/azure-infrastructure

Infrastructure as code repository

Primary LanguageHCL

azure-infrastructure

This is my introduction to Infrastructure as Code. There are a lot of improvements that can be done, but my goal is to learn IAC and some of the tools that goes with it.

And if someone can use this to get some ideas of their own, thats just a plus!

Deploy a CentOS VM with Ansible installed using ARM templates

Prerequisites

  • You need an Azure account and subscription
  • You need a service principal (include the --sdk-auth parameter) and define a new secret in Github Actions Secrets. The secret must be called AZURE_SP_CREDS and it needs to have a structure like this: 
    {
    "clientId": "<GUID>",
    "clientSecret": "<GUID>",
    "subscriptionId": "<GUID>",
    "tenantId": "<GUID>"
}
    Tip: When creating the SP, store the json output in a safe place so you have access to it later. You will not be able to retrieve the information later.
  • You need to create a public-private key pair to use the server with ssh private keys. Public key can be put in ansible-vm.parameters.json. Private key should never be shared.

Workflow

This workflow does the following:

  1. Logs in to your Azure account
  2. Creates resource group if it does not exist from before, if it does exist it will skip this step.
  3. Creates VM and all other resources needed to be able to log on to the vm afterwards (public IP, network security group, virtual network etc.)
  4. Updates OS with yum update
  5. Installs Ansible

Deployment

Change input parameters and environment variables

To change the input parameters and environment variables to suit your own needs, do the following:

  • Go to the ansible-vm.parameters.json to change project name, Azure location, Administrator account and VM size.
  • Go to the deploy_VM_with_ARM.yml and locate environment variables to set which Subscription you want to use (this needs to already exist in your Azure environment), set resource group name (this can be an already existing one or a new resource group that will be created), Azure location and VM name (should be projectName plus -vm extension)

Run Github Action Workflow to deploy

To deploy, go to Github Actions, choose the Deploy Ansible VM with ARM templates on the left hand side. On the right hand side you choose Run workflow and choose branch and run.

SSH into your VM after deployment is done

You should now be able to ssh into the newly created VM. In the Azure portal, navigate to your VM and choose Connect for details of how to connect. To see if Ansible has been installed run ansible --version.

Deploy an Ubuntu VM with Ansible installed using Terraform

Prerequisites

  • You need an Azure account and subscription
  • You need a service principal (include the --sdk-auth parameter) and define a new secret in Github Actions Secrets. The secret must be called AZURE_SP_CREDS and it needs to have a structure like this: 
    {
    "clientId": "<GUID>",
    "clientSecret": "<GUID>",
    "subscriptionId": "<GUID>",
    "tenantId": "<GUID>"
}
    Tip: When creating the SP, store the json output in a safe place so you have access to it later. You will not be able to retrieve the information later.
  • You need to create a public-private key pair to use the server with ssh private keys. Public key can be put in ansible-vm.parameters.json. Private key should never be shared.

Workflow

This workflow does the following:

  1. Logs in to your Azure account
  2. Creates resource group (it will fail if resource group already exist)
  3. Creates VM and all other resources needed to be able to log on to the vm afterwards (public IP, network security group, virtual network etc.)
  4. Updates OS with apt-get update
  5. Installs Ansible dependencies and then installs Ansible

Deployment

Set client secret as environment variable

Terraform needs the client id, tenant id and the client secret of the service principal to be set as environment variables in .gihub/workflows/deploy_vm_with_terraform.yml. It also needs the subscription id.
Client secret: Add a new Github Action secret called AZURE_SP_CLIENT_SECRET containing the client secret as value.*
Client id, tenant id and subscription id: You can add secrets for these values as well, one seperate for each id. Or you can add it in plain text in the file.

* The client secret is impossible to retrieve if you did not save it when you first created it. So you need to either reset it or create a new one. Remeber to update the AZURE_SP_CREDS secret if you do this.

Change input parameters and environment variables

To change the input parameters and environment variables to suit your own needs, do the following:

  • Go to ansible-vm-with-terraform/variables.tf to set:
    • Project name (most resources will have the project name plus a post-fix (example: the virtual machine will be projectName-vm))
    • Resource group name (this can not exist from before)
    • Azure location.
  • Go to .gihub/workflows/deploy_vm_with_terraform.yml and set vmName and resource group in the environment variables. Remember this needs to be the same as you set in the terraform variables file.
  • Go to the ansible-vm.tf file if you want to change specifications on the VM (optional).

Run Github Action Workflow to deploy

To deploy, go to Github Actions, choose the Deploy Ansible VM with Terraform on the left hand side. On the right hand side you choose Run workflow and choose branch and run.

SSH into your VM after deployment is done

You should now be able to ssh into the newly created VM. In the Azure portal, navigate to your VM and choose Connect for details of how to connect. To see if Ansible has been installed run ansible --version.