Introduction
Ansible AWX is a free and open-source web application that provides a user-friendly interface for managing Ansible playbooks and inventories. It also includes a REST API for automating Ansible operations. AWX serves as the open-source version of Red Hat Ansible Tower.
To deploy AWX, a Kubernetes infrastructure such as MicroK8s, K3s, or Minikube is required.
Pre-requisites
Ensure the following system requirements are met before installation:
- RAM: 8 GB
- CPU: 3.4 GHz (2 Cores)
- Disk: 20 GB of available storage
- Internet: Stable internet connection
Step-by-Step Installation
1. Install Required Packages
Ensure your Ubuntu system is up-to-date and install the necessary dependencies:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl wget apt-transport-https
Sudo apt install git make -y
2. Install Docker
Install Docker Engine to run containers required by Minikube and AWX:
sudo apt install -y docker.io
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
3. Install Minikube
Download and install Minikube, a local Kubernetes cluster:
curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64
sudo install minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube
Install kubectl:
sudo curl -LO “https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.30.1/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl”
sudo chmod +x kubectl
sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/
4. Clone AWX Operator
Clone the AWX Operator repository to deploy AWX:
git clone https://github.com/ansible/awx-operator.git
cd awx-operator
Check out a stable version:
git checkout <version>
5. Deploy the AWX Operator
AWX Operator Deployment via make deploy in Ansible Namespace. Create a custom resource YAML file (e.g., awx-deploy.yaml):
export NAMESPACE=ansible-awx
make deploy
6. Start Minikube
Start your Minikube cluster with Docker as the driver:
minikube start –driver=docker –addon=ingress
7. AWX Operator: Namespace-Based Deployment Using Makefile
AWX Instance Deployment via Custom YAML in the ansible-awx Namespace:
vi awx-ubuntu.yml
—
apiVersion: awx.ansible.com/v1beta1
kind: AWX
metadata:
name: awx-ubuntu
spec:
service_type: nodeport
Apply the deployment:
kubectl apply -f awx-deploy.yaml -n ansible-awx
Check the pods and service.
kubectl get pods -n ansible-awx
kubectl get svc -n ansible-awx
7. Access AWX Web Interface
minikube service awx-service -n ansible-awx –url
Opening through localhost:
forwards port 80 of the AWX service to your local port 10445.
kubectl port-forward service/awx-ubuntu-service -n ansible-awx –address 0.0.0.0 10445:80 > /dev/null &
8. Get Admin Credentials
Retrieve the admin password:
kubectl get secret awx-admin-password -n ansible-awx -o jsonpath=”{.data.password}” | base64 –decode
Log in with:
- Username: admin
- Password: (output from above command)
After giving the valid username and password, it will redirect to home page
