This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : Ansible - Sudo sometimes
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 21-12-2013
URL : https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Ansible_-_Better_sudo_control.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---
This Ansible tutorial shows you how run some actions via sudo and some not. It also shows you how to run an entire role via sudo or not.
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Ansible has the option to run playbooks via sudo. You can setup passwordless
sudo, but also execute a playbook with the extra `--ask-sudo-pass` / `-K` option
so that Ansible asks you for the sudo password. However, you can also have very
specific control over how and when sudo is used in a playbook.
I have a playbook with a few roles which I use to bootstrap a new debian server.
It installs software, sets up ssh, sets up sudo and places a few config files.
It is organized in roles, the main playbook looks like this:
---
- hosts: new-servers
user: username
connection: ssh # or paramiko
roles:
- { role: basic-debian-setup, sudo: yes }
- { role: git-setup }
- { role: vim }
- { role: bash }
- { role: screen }
- { role: openssh, sudo: yes }
- { role: sudo, sudo: yes }
- { role: postfix, sudo: yes }
- { role: vnstat, sudo: yes }
As you can see, I have a few playbooks run with sudo on, and a few with sudo
off. The `git-setup`, `vim`, `screen` and `bash` playbooks all do basically the
same, they install software and place a configuration file. However, if the
entire playbook is run as root, the configuration files placed would be owned by
root. If the playbook is not run via sudo, the software cannot be installed.
Note that in the first case Ansible also supports setting file permissions on
files. This however is not the case when configuration files are cloned from a
git repository. The git module does not support setting permissions, and I don't
like recursive `chmod`'s.
Here is the `vim` playbook:
- name: install packages vim and git
apt:
pkg: {{ item }}
state: present
update_cache:"yes
with_items:
- vim-tiny
- git
sudo: yes
- name: clone git repository
git:
repo: https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/df.git
dest: /home/{{user}}/conf
version: master
sudo: no
- name: create symmlink for vim config
file:
path: /home/{{ user }}/.vimrc
src: /home/{{ user }}/conf/vimrc
state: link
owner: {{ user }}
sudo: no
This playbook makes sure both `vim` and `git` are installed. It uses sudo for
that action. It then clones the git repository with my personal dotfiles,
without using sudo. If this action would use sudo, the git repository in my home
folder would me owned by root and I could not update it later on without using
sudo. The last action symlinks the `.vimrc` file from the repo to the correct
location. If that would be done with sudo I could not remove the file without
root access.
If you define a role with sudo, like in the above example the `postfix` role,
then you can use the `sudo: no` option in that playbook to make sure one or more
actions are not executed with sudo.
[Ansible documentation regarding sudo][2]
[1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
[2]: http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html
---
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