Automating Web Server Deployment with Ansible: A Step-by-Step Guide
Pankaj Chaudhari
Software Engineer at HCLTech | Ex-Capgemini | AWS Certified | Java, Spring Boot, Hibernate, Docker Expert | API & Microservices
In this article, I’ll walk you through the process of using Ansible to install Nginx on a remote server and deploy a custom HTML page. This tutorial will cover the essential steps, from configuring Ansible to running a playbook that installs Nginx and serves a personalized web page.
1. Setting Up Ansible
To begin, you need to install Ansible on your system. Follow these commands:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ansible
Once installed, verify the installation:
ansible --version
2. Configuring Inventory
Create your Ansible inventory file located at /etc/ansible/hosts and define your servers. Here’s a template:
[servers]
server1 ansible_host=your public IP address
server2 ansible_host=your public IP address
[demo]
server3 ansible_host=your public IP address
[demo:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
ansible_user=ec2-user
ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/home/ubuntu/ansible-key/youral_key.pem
[servers:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
ansible_user=ubuntu
ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/home/ubuntu/ansible-key/your_key.pem
Creating the Nginx Role Using Ansible
Use the following command to create the Nginx role:
ansible-galaxy init nginx
When you use the command, it creates a directory named nginx in your current working directory. /home/ubuntu/ansible/roles/nginx
3. Creating and Running Ansible Playbooks
Install Nginx Playbook (install_nginx.yml):
This playbook installs Nginx and deploys an index.html file to the server.
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- name: Install Nginx using roles
hosts: servers
become: true
roles:
- nginx
Role Definition for Nginx (main.yml in roles/nginx/tasks/):
---
# tasks file for nginx
- name: Install Nginx
ansible.builtin.package:
name: nginx
state: present
- name: Ensure Nginx is running
ansible.builtin.service:
name: nginx
state: started
enabled: yes
- name: Deploy index.html
ansible.builtin.copy:
src: index.html
dest: /var/www/html/index.html
HTML File (index.html):
This HTML file will be served by Nginx and should be placed in /etc/ansible/roles/nginx/files/.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Welcome Pankaj Chaudhari</title>
</head>
<body style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-color: #f0f0f5; color: #333; text-align: center; padding: 50px;">
<!-- Container for the main content -->
<div style="background-color: #fff; padding: 40px; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); max-width: 600px; margin: 0 auto;">
<!-- Welcome message -->
<h1 style="color: #2c3e50; font-size: 36px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Welcome</h1>
<h2 style="color: #3498db; font-size: 28px; margin-bottom: 30px;">Pankaj Chaudhari</h2>
<!-- Role description -->
<p style="font-size: 18px; color: #7f8c8d;">DevOps Engineer</p>
<!-- Decorative divider -->
<hr style="border: 0; height: 2px; background-color: #3498db; width: 50%; margin: 20px auto;">
<!-- Additional message -->
<p style="font-size: 16px; color: #34495e; margin-top: 20px;">
Empowering software development and operations through automation, continuous integration, and cutting-edge tools.
</p>
<!-- Button to learn more -->
<a href="#" style="display: inline-block; margin-top: 30px; padding: 10px 20px; background-color: #e74c3c; color: #fff; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 5px; font-size: 16px;">
Learn More
</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>
4. Running the Playbook
Execute the playbook with:
ansible-playbook your_filename.yml
Check the status of Nginx on your servers:
ansible -a "systemctl status nginx" servers
final output