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⏰ NTP/Chrony Ansible Project

This project provides an Ansible playbook to configure either NTP or Chrony as a time synchronization service on target hosts. It uses roles to modularize the tasks, making it reusable and easy to manage.

Project Structure

The project has the following directory structure:

.
├── ansible.cfg
├── inventroy.ini
├── ntp_or_chrony.yml
├── roles
│   └── time_config
│       ├── defaults
│       │   └── main.yml
│       └── tasks
│           └── main.yml
├── Vagrantfile
└── README.md (this file)

1. ansible.cfg

This is the Ansible configuration file. It specifies the inventory file location, remote user, and disables host key checking for convenience in a lab environment.

2. inventroy.ini

This file defines the hosts managed by Ansible. It includes a [managed] group with two sample hosts, ansible-managed-1 and ansible-managed-2, with their respective IP addresses and SSH details.

3. ntp_or_chrony.yml

This is the main playbook. It prompts the user to select either ntp or chrony and then applies the time_config role to all hosts.

4. roles/time_config/

This directory contains the Ansible role for configuring the time service.

  • defaults/main.yml: Sets default values for the NTP servers and timezone. These can be overridden at the playbook or command line level.
  • tasks/main.yml: Contains all the tasks required to configure the time service. This includes:
    • Conditional variable setting: Determines the package name, service name, and configuration file based on the user's choice.
    • Package installation: Installs the selected time synchronization package.
    • Configuration: Backs up and deploys the new configuration file from a template.
    • Timezone setup: Sets the system timezone.
    • Service management: Restarts and enables the service.
    • Verification: Waits until the NTP synchronization is complete.

Prerequisites

  • Vagrant: To provision the virtual machines.
  • VirtualBox: As the provider for Vagrant.
  • Git: To clone the repository.

Setup and Usage

Follow these steps to set up and run the project:

  1. Clone the Repository:

    git clone https://github.com/ayushpawar21/TechOpsConfigWiki.git
cd TechOpsConfigWiki/ntp_chrony_ansible_project

  2. Provision Virtual Machines: The Vagrantfile will create one control node (ansible-control) and two managed nodes (ansible-managed-1, ansible-managed-2). It also sets up SSH key-based authentication between the control and managed nodes.

    vagrant up

  3. Run the Ansible Playbook: After the VMs are up and running, SSH into the control node and execute the playbook.

    vagrant ssh ansible-control
cd /vagrant
ansible-playbook ntp_or_chrony.yml

    You will be prompted to choose the time service to install.

    Which time service do you want to install? (ntp or chrony): ntp

  4. Verify the Configuration: You can verify the status of the time synchronization on any of the managed nodes.

    vagrant ssh ansible-managed-1
timedatectl

    The output should show NTP synchronized: yes.