downloads/isos/debian/cloud/debian-10-generic-amd64.qcow2
  size: "50G"
  owner: root
  group: kvm
  mode: 660
cloud_localds:
  dest: "/var/lib/libvirt/images/{{ vm.hostname }}_cloudinit.iso"
  config_template: "templates/simple_debian/debian.j2"
  network_config_template: "templates/simple_debian/debian_netconfig.j2"
  cloud_config:
    system_info:
      default_user:
        name: ansible
        passwd: "{{ ansible_become_hash }}"
        ssh_authorized_keys:
          - "{{lookup('file', '~/.ssh/ansible_ssh_key.pub') }}"
    network:
      dns_nameservers:
        9.9.9.9
      dns_search:
        intern.local
      interface:
        name:
          enp1s0
        address:
          "{{ vm.ip_address }}"
        gateway:
          192.168.123.1
    disable_cloud_init: true
    reboot:
      true
virt_install_import:
  wait: 0
  name: "{{ vm.hostname }}"
  os_type: Linux
  os_variant: debian10
  network: network:default
  graphics: spice
  disks:
    - "/var/lib/libvirt/images/{{ vm.hostname }}.qcow2,device=disk"
    - "/var/lib/libvirt/images/{{ vm.hostname }}_cloudinit.iso,device=cdrom"

Playbook

Playbook to setup a virtual machine:

---
- name: Install tstdebian2
  hosts: localhost
  become: true
  vars:
    vm:
      hostname:
        tstdebian12
      ip_address:
        192.168.122.3/24
  pre_tasks:
    - name: Load the vm template
      ansible.builtin.include_vars: debian_12_vm_template.yml
    - name: Display qemu_img
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg:
          - 'qemu_img: {{ qemu_img }}'
  roles:
    - stafwag.virt_install_vm