Ansible ( a small working example )

This is brief tutorial on how to install wordpress on your remote Ubuntu server using Ansible.

Well before starting work, I will assume you have already installed Ansible on your local machine and have a password less entry to the remote server using SSH keys.

Well then on with work:

# cd /home

# mkdir wordpress-full-install && cd wordpress-full-install

# touch site.yml

# touch hosts

# mkdir roles && cd roles

Staying in the same folder initialize four different roles using Ansible galaxy:

# ansible-galaxy init common

# ansible-galaxy init php

# ansible-galaxy init mysql

# ansible-galaxy init wordpress

# nano ~/wordpress-full-install/hosts (This will tell Ansible on which server to deploy the role)

[wpserver]

wp.remoteserver.com

# nano ~/wordpress-full-install/site.yml (This is where we make our roles are executed sequentially when the role is executed)

- hosts: wpserver

  roles:

    - common

    - php

    - mysql

    - wordpress

# nano roles/common/tasks/main.yml ( First we set out a complete lamp stack )

---

- name: Update apt cache

  apt: update_cache=yes cache_valid_time=3600

  sudo: yes

- name: Install required software

  apt: name={{ item }} state=present

  sudo: yes

  with_items:

    - apache2

    - mysql-server

    - php5-mysql

    - php5

    - libapache2-mod-php5

    - php5-mcrypt

    - python-mysqldb

# nano roles/php/tasks/main.yml ( Here we install the required php dependencies )

---

- name: Install php extensions

  apt: name={{ item }} state=present

  sudo: yes

  with_items:

    - php5-gd

    - libssh2-php

# nano roles/mysql/defaults/main.yml ( Sets up some default variable for DB )

---

wp_mysql_db: wordpress

wp_mysql_user: wordpress

wp_mysql_password: mysecretpassword

# nano roles/mysql/tasks/main.yml ( Installs and configures the DB on the targeted server )

---

- name: Create mysql database

  mysql_db: name={{ wp_mysql_db }} state=present

- name: Create mysql user

  mysql_user:

    name={{ wp_mysql_user }}

    password={{ wp_mysql_password }}

    priv=*.*:ALL

# nano roles/wordpress/tasks/main.yml ( This is where the entire install takes place for wordpress and different configurations are made to adjust to lamp stack )

---

- name: Download WordPress

  get_url:

    url=https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

    dest=/tmp/wordpress.tar.gz

    validate_certs=no

  sudo: yes

- name: Extract WordPress

  unarchive:

    src=/tmp/wordpress.tar.gz dest=/var/www/

    copy=no

  sudo: yes

- name: Update default Apache site

  sudo: yes

  lineinfile:

    dest=/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

    regexp="(.)+DocumentRoot /var/www/html"

    line="DocumentRoot /var/www/wordpress"

  notify:

    - restart apache

- name: Copy sample config file

  command: mv /var/www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /var/www/wordpress/wp-config.php creates=/var/www/wordpress/wp-config.php

  sudo: yes

- name: Update WordPress config file

  lineinfile:

    dest=/var/www/wordpress/wp-config.php

    regexp="{{ item.regexp }}"

    line="{{ item.line }}"

  with_items:

    - {'regexp': "define\\('DB_NAME', '(.)+'\\);", 'line': "define('DB_NAME', '{{wp_mysql_db}}');"}

    - {'regexp': "define\\('DB_USER', '(.)+'\\);", 'line': "define('DB_USER', '{{wp_mysql_user}}');"}

    - {'regexp': "define\\('DB_PASSWORD', '(.)+'\\);", 'line': "define('DB_PASSWORD', '{{wp_mysql_password}}');"}

  sudo: yes

# nano roles/wordpress/handlers/main.yml ( This is the action listener, when apache configuration is changed while installing wordpress a service restart is required for apache – This Handler is just a task but only executes when the previous task has been executed successfully )

---

- name: restart apache

  service: name=apache2 state=restarted

  sudo: yes

# cd /home/wordpress-full-install

# ansible-playbook -i hosts site.yml

That’s it! With just the above command your entire wordpress will be deployed onto the remote server.

If needed to be installed on different servers just change the entries in the hosts file. Or just give the –I path to the specific file which contains the entries to the different server list.