Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Goran,

Definitely, you can use Ansible to do many things in IBM i. Look to module list in Ansible Galaxy:

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/power_ibmi/content/

There are many modules for different tasks and the generic ones (run cl command, sql scripts, etc) which could help to implement more complex process. Of course it will be more useful if you have many LPAR to manage together. Security and configuration management are a good example of tasks that could be accomplished with Ansible.

PTF roles published in IBM I collection implement a very complete solution for PTF management. I prefer a simpler one when I download PTF groups to one LPAR and from there I distribute and apply them through Ansible.

Here you have example of what coul be done:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2022/09/02/eliminate-the-pain-of-a-switchover-ha-automatizati

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2023/08/25/cmdb-ansible-1

Best regards,

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Nicolae,

Thanks for your input!

What I am personally a little afraid of is that it maybe gets a little more complicated troubleshooting when things go wrong. I guess there is some way to return error messages from the LPAR to Ansible controller? 

Regarding PFT handling, do you use the possibility to automatically check for and download PTF Groups to your "controlling" LPAR?

Best Regards,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Goran,

Definitely, you can use Ansible to do many things in IBM i. Look to module list in Ansible Galaxy:

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/power_ibmi/content/

There are many modules for different tasks and the generic ones (run cl command, sql scripts, etc) which could help to implement more complex process. Of course it will be more useful if you have many LPAR to manage together. Security and configuration management are a good example of tasks that could be accomplished with Ansible.

PTF roles published in IBM I collection implement a very complete solution for PTF management. I prefer a simpler one when I download PTF groups to one LPAR and from there I distribute and apply them through Ansible.

Here you have example of what coul be done:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2022/09/02/eliminate-the-pain-of-a-switchover-ha-automatizati

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2023/08/25/cmdb-ansible-1

Best regards,

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Nicolae,

Thanks for your input!

What I am personally a little afraid of is that it maybe gets a little more complicated troubleshooting when things go wrong. I guess there is some way to return error messages from the LPAR to Ansible controller? 

Regarding PFT handling, do you use the possibility to automatically check for and download PTF Groups to your "controlling" LPAR?

Best Regards,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Goran,

Definitely, you can use Ansible to do many things in IBM i. Look to module list in Ansible Galaxy:

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/power_ibmi/content/

There are many modules for different tasks and the generic ones (run cl command, sql scripts, etc) which could help to implement more complex process. Of course it will be more useful if you have many LPAR to manage together. Security and configuration management are a good example of tasks that could be accomplished with Ansible.

PTF roles published in IBM I collection implement a very complete solution for PTF management. I prefer a simpler one when I download PTF groups to one LPAR and from there I distribute and apply them through Ansible.

Here you have example of what coul be done:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2022/09/02/eliminate-the-pain-of-a-switchover-ha-automatizati

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2023/08/25/cmdb-ansible-1

Best regards,

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hej Göran, 

Here is an good article in Swedish you can start with.. https://www.commonsweden.org/borja-med-ansible-pa-ibm-i/

I've translated it into English as well (Ok from Håkan).. https://builtonpower.com/2023/09/start-with-redhat-ansible-on-ibm-i/

Did you attend the Common Sweden conference earlier this week in Stockholm? There was some Ansible sessions there I think.. 

Hi Nicolae,

Thanks for your input!

What I am personally a little afraid of is that it maybe gets a little more complicated troubleshooting when things go wrong. I guess there is some way to return error messages from the LPAR to Ansible controller? 

Regarding PFT handling, do you use the possibility to automatically check for and download PTF Groups to your "controlling" LPAR?

Best Regards,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Goran,

Definitely, you can use Ansible to do many things in IBM i. Look to module list in Ansible Galaxy:

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/power_ibmi/content/

There are many modules for different tasks and the generic ones (run cl command, sql scripts, etc) which could help to implement more complex process. Of course it will be more useful if you have many LPAR to manage together. Security and configuration management are a good example of tasks that could be accomplished with Ansible.

PTF roles published in IBM I collection implement a very complete solution for PTF management. I prefer a simpler one when I download PTF groups to one LPAR and from there I distribute and apply them through Ansible.

Here you have example of what coul be done:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2022/09/02/eliminate-the-pain-of-a-switchover-ha-automatizati

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2023/08/25/cmdb-ansible-1

Best regards,

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hej Torbjörn,

Tack!
Unfortunately I did not attend the Common Sweden conference.

I have installed Ansible in an WSL environment on my PC and it seems to work fine. 
I certainly see that there are time savings to be made using Ansible but on the other hand you can automate a lot of things using RDB, CL scripts and SQL procedures as well...

Regards
Göran Nilsson

Hej Göran, 

Here is an good article in Swedish you can start with.. https://www.commonsweden.org/borja-med-ansible-pa-ibm-i/

I've translated it into English as well (Ok from Håkan).. https://builtonpower.com/2023/09/start-with-redhat-ansible-on-ibm-i/

Did you attend the Common Sweden conference earlier this week in Stockholm? There was some Ansible sessions there I think.. 

Hi Nicolae,

Thanks for your input!

What I am personally a little afraid of is that it maybe gets a little more complicated troubleshooting when things go wrong. I guess there is some way to return error messages from the LPAR to Ansible controller? 

Regarding PFT handling, do you use the possibility to automatically check for and download PTF Groups to your "controlling" LPAR?

Best Regards,
Göran Nilsson

Hi Goran,

Definitely, you can use Ansible to do many things in IBM i. Look to module list in Ansible Galaxy:

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/repo/published/ibm/power_ibmi/content/

There are many modules for different tasks and the generic ones (run cl command, sql scripts, etc) which could help to implement more complex process. Of course it will be more useful if you have many LPAR to manage together. Security and configuration management are a good example of tasks that could be accomplished with Ansible.

PTF roles published in IBM I collection implement a very complete solution for PTF management. I prefer a simpler one when I download PTF groups to one LPAR and from there I distribute and apply them through Ansible.

Here you have example of what coul be done:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2022/09/02/eliminate-the-pain-of-a-switchover-ha-automatizati

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/power/blogs/nicolae-chirea/2023/08/25/cmdb-ansible-1

Best regards,

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson

------------------------------
Göran Nilsson
------------------------------

Hi Goran,

Not sure this is what you're looking for, but in case, you'll find below 2 lab guides that can be used for self-training. 

These examples focus on some of the IBM i ansible modules available on GitHub and ansible Galaxy (community support), and Red Hat Ansible Collection (Red Hat supported). The ansible control node can be IBM i (IBM Open Source support option)  or Linux (Red Hat support with subscriptions). On top, ansible AWX (free) or Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) is a good solution for ansible access control, audit logs, etc. (mentioned in Lab #2).

These materials can help you get started quicker, but do not replace the official ansible and 'ansible for IBM i' documentation. 

• Lab#1 Ansible and IBM i : Introduction Lab (Feb 2023)
• Lab#2 PTF Management with Ansible (Feb 2023)

Please reach out if any questions.

Hi,

I am curios about automation of certain tasks on the i using Ansible.

Anyone here who has tried out the PTF handling content of "Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - IBM i" on GitHub?
Is it any good? General experiences of Ansible and IBM i?

Thanks,
Göran Nilsson