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Running Ansible on ARM infrastructure (like Raspberry Pi or Odroid C1+)
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Running Ansible on ARM infrastructure (like Raspberry Pi or Odroid C1+)

Is anyone running Ansible on an ARM CPU based system (e.g. Raspberry Pi or Odroid C1+)?

Interested in some feedback and pointers before testing such low end dedicated solution (i.e. more secure than a VPS).

Comments

  • Ansible doesn't need a host installed on your boxes. Just install it on your computer, indicate the boxes' IPs, and that's it.

  • aglodekaglodek Member
    edited January 2016

    @yowmamasita said:

    I'm aware, thanks. I was asking about the Ansible admin node. Interested in running it on a low end ARM dedi as opposed to a VPS.

  • @aglodek said:
    I'm aware, thanks. I was asking about the Ansible admin node. Interested in running it on a low end ARM dedi as opposed to a VPS.

    I see. I was checking the PyPi record for dependencies and saw PyYAML and pycrypto to be the only ones with C bindings (everything else are pure Python so they should work).

    If they failed installing via pip, try sudo apt-get install python-crypto python-yaml

    Thanked by 2aglodek ATHK
  • aglodekaglodek Member
    edited January 2016

    Am I to take it nobody has had the idea of running Ansible on such low end dedicated server - as opposed to a VPS - for the extra security...? Really?

  • I run my ansible scripts from my home, via ssh to a raspberry pi which is also here working as a router.

    Thanked by 1aglodek
  • Same here, I run ansible from my workstation laptop (playbooks in git) but use it to control Debian VPSs and a RPi. Agreed that the ansible server (i.e., its private ssh key) is very important, as it has root on every box it manages.

    Thanked by 1aglodek
  • aglodekaglodek Member
    edited January 2016

    @yomero said: I run my ansible scripts from my home, via ssh to a raspberry pi which is also here working as a router.

    So you run Ansible on your home system to control your Raspberry PI - you do not use the RPI to run Ansible to control other boxes...? Have I got that right? I'm looking for someone who has actually installed and runs Ansible on an RPI as the master/controller.

    I agree that running Ansible on a home system/laptop is safest. However, I'm interested in a solution that will be online 24/7 supervising dozens if not 100's of remote hosts and able to react to events/downtime in real time. IMHO a home system does not qualify. I'm looking for a low end dedicated solution and thought of using a RPI (or Odroid C1+ more likely).

  • Go get a Scaleway server for a couple of hours and test it.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    @aglodek said:
    I agree that running Ansible on a home system/laptop is safest. However, I'm interested in a solution that will be online 24/7 supervising dozens if not 100's of remote hosts and able to react to events/downtime in real time. IMHO a home system does not qualify.

    ...but a $25 board running off a thumb drive does? ;-)

  • aglodekaglodek Member
    edited January 2016

    @raindog308 said:

    Point taken ;) However, you left out a very important part of my last post: "...or Odroid C1+ more likely". It's a $37 board, running with eMMC flash storage. Here are the specs:

    http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G143703355573

    EDIT: I mentioned Rpi only because it's more popular and more likely someone here might have used it for such a project. So far, no such luck...

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    aglodek said: Point taken ;) However, you left out a very important part of my last post: "...or Odroid C1+ more likely", with eMMC Flash Storage.

    ...which changes nothing. You're saying you want to manage a network of 100s of hosts using a $25 board running on a photo card.

    How can that even sound like a good idea?

    Nothing wrong with RPi/Odroid/BeagleBone/Soekris/etc. - love those little boxes. But I don't agree that my home PC is less reliable. Seems to me:

    1. If you want to be cheap yet secure, host it at home. It's ansible - who cares if your home network is down for 15 minutes. Or two hours. The point is configuration management, not second-by-second monitoring.

    2. If you need to have true enterprise-grade ansible, then either buy a proper dedicated server, or relax your security slightly and host at AWS/Azure/etc.

    Running off an RPi or Odroid might be slightly more secure but you're not really getting #2.

  • aglodekaglodek Member
    edited January 2016

    @raindog308 said: ...which changes nothing. You're saying you want to manage a network of 100s of hosts using a $25 board running on a photo card.

    Well, while I agree there are situations, where size matters, this is not one of them ;)

    How can that even sound like a good idea?

    >

    Nothing wrong with RPi/Odroid/BeagleBone/Soekris/etc. - love those little boxes. But I don't agree that my home PC is less reliable. Seems to me:

    >

    1. If you want to be cheap yet secure, host it at home. It's ansible - who cares if your home network is down for 15 minutes. Or two hours. The point is configuration management, not second-by-second monitoring.

    Two problems with that. One: as I have already mentioned before, my use case includes minute-by-minute monitoring and Ansible reacting to events in real time. Two: for reasons I can't go into here, this has to be hosted in a datacenter scenario.

    2 If you need to have true enterprise-grade ansible, then either buy a proper dedicated server, or relax your security slightly and host at AWS/Azure/etc.

    >

    Running off an RPi or Odroid might be slightly more secure but you're not really getting #2.

    Point taken. Except that, as already mentioned in my OP, I'm looking for a "low end dedicated solution" and not enterprise grade.

    Thanked by 1raindog308
  • From my experience the RPi is not reliable or performant enough to be managing 100s of hosts. A VM on my local desktop has been far more reliable and secure. Performance is only so-so ;)

  • yomeroyomero Member
    edited January 2016

    aglodek said: use the RPI to run Ansible to control other boxes...?

    Sorry that I confused you. Yes, I login to my rpi via SSH, and use it as a master to control other hosts.

    It is just python stuff, it should work just fine like any x86. And the heavy lifting happens in the remote nodes, not in the master, which just sends ssh commands there. But maybe it depends on how many hosts you need to manage at the same time.

    Thanked by 1aglodek
  • @yomero said: Sorry that I confused you. Yes, I login to my rpi via SSH, and use it as a master to control other hosts.

    Perfect :) That's exactly what I wanted to know, thank you!

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