Automation Workflows with Ansible and Terraform
🎯 Summary
[{“key_takeaways”=>[“Terraform is used to provision the AWS infrastructure (VPC, subnets, security groups) and the F5 BIG-IP instance, while Ansible connects via API to configure BIG-IP services like pools and virtual servers.”, “The integration between Terraform and Ansible is achieved by using Terraform outputs (specifically an Ansible Inventory file generated from Terraform state) to dynamically feed connection details to Ansible playbooks.”, “Automated failover for BIG-IP in the cloud can be managed either through F5’s Cloud Failover Extension (CFE) or by using native cloud components like AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) with health checks.”, “Ansible is effective for scaling applications by dynamically updating pool members associated with a virtual server, which can be triggered via CI/CD pipelines or monitoring alerts.”, “Detailed logging in Terraform is controlled via environment variables like TF_LOG and TF_LOG_PATH, with centralization recommended for auditing and incident response.”, “Ansible logging can be enhanced using callback plugins (e.g., json_log) and verbosity flags (-v), requiring the use of ‘no_log: true’ for sensitive tasks to prevent secret exposure.”], “overview”=>”This podcast details a robust automation workflow leveraging Terraform for F5 BIG-IP infrastructure provisioning on AWS and Ansible for subsequent device configuration, including creating pools and virtual servers. The process emphasizes separating infrastructure-as-code (Terraform) from configuration-as-code (Ansible) and integrates Jenkins for end-to-end CI/CD automation. Furthermore, the discussion covers advanced topics like automated failover strategies using Cloud Failover Extension (CFE) or AWS NLB, and essential logging/troubleshooting techniques for both tools.”, “themes”=>[“Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Terraform”, “Configuration Management with Ansible”, “F5 BIG-IP Deployment and Configuration Automation”, “CI/CD Integration (Jenkins)”, “Cloud High Availability and Failover Strategies (CFE, NLB)”, “Application Scaling on F5 Devices”, “Logging, Troubleshooting, and Security in Automation”]}]
🏢 Companies Mentioned
💬 Key Insights
"To prevent this, use the no_log: true attribute in tasks that deal with sensitive data. This tells Ansible to hide the task's input and output from logs and the console."
"CFE calls its internal API to update cloud infrastructure. It reassigns network interfaces and adjusts routing configurations to shift traffic to the active BIG-IP instance."
"By splitting tasks, Terraform builds the infrastructure and Ansible configures it. It's easier to manage each part."
"Still, if a decrypted secret is passed..."
"Logs may include cloud credentials, F5 device IPs, or config data. Never share raw logs publicly and consider redacting secrets before pushing logs to team channels."
"When using an automation server, it's important to keep the Terraform state file secure. You can use a remote backend like AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or HashiCorp Cloud."