linuxexpert-practice-labs/labs/ex294/6-1-vs-code-git-and-navigator/README.md

EX294 6.1: VS Code with Git and ansible-navigator

Clone a project in VS Code, commit and push a playbook from the Source Control view, and run playbooks from the Ansible extension's menu.

Before you start

You need VS Code on your own computer with the Remote - SSH extension: connect to this VM as greg (with his password, or add your key to his ~/.ssh/authorized_keys), and install Red Hat's Ansible extension (redhat.ansible) on the remote side when VS Code offers it.

This VM is the control node. The lab creates the user greg (password Lab-Pass-1) with an SSH key, and installs ansible-core, git and ansible-navigator (from PyPI, in /opt/le-lab-navigator). greg's Git repository is /home/greg/git/ansible.git, with one commit on main: an ansible.cfg that reads inventory, logs in as devops and becomes root, the inventory, and site.yml, which checks every node and adds a line to the node's /var/log/lab-runs.log saying which command ran it and the --limit. greg has no Git identity yet.

greg's podman has the execution environment image localhost/lab-ee:2.16 (built on this VM from AlmaLinux 10's ansible-core and collections from Ansible Galaxy; no registry or login).

The managed nodes node1 (10.99.1.11) and node2 (10.99.1.12) are AlmaLinux 10 containers reached over SSH by name; on both, devops accepts greg's key and may use sudo without a password. For a root shell on a node, sudo podman exec -it node1 bash.

Tasks

1. In VS Code, clone /home/greg/git/ansible.git, create a new playbook in the Ansible language mode with completion, and commit and push it from the Source Control view. git log origin/main --oneline in the terminal shows the commit, and a fresh clone has the file.
2. Turn on the extension's execution environment setting with the image localhost/lab-ee:2.16, and run a playbook from the right-click menu. Not graded: check that the terminal shows ansible-navigator run ... --ee true --pae false --ce podman --eei localhost/lab-ee:2.16.
3. Set ansible.playbook.arguments to --limit node1 and run site.yml via ansible-playbook from the menu. Only node1 appears in the recap.

Hints

• Command Palette: Git: Clone takes the path as the URL. If the commit fails for want of user.name, set it with git config --global in the terminal.
• The status bar shows the file's language mode; click YAML to choose Ansible.
• Settings: search for ansible.executionEnvironment and ansible.playbook.arguments (Remote tab for this VM).