Part 4: Automate the Process

Create a GitLab project

If you haven't already, create a new, empty GitLab project and give it a meaningful name. For this example, I will be assuming the name is ansible-execution-environments and the group/namespace is gitlabber. The latter is unique to your environment, the former is whatever you want to call it.

Uncheck Initialize repository with a README

Once the empty project is created, you will have some instructions for populating the repository. Take note of the URL - hit the Code button to see HTTPS and SSH options - and move on the next step to fill it with my skeleton source code.

Clone skeleton repository

For the automation process, I created a skeleton git repository containing the execution environment definition we used in Parts 1-3. Below are some additional important files in the repository:

$DEST_GITLAB_NS="gitlabber"
$DEST_REPO_NAME="ansible-execution-environments"
$DEST_REPO_URL="<paste-from-previous-step>"

git clone https://gitlab.com/zjleblanc/ansible-ee-builder-skeleton.git $DEST_REPO_NAME

git remote -v
# origin  https://gitlab.com/zjleblanc/ansible-ee-builder-skeleton.git (fetch)
# origin  https://gitlab.com/zjleblanc/ansible-ee-builder-skeleton.git (push)

git remote set-url origin $DEST_REPO_URL

git remote -v
# origin  $DEST_REPO_URL (fetch)
# origin  $DEST_REPO_URL (push)

git push --set-upstream origin main
# Now you should see the repository populated with skeleton code

File	Purpose
.gitlab-ci.yml	This is the pipeline definition which identifies changed files and calls a Python script to integrate with AAP
scripts/trigger_ansible.py	This Python script will build the POST body to launch and AAP Job Template
pb_build_ees.yml	The playbook to build execution environments based on definition file(s) and push to Private Automation Hub
filter_plugins/common.py	A simple plugin to add a tag to each execution envrionment definition
definitions/*	Your execution environment definitions! One file per definition with a standard structured (see ee-crash-course example)

Create Project in AAP

The playbook in our repository needs to be attached to a Job Template in AAP for the python script to launch. Before we can create a Job Template, we need to create a new Project pointing at this repository.

Field	Note
Name	Something meaningful
Organization	Controller Organization managing the Project (probably team managing AAP)
Execution Environment	An execution environment with the required collections for pb_build_ees.yml
Source Control URL	$DEST_REPO_URL
Source Control Credential	Your repository probably wont be public, create an SCM Credential and attach here
Update Revision on Launch	✅ Make sure you always run against the latest playbook revision and EE definitions

Create Job Template in AAP

Now that we have a Project, we can create a Job Template that leverages our build playbook. Once you have completed the Job Template setup, take note of the id for use in the GitLab variables setup.

Field	Note
Name	Something meaningful
Inventory	This should contain your build host which we will set via a Survey - I recommend a RHEL box running the same version as your AAP infrastructure.
Project	The Project we just created
Execution Environment	Inherit from Project configuration
Playbook	pb_build_ees.yml
Credentials	See table below

Credentials

Type	Purpose	Custom	Link
Machine	Connecting to the builder host	No
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform	Manage Controller Execution Environments	No
Private Automation Hub	Credentials injected to ansible.cfg during build process	Yes	🔗
EE Utilities	Purpose built for ee_builder role	Yes	🔗

Survey

Question	Answer Type	Answer Variable	Default	Required
Specify the build host	Text	{{ build_host }}	host in Inventory
Specify the Execution Environment(s) version	Text	{{ ee_tag }}	OVERRIDE_ME	✅
Specify verbosity	Multiple Choice (Single)	{{ ee_verbosity }}	One of 0-3
Clean up build directory?	Multiple Choice (Single)	{{ ee_builder_dir_clean }}	true

Define GitLab project variables

In GitLab, navigate to <YOUR PROJECT> > Settings > Variables > click Expand.

Your table will be empty, but when we are done it will look like this:

To add some variables, click Add variable and a blade will open for you to configure our AAP integration details.

Variable	Value	Options
AAP_HOST	controller.company.net	Expand variable reference
AAP_JOB_TEMPLATE_ID	Job Template id from previous step	Expand variable reference
AAP_TOKEN	12345token67890	Expand variable reference Mask variable

The Process You Built

Sit Back and Relax 🏖️

Congrats! You have successfully configured an E2E automation process for building and consuming Execution Environments. All you are responsible for now is updating definition files or adding new ones to your repository.