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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) is a complete suite for multilevel automation tasks in on-premises, cloud, edge, and other environments. It also handles different types of assets, from operating systems to network devices. The platform is modular and consists of at least 8 different components you can integrate according to your needs. The primary component is the automation controller. From there, you can implement and combine the other pieces.

In this article, I focus on one of those pieces—the Private Automation Hub—and show you how to get started with it.

Note: If you have already read my colleague Ashraf Hassan's great article Introducing the new Ansible Private Automation Hub, then you know what it is and how its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model works. I encourage you to read this article to learn some core concepts and then come back here to continue the step-by-step process of configuring your own Hub.

[ Get started with automation controller in this hands-on interactive lab. ]

Ansible Private Automation Hub deployment

To keep this content as objective and concise as possible, I won't go into detail about the steps needed to install Private Automation Hub in your environment. I suggest you follow the available official documentation for that information. Instead, I'll share which deployment inventory file variables I enabled and how I set them up.

[root@controller ansible-automation-platform-setup-2.3-1]# pwd

/opt/ansible-automation-platform-setup-2.3-1

[root@controller ansible-automation-platform-setup-2.3-1]# grep hub inventory | grep -v '#'

[automationhub]
ansiblehub.example.local
automationhub_admin_password='mypass'
automationhub_pg_host='ansiblecontroller.example.local'
automationhub_pg_port=5432
automationhub_pg_database='automationhub'
automationhub_pg_username='automationhub'
automationhub_pg_password='mypass'
automationhub_pg_sslmode='prefer'
automationhub_upgrade='true'
automationhub_api_token='mytoken'

Remember that this is a lab environment and that other configuration options are available, especially in a production environment. Another useful note is that my automation controller is also my database host, and I refer to it as such.

Finally, be aware that Private Automation Hub integrates with a Red Hat Single Sign-On (RH-SSO) by default, whether implemented alongside AAP or an external RH-SSO. In my case, I removed this integration for my own benefit, but don't do this in production.  

Now that you have some context on the environment, it's time to configure the Private Automation Hub as an on-premises repository for Ansible Collections (it can also be a repository for other resources). It replaces Ansible Galaxy (which is upstream) or the Private Automation Hub in the SaaS model.

Configure and sync the repositories

With the Private Automation Hub installed, configured, and running, access its URL address and use the side menu on the left to navigate to the Repository Management option under the Collections option, as shown below.

Automation Hub Repo Management Screen

Two options are available: community (for upstream content) and rh-certified (for Red Hat-certified content). I'll configure both. Click on the ellipses (...) icon to open an editing window.

Automation Hub Edit Remote Repo Screen

Start with the community repository. Fill in the following values in this window:

  • Name: The repository name (automatically filled)
  • URL: The repository URL, in this case https://galaxy.ansible.com/api/
  • YAML requirements: A YAML file with the names of the collections you want to import. Below is an example:
---
# requirements.yml
# This requirements file lists all the collections from 
# the red hat ansible automation hub that we want installed on Controller

collections:
  - community.general
  - ansible.posix
  • Username:: Your Ansible Galaxy username
  • Password: Your Ansible Galaxy password

Save the file and go to the next one. Use it to configure the rh-certified repository, shown below.

Automation Hub Edit Remote RH Certified Repo

Fill in the following values in this window:

  • Name: The repository name (automatically filled)
  • URL: The repository URL, in this case https://console.redhat.com/api/automation-hub/
  • Token: The token you create in the Red Hat cloud portal (see the official documentation to create this token)
  • SSO URL: The URL to authenticate clients to download content from Private Automation Hub, in this case, https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid-connect/token
  • Username: Your Private Automation Hub username
  • Password: Your Private Automation Hub password

Once you finish, click the Sync button on both repositories and wait for it to finish synchronizing with the remote repositories. The status will show as "Running" while synchronization takes place.

Automation Hub repo management running

When both finish, the status changes to "Completed."

Automation Hub repo management completed

Navigate to the side menu again in the collections option and sub-option of the same name and change "Filter by repository" to "Red Hat Certified" to see all the new certified repositories available for on-premises use through Private Automation Hub.

Automation Hub Red Hat certified collections

If you want more details about a specific collection, navigate to it, click on it, and information about it will be available. This approach works for modules, installation, documentation, dependencies, and more. See an example of the redhat.satellite collection below.

Automation Hub Satellite collection details

To use this collection, install it on the target machine using the command given in the installation field. The Private Automation Hub will deliver it to the machine. I'll create a prerequisite configuration for this and then install a couple of example collections.

[ Need more on Ansible? Take a no-cost technical overview course from Red Hat. Ansible Essentials: Simplicity in Automation Technical Overview.

Define Private Automation Hub as a content source

As a good security and administration practice, first create a token to connect from the target machine on Private Automation Hub to download the desired collections. To do this, go to the Collection option again in the side menu and then to the API-token-management option. Click the Load-token option to generate a new token. Keep this token secure. If you lose it, you must generate a new one and every time you do, the previous token is erased. For obvious reasons, I won't show my generated token, but only the window where you can generate yours.

Automation Hub API token management

Go to the Collection option again and select the Repository-management option and you'll see the list of synced and locally available repositories.

Automation Hub repo management obtain URL

To use one or more of these repositories on your target machines, click on the Copy icon in the field under the CLI-configuration option. It will copy the parameters and configuration needed to the target machine. With this information, go to the desired target machine, edit the /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg file, and paste the content you copied from Private Automation Hub so that this configuration is globally available on your system. As a demo, I copied it from the rh-certified and community repositories. 

# cat /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg | grep -v '#'

[galaxy]
server_list = rh-certified_repo, community_repo

[galaxy_server.rh-certified_repo]
url=https://ansiblehub.example.local/api/galaxy/content/rh-certified/
token=mytoken

[galaxy_server.community_repo]
url=https://ansiblehub.example.local/api/galaxy/content/community/
token=mytoken

Done! I have now met all the requirements to start using these collections on the target machine. It's time to test it.

Pull and install collections from Private Automation Hub

If you're already used to doing this with Ansible Galaxy, the process is exactly the same. The example below shows the installation of the redhat.satellite collection from the certified repository and the forced reinstallation of the ansible.posix collection from the upstream repository, both configured in my Private Automation Hub as follows.

# ansible-galaxy collection install redhat.satellite

Starting galaxy collection install process
Process install dependency map
Starting collection install process
Downloading https://ansiblehub.example.local/api/galaxy/v3/plugin/ansible/content/rh-certified/collections/artifacts/redhat-satellite-3.9.0.tar.gz to /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-4150manjntxi/tmpngxsrxpt/redhat-satellite-3.9.0-59s7m38e
[WARNING]: The GnuPG keyring used for collection signature verification was not configured but signatures were provided by the Galaxy server to
verify authenticity. Configure a keyring for ansible-galaxy to use or disable signature verification. Skipping signature verification.
Installing 'redhat.satellite:3.9.0' to '/root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/redhat/satellite'
redhat.satellite:3.9.0 was installed successfully

# ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.posix --force

Starting galaxy collection install process
Process install dependency map
Starting collection install process
Downloading https://ansiblehub.example.local/api/galaxy/v3/plugin/ansible/content/rh-certified/collections/artifacts/ansible-posix-1.5.1.tar.gz to /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-44409w0lnbxs/tmperthobvl/ansible-posix-1.5.1-peo4wva5
[WARNING]: The GnuPG keyring used for collection signature verification was not configured but signatures were provided by the Galaxy server to
verify authenticity. Configure a keyring for ansible-galaxy to use or disable signature verification. Skipping signature verification.
Installing 'ansible.posix:1.5.1' to
'/root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ansible/posix'
ansible.posix:1.5.1 was installed successfully

# ansible-galaxy collection list

# /root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections
Collection                  Version
--------------------------- -------
ansible.posix               1.5.1  
redhat.satellite            3.9.0  

Now that I have both collections installed, I can start using them. For example, I could check which modules I have available for each, as shown below.

# ansible-doc -l | grep ansible.posix

[WARNING]: Collection redhat.insights does not support Ansible version 2.14.0
ansible.posix.acl                                         Set and retrieve ...
ansible.posix.at                                          Schedule the exec...
ansible.posix.authorized_key                              Adds or removes a...
ansible.posix.firewalld                                   Manage arbitrary ...
ansible.posix.firewalld_info                              Gather informatio...
ansible.posix.mount                                       Control active an...
ansible.posix.patch                                       Apply patch files...
ansible.posix.rhel_facts                                  Facts module to s...
ansible.posix.rhel_rpm_ostree                             Ensure packages e...
ansible.posix.rpm_ostree_upgrade                          Manage rpm-ostree...
ansible.posix.seboolean                                   Toggles SELinux b...
ansible.posix.selinux                                     Change policy and...
ansible.posix.synchronize                                 A wrapper around ...
ansible.posix.sysctl                                      Manage entries in…

# ansible-doc -l | grep redhat.satellite

[WARNING]: Collection redhat.insights does not support Ansible version 2.14.0
redhat.satellite.activation_key                           Manage Activation...
redhat.satellite.architecture                             Manage Architectu...
redhat.satellite.auth_source_ldap                         Manage LDAP Authe...
redhat.satellite.bookmark                                 Manage Bookmarks 
redhat.satellite.compute_attribute                        Manage Compute At...
redhat.satellite.compute_profile                          Manage Compute Pr...
redhat.satellite.compute_resource                         Manage Compute Re...
redhat.satellite.config_group                             Manage (Puppet) C...
redhat.satellite.content_credential                       Manage Content Cr...
redhat.satellite.content_export_info                      List content expo...
redhat.satellite.content_export_library                   Manage library co...
redhat.satellite.content_export_repository                Manage repository...
redhat.satellite.content_export_version                   Manage content vi...
redhat.satellite.content_upload                           Upload content to...
redhat.satellite.content_view                             Manage Content Vi...
redhat.satellite.content_view_filter                      Manage Content Vi...
redhat.satellite.content_view_filter_info                 Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.content_view_filter_rule                 Manage content vi...
redhat.satellite.content_view_filter_rule_info            Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.content_view_info                        Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.content_view_version                     Manage Content Vi...
redhat.satellite.content_view_version_info                Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.discovery_rule                           Manage Host Disco...
redhat.satellite.domain                                   Manage Domains   
redhat.satellite.domain_info                              Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.external_usergroup                       Manage External U...
redhat.satellite.global_parameter                         Manage Global Par...
redhat.satellite.hardware_model                           Manage Hardware M...
redhat.satellite.host                                     Manage Hosts     
redhat.satellite.host_collection                          Manage Host Colle...
redhat.satellite.host_errata_info                         Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.host_info                                Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.host_power                               Manage Power Stat...
redhat.satellite.hostgroup                                Manage Hostgroups
redhat.satellite.hostgroup_info                           Get information a...
redhat.satellite.http_proxy                               Manage HTTP Proxi...
redhat.satellite.image                                    Manage Images    
redhat.satellite.installation_medium                      Manage Installati...
redhat.satellite.job_invocation                           Invoke Remote Exe...
redhat.satellite.job_template                             Manage Job Templa...
redhat.satellite.lifecycle_environment                    Manage Lifecycle ...
redhat.satellite.location                                 Manage Locations 
redhat.satellite.operatingsystem                          Manage Operating ...
redhat.satellite.organization                             Manage Organizati...
redhat.satellite.organization_info                        Get information a...
redhat.satellite.os_default_template                      Manage Default Te...
redhat.satellite.partition_table                          Manage Partition ...
redhat.satellite.product                                  Manage Products  
redhat.satellite.provisioning_template                    Manage Provisioni...
redhat.satellite.puppet_environment                       Manage Puppet Env...
redhat.satellite.puppetclasses_import                     Import Puppet Cla...
redhat.satellite.realm                                    Manage Realms    
redhat.satellite.redhat_manifest                          Interact with a R...
redhat.satellite.repository                               Manage Repositori...
redhat.satellite.repository_info                          Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.repository_set                           Enable/disable Re...
redhat.satellite.repository_set_info                      Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.repository_sync                          Sync a Repository...
redhat.satellite.resource_info                            Gather informatio...
redhat.satellite.role                                     Manage Roles     
redhat.satellite.scap_content                             Manage SCAP conte...
redhat.satellite.scap_tailoring_file                      Manage SCAP Tailo...
redhat.satellite.setting                                  Manage Settings  
redhat.satellite.setting_info                             Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.smart_class_parameter                    Manage Smart Clas...
redhat.satellite.smart_proxy                              Manage Smart Prox...
redhat.satellite.status_info                              Get status info  
redhat.satellite.subnet                                   Manage Subnets   
redhat.satellite.subnet_info                              Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.subscription_info                        Fetch information...
redhat.satellite.subscription_manifest                    Manage Subscripti...
redhat.satellite.sync_plan                                Manage Sync Plans
redhat.satellite.templates_import                         Sync Templates fr...
redhat.satellite.user                                     Manage Users     
redhat.satellite.usergroup                                Manage User Group...

You can use Ansible playbooks to do this setup and download collections automatically on other machines in your environment.

Wrap up

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform provides a complete and modular suite for all types of automation. One of its modular services is Private Automation Hub, which you can deploy in the on-premises model. That way, you can have all the necessary content—like collections—available to your environment in a controlled way. Private Automation Hub also provides many other features, but those are subjects for other articles.


About the author

Alexon has been working as a Senior Technical Account Manager at Red Hat since 2018, working in the Customer Success organization focusing on Infrastructure and Management, Integration and Automation, Cloud Computing, and Storage Solutions. He is a part of the TAM Practices LATAM team based in São Paulo, Brazil, where his job is partnering with, advocating, trust-advising, and supporting customers in their success goals while making use of the complete portfolio. He also contributes to produce and enhance documentation, knowledge-base articles, blog posts, presentations, webinars, and workshops. He is a member of numerous communities in addition to the Sudoers, like Red Hat Academy and Red Hat Accelerators. When he’s not at work, he enjoys spending quality time with his family (wife, daughter, and cat) and participating in several volunteer jobs.

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