Ansible Cloud Providers Guide

Overview

Ansible provides extensive support for cloud automation across major providers through dedicated collections and modules. This guide covers the implementation, best practices, and common patterns for cloud automation.

Cloud Provider Collections

AWS (amazon.aws)

# Install AWS collection
ansible-galaxy collection install amazon.aws

# Example AWS EC2 Instance Creation
- name: Launch EC2 instance
  amazon.aws.ec2_instance:
    name: "{{ instance_name }}"
    instance_type: t2.micro
    image_id: ami-0123456789
    region: us-east-1
    vpc_subnet_id: subnet-0123456789
    security_group: "{{ security_group_id }}"
    network:
      assign_public_ip: true
    tags:
      Environment: Production
    wait: yes
  register: ec2

# Example S3 Bucket Management
- name: Create S3 bucket with versioning
  amazon.aws.s3_bucket:
    name: "{{ bucket_name }}"
    versioning: true
    tags:
      Environment: Production
    public_access:
      block_public_acls: true
      block_public_policy: true

Azure (azure.azcollection)

# Install Azure collection
ansible-galaxy collection install azure.azcollection

# Example Azure VM Creation
- name: Create Azure VM
  azure.azcollection.azure_rm_virtualmachine:
    resource_group: "{{ resource_group }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_size: Standard_DS1_v2
    admin_username: "{{ admin_username }}"
    ssh_password_enabled: false
    ssh_public_keys:
      - path: /home/{{ admin_username }}/.ssh/authorized_keys
        key_data: "{{ ssh_public_key }}"
    network_interfaces: "{{ nic_name }}"
    image:
      offer: UbuntuServer
      publisher: Canonical
      sku: 18.04-LTS
      version: latest

# Example Storage Account Management
- name: Create Azure Storage Account
  azure.azcollection.azure_rm_storageaccount:
    resource_group: "{{ resource_group }}"
    name: "{{ storage_account_name }}"
    account_type: Standard_LRS
    tags:
      Environment: Production

Google Cloud (google.cloud)

# Install Google Cloud collection
ansible-galaxy collection install google.cloud

# Example GCP Instance Creation
- name: Create GCP instance
  google.cloud.gcp_compute_instance:
    name: "{{ instance_name }}"
    machine_type: n1-standard-1
    zone: us-central1-a
    project: "{{ gcp_project }}"
    auth_kind: serviceaccount
    service_account_file: "{{ gcp_cred_file }}"
    disks:
      - auto_delete: true
        boot: true
        initialize_params:
          source_image: projects/debian-cloud/global/images/debian-10
    network_interfaces:
      - network: "{{ vpc_network }}"
        access_configs:
          - name: External NAT
            type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT

# Example Cloud Storage Bucket
- name: Create GCP storage bucket
  google.cloud.gcp_storage_bucket:
    name: "{{ bucket_name }}"
    project: "{{ gcp_project }}"
    auth_kind: serviceaccount
    service_account_file: "{{ gcp_cred_file }}"
    location: US
    storage_class: STANDARD

Multi-Cloud Strategy

Provider-Agnostic Variables

# group_vars/all.yml
cloud_providers:
  aws:
    enabled: true
    region: us-east-1
    credentials:
      aws_access_key: "{{ aws_access_key }}"
      aws_secret_key: "{{ aws_secret_key }}"

  azure:
    enabled: true
    location: eastus
    credentials:
      client_id: "{{ azure_client_id }}"
      secret: "{{ azure_secret }}"
      subscription_id: "{{ azure_subscription_id }}"

  gcp:
    enabled: false
    region: us-central1
    credentials:
      service_account_file: "{{ gcp_cred_file }}"

Unified Resource Management

# playbooks/create_resources.yml
---
- name: Provision Cloud Resources
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false

  vars:
    resource_spec:
      name: "app-server"
      size: "small"
      os: "ubuntu"
      environment: "production"

  tasks:
    - name: Create AWS resources
      when: cloud_providers.aws.enabled
      block:
        - name: Create EC2 instance
          amazon.aws.ec2_instance:
            name: "{{ resource_spec.name }}"
            instance_type: "{{ lookup('vars', 'aws_sizes')[resource_spec.size] }}"
            # Additional AWS-specific configuration

    - name: Create Azure resources
      when: cloud_providers.azure.enabled
      block:
        - name: Create Azure VM
          azure.azcollection.azure_rm_virtualmachine:
            name: "{{ resource_spec.name }}"
            vm_size: "{{ lookup('vars', 'azure_sizes')[resource_spec.size] }}"
            # Additional Azure-specific configuration

Cloud Resource Tagging

Standardized Tagging Strategy

# roles/common/vars/main.yml
standard_tags:
  Environment: "{{ environment }}"
  Application: "{{ application_name }}"
  Owner: "{{ team_email }}"
  CostCenter: "{{ cost_center }}"
  Terraform: "false"
  Ansible: "true"

# roles/common/tasks/tag_resources.yml
- name: Ensure AWS resources are tagged
  amazon.aws.ec2_tag:
    region: "{{ aws_region }}"
    resource: "{{ resource_id }}"
    tags: "{{ standard_tags | combine(custom_tags|default({})) }}"
  when: cloud_providers.aws.enabled

- name: Ensure Azure resources are tagged
  azure.azcollection.azure_rm_resourcegroup_info:
    name: "{{ resource_group }}"
    tags: "{{ standard_tags | combine(custom_tags|default({})) }}"
  when: cloud_providers.azure.enabled

Security Implementation

Security Group Management

# roles/security/tasks/configure_security.yml
- name: Configure AWS security groups
  amazon.aws.ec2_security_group:
    name: "{{ security_group_name }}"
    description: "Security group for {{ application_name }}"
    vpc_id: "{{ vpc_id }}"
    rules:
      - proto: tcp
        ports: "{{ allowed_ports }}"
        cidr_ip: "{{ allowed_cidrs }}"
        rule_desc: "Allow application traffic"
  when: cloud_providers.aws.enabled

- name: Configure Azure network security groups
  azure.azcollection.azure_rm_securitygroup:
    resource_group: "{{ resource_group }}"
    name: "{{ security_group_name }}"
    rules:
      - name: "Allow_{{ application_name }}"
        protocol: Tcp
        destination_port_range: "{{ allowed_ports }}"
        access: Allow
        priority: 100
        direction: Inbound
  when: cloud_providers.azure.enabled

Cost Management

Resource Scheduling

# playbooks/cost_optimization.yml
- name: Manage resource scheduling
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false

  tasks:
    - name: Stop non-production AWS instances
      amazon.aws.ec2_instance:
        instance_ids: "{{ instance_ids }}"
        state: stopped
      when:
        - cloud_providers.aws.enabled
        - inventory_hostname in groups['non_production']
        - current_time.hour >= 18

    - name: Stop non-production Azure VMs
      azure.azcollection.azure_rm_virtualmachine:
        resource_group: "{{ resource_group }}"
        name: "{{ vm_name }}"
        started: no
      when:
        - cloud_providers.azure.enabled
        - inventory_hostname in groups['non_production']
        - current_time.hour >= 18

Common Patterns

1. Resource Provisioning ```yaml # roles/provision/tasks/main.yml

2. name: Ensure base infrastructure exists include_tasks: "{{ cloud_provider }}_provision.yml" loop: "{{ cloud_providers | dict2items | selectattr('value.enabled', 'true') }}" loop_control: loop_var: cloud_provider ```

3. State Management ```yaml # roles/state/tasks/main.yml

4. name: Gather cloud resource states include_tasks: "gather_{{ cloud_provider.key }}_state.yml" loop: "{{ cloud_providers | dict2items | selectattr('value.enabled', 'true') }}" loop_control: loop_var: cloud_provider ```

5. Cleanup and Maintenance ```yaml # roles/cleanup/tasks/main.yml

6. name: Cleanup unused resources include_tasks: "cleanup_{{ cloud_provider.key }}_resources.yml" loop: "{{ cloud_providers | dict2items | selectattr('value.enabled', 'true') }}" loop_control: loop_var: cloud_provider ```

Monitoring Integration

# roles/monitoring/tasks/main.yml
- name: Configure cloud monitoring
  include_tasks: "setup_{{ cloud_provider.key }}_monitoring.yml"
  loop: "{{ cloud_providers | dict2items | selectattr('value.enabled', 'true') }}"
  loop_control:
    loop_var: cloud_provider