13. Projects¶

13.1.1. Manage playbooks manually¶

• Create one or more directories to store playbooks under the Project Base Path (for example, /var/lib/awx/projects/)
• Create or copy playbook files into the playbook directory.
• Ensure that the playbook directory and files are owned by the same UNIX user and group that the Tower service runs as.
• Ensure that the permissions are appropriate for the playbook directories and files.

If you have trouble adding a project path, check the permissions and SELinux context settings for the project directory and files.

13.1.2. Manage playbooks using Source Control¶

1. Select the appropriate option from the SCM Type drop-down menu list.
2. Enter the appropriate details into the following fields:

• SCM URL - See an example in the help text.

• SCM Branch - Optionally enter the SCM branch for Mercurial, or the SCM branch, tag, or revision for Git
• Revision # - Optionally enter the Revision # for Subversion
• SCM Credential - If authentication is required, select the appropriate SCM credential
• SCM Update Options:

• Clean - Remove any local modifications prior to performing an update.
• Delete on Update - Delete the local repository in its entirety prior to performing an update. Depending on the size of the repository this may significantly increase the amount of time required to complete an update.
• Update on Launch - Each time a job runs using this project, perform an update to the local repository prior to starting the job. To avoid job overflows if jobs are spawned faster than the project can sync, selecting this allows you to configure a Cache Timeout to cache prior project syncs for a certain number of seconds.

3. Click Save to save your project.

Tip

Using a Github link offers an easy way to use a playbook. To help get you started, use the helloworld.yml file available at: https://github.com/ansible/tower-example.git

This link offers a very similar playbook to the one created manually in the instructions found in the Ansible Tower Quick Start Guide. Using it will not alter or harm your system in anyway.

13.2.1. Add Permissions¶

The Permissions tab allows you to review, grant, edit, and remove associated permissions for users as well as team members. To assign permissions to a particular user for this resource:

1. Click the Permissions tab.
2. Click the button to open the Add Users/Teams window.

3. Specify the users or teams that will have access then assign them specific roles:

1. Click to select one or multiple checkboxes beside the name(s) of the user(s) or team(s) to select them.

Note

You can select multiple users and teams at the same time by navigating between the Users and Teams tabs without saving.

After selections are made, the window expands to allow you to select a role from the drop-down menu list for each user or team you chose.

The example above shows options associated with inventories. Different resources have different options available:

• Admin allows read, run, and edit privileges (applies to all resources)
• Use allows use of a resource in a job template (applies all resources except job templates)
• Update allows updating of project via the SCM Update (applies to projects and inventories)
• Ad Hoc allows use of Ad Hoc commands (applies to inventories)
• Execute allows launching of a job template (applies to job templates)

Tip

Use the Key button in the roles selection pane to display a description of each of the roles.

2. Select the role to apply to the selected user or team.

Note

You can assign roles to multiple users and teams by navigating between the Users and Teams tabs without saving.

4. Review your role assignments for each user and team.

5. Click Save when done, and the Add Users/Teams window closes to display the updated roles assigned for each user and team.

   

To remove Permissions for a particular user, click the Disassociate (x) button next to its resource.

This launches a confirmation dialog, asking you to confirm the disassociation.

13.5.1. Add a new schedule¶

To create a new schedule:

1. Click the button, which opens the Add Schedule dialog.

2. Enter the appropriate details into the following fields:

• Name (required)
• Start Date (required)
• Start Time (required)
• Local Time Zone - The entered Start Time should be in this timezone
• UTC Start Time - Calculated from Start Time + Local Time Zone
• Repeat Frequency - Appropriate scheduling options are displayed depending on the frequency you select

The SCHEDULE DESCRIPTION allows you to review the set schedule and a list of the scheduled occurrences in the selected Local Time Zone.

3. Once done, click Save.

You can use the ON/OFF toggle button to stop an active schedule or activate a stopped schedule.

The schedules overview screen for the project also shows you when the first, next, and final runs are scheduled.

13.5.2. Ansible Galaxy Support¶

At the end of a Project update, Tower searches for a file called requirements.yml in the roles directory, located at``<project-top-level-directory>/roles/requirements.yml``. If this file is found, the following command automatically runs:

ansible-galaxy install -r roles/requirements.yml -p ./roles/ --force

This file allows you to reference Galaxy roles or roles within other repositories which can be checked out in conjunction with your own project. The addition of this Ansible Galaxy support eliminates the need to create git submodules for achieving this result.

For more information and examples on the syntax of the requirements.yml file, refer to Advanced Control Over Role Requirements in the Ansible documentation.

If there are any directories that should specifically be exposed, you can specify those in the Configure Tower screen in the Paths to Expose to Isolated Jobs or by updating the following entry in the settings file:

AWX_PROOT_SHOW_PATHS = ['/list/of/', '/paths']

Note

The primary file you may want to add to AWX_PROOT_SHOW_PATHS is /var/lib/awx/.ssh, if your playbooks need to use keys or settings defined there.

If you made changes in the settings file, be sure to restart services with the ansible-tower-service restart command after your changes have been saved.