Ansible Infrastructure Management

Comprehensive infrastructure automation for development environments, server management, and VM provisioning.

📊 Current Status

✅ Completed Infrastructure

• Core System: Base packages, SSH hardening, user management
• Development Environment: Git, Node.js, Python, Docker, modern CLI tools
• Shell Configuration: Zsh + Oh My Zsh + Powerlevel10k + plugins
• Applications: VS Code, Cursor, Brave, LibreOffice, desktop tools
• Monitoring: System monitoring tools + custom scripts (sysinfo, netinfo)
• VPN Mesh: Tailscale integration with automated auth keys
• Security: UFW firewall, fail2ban, SSH hardening
• Maintenance: Automated package updates and system cleanup

🎯 Next Priorities

1. Enhanced monitoring: Grafana + Prometheus dashboard
2. Security hardening: ClamAV antivirus, Lynis auditing, vulnerability scanning
3. Centralized logging: ELK stack for log aggregation
4. CI/CD pipeline: GitLab Runner or Jenkins integration
5. Advanced security: Intrusion detection, automated patching

🚀 Quick Start

# Install dependencies
make bootstrap

# Set up secrets management
make create-vault

# Test configuration (comprehensive)
make test

# Deploy to all hosts (dry run first)
make check
make apply

📚 Documentation

Getting Started

• Initial Setup Guide - First-time setup instructions
• Ansible Vault Guide - Managing secrets securely
• Tailscale VPN Setup - Mesh networking configuration

Reference

• Installed Applications - Complete software inventory
• Makefile Commands - All available make targets
• Architecture Overview - System design and structure

🏗️ Project Structure

ansible/
├── Makefile                    # Task automation
├── ansible.cfg                 # Ansible configuration
├── hosts                       # Inventory file
├── collections/               
│   └── requirements.yml       # Galaxy dependencies
├── group_vars/                # Global variables
│   ├── all.yml               
│   └── all/vault.yml          # Encrypted secrets
├── host_vars/                 # Host-specific configs
├── roles/                     # Ansible roles
│   ├── base/                 # Core system setup
│   ├── development/          # Dev tools
│   ├── docker/               # Container platform
│   ├── monitoring/           # System monitoring
│   ├── tailscale/            # VPN networking
│   └── ...                   # Additional roles
├── playbooks/
│   ├── dev-playbook.yml      # Development setup
│   ├── local-playbook.yml    # Local machine
│   ├── maintenance-playbook.yml
│   └── tailscale-playbook.yml
└── docs/                      # Documentation
    ├── guides/               # How-to guides
    └── reference/            # Technical reference

🎯 Key Features

Infrastructure Management

• Automated Provisioning: Proxmox VM creation and configuration
• Configuration Management: Consistent setup across all machines
• Network Security: Tailscale VPN mesh networking
• System Maintenance: Automated updates and cleanup

Development Environment

• Shell Environment: Zsh + Oh My Zsh + Powerlevel10k
• Container Platform: Docker CE with Compose
• Development Tools: Node.js, Python, Git, build tools
• Code Editors: VS Code, Cursor IDE

Security & Monitoring

• SSH Hardening: Modern crypto, key-only auth, fail2ban
• Firewall: UFW with sensible defaults
• Monitoring Tools: btop, iotop, nethogs, custom dashboards

🧪 Testing & Validation

Comprehensive Testing

make test                    # Full test suite (lint + syntax + validation)
make test-syntax            # Syntax and configuration validation only
make lint                   # Ansible-lint only

Testing Coverage

• Playbook syntax: All main playbooks and infrastructure playbooks
• Role validation: All role test playbooks
• Configuration files: YAML and INI file validation
• Documentation: Markdown syntax and link checking (installed via make bootstrap)
• Linting: Full Ansible best practices validation

🖥️ Managed Hosts

Host	Type	OS	Purpose
dev01	Physical	Debian	Primary development
bottom	Physical	Debian	Secondary development
debianDesktopVM	VM	Debian	Desktop environment
giteaVM	VM	Alpine	Git repository hosting
portainerVM	VM	Alpine	Container management
homepageVM	VM	Debian	Service dashboard

🔧 Common Tasks

# System Maintenance
make maintenance              # Update all systems
make maintenance HOST=dev01   # Update specific host

# Development Setup
make docker                   # Install Docker
make shell                    # Configure shell
make apps                     # Install applications

# Network & Security
make tailscale               # Deploy VPN
make security                # Security hardening
make monitoring              # Deploy monitoring

# Infrastructure
make create-vm               # Create new VM
make status                  # Check connectivity
make facts                   # Gather system info

🛠️ Requirements

Control Machine (where you run Ansible)

• Python 3.x with pipx (recommended) or pip3
• Node.js and npm (for documentation testing)
• SSH access to target hosts
• Ansible Vault password (for secrets)

Target Hosts

• SSH server running
• Python 3.x
• sudo access for the Ansible user

Dependency Management

All project dependencies are managed through standard requirements files:

• requirements.txt - Python packages (ansible, ansible-lint, etc.)
• package.json - Node.js packages (markdown tools)
• collections/requirements.yml - Ansible collections

Setup: Run make bootstrap to install all dependencies automatically.

📝 Contributing

1. Test changes with make check (dry run)
2. Follow existing patterns and naming conventions
3. Update documentation for new features
4. Encrypt sensitive data with Ansible Vault