Lab Information

The Nautilus DevOps team has some data on each app server in Stratos DC that they want to copy to a different location. However, they want to create an archive of the data first, then they want to copy the same to a different location on the respective app server. Additionally, there are some specific requirements for each server. Perform the task using Ansible playbook as per requirements mentioned below:

Create a playbook named playbook.yml under /home/thor/ansible directory on jump host, an inventory file is already placed under /home/thor/ansible/ directory on Jump Server itself.

Create an archive cluster.tar.gz (make sure archive format is tar.gz) of /usr/src/dba/ directory ( present on each app server ) and copy it to /opt/dba/ directory on all app servers. The user and group owner of archive cluster.tar.gz should be tony for App Server 1, steve for App Server 2 and banner for App Server 3.

Lab Solutions

✅ Part 1: Lab Step-by-Step Guidelines (Technical & Precise)

Step 1: Switch to Ansible Directory

cd /home/thor/ansible

Step 2: Create Playbook File

vi /home/thor/ansible/playbook.yml

Add the following YAML:

---
- name: Archive and copy DBA data
  hosts: all
  become: yes

  tasks:

    - name: Create archive of /usr/src/dba
      archive:
        path: /usr/src/dba/
        dest: /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz
        format: gz

    - name: Set ownership for stapp01
      file:
        path: /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz
        owner: tony
        group: tony
      when: inventory_hostname == "stapp01"

    - name: Set ownership for stapp02
      file:
        path: /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz
        owner: steve
        group: steve
      when: inventory_hostname == "stapp02"

    - name: Set ownership for stapp03
      file:
        path: /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz
        owner: banner
        group: banner
      when: inventory_hostname == "stapp03"

Save and exit.

Step 3: Run the Playbook

ansible-playbook -i inventory playbook.yml

Step 4: Verify Archive Exists

ansible all -i inventory -a "ls -l /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz"

Expected output example:

stapp02 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
-rw-r--r-- 1 steve steve 217 Mar 2 07:44 /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz
stapp01 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
-rw-r--r-- 1 tony tony 209 Mar 2 07:44 /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz
stapp03 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
-rw-r--r-- 1 banner banner 202 Mar 2 07:44 /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz

✅ What This Playbook Does Technically

Uses archive module (not shell tar command)

Creates tar.gz format

Places archive directly in /opt/dba/

Uses conditional execution (when)

Applies per-host ownership

🧠 Part 2: Simple Step-by-Step Explanation (Beginner Friendly)

🎯 What Is the Goal?

Each app server has a folder:

/usr/src/dba/

We need to:

Compress it into a file called cluster.tar.gz

Put that file inside /opt/dba/

Set the correct owner depending on the server

📦 What Is an Archive?

An archive is like:

Zipping a folder into one compressed file.

Instead of many files and folders, you get:

cluster.tar.gz

It’s smaller and easier to move.

🔄 What Happens When the Playbook Runs?

For each server:

Ansible connects

Becomes root

Compresses /usr/src/dba/

Saves it as /opt/dba/cluster.tar.gz

Checks which server it is

Sets the correct owner

🧠 Why Use when: Conditions?

Each server needs a different owner:

Server Owner
stapp01 tony
stapp02 steve
stapp03 banner

The when: condition tells Ansible:

“Only run this task on this specific server.”

So each server gets the correct ownership.

⚙ Why Use archive Module Instead of tar Command?

Because:

It is idempotent (safe to re-run)

Cleaner

Professional Ansible practice

No need for manual shell commands

Resources & Next Steps

📦 Full Code Repository: KodeKloud Learning Labs

📖 More Deep Dives: Whispering Cloud Insights - Read other technical articles

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