Ansible Infrastructure Management

A collection of Ansible playbooks for managing and automating server infrastructure.

Overview

This repository contains production-ready Ansible playbooks for system administration tasks including package management, Docker container monitoring, and server maintenance.

Requirements

• Ansible 2.9+
• Python 3.x on target hosts
• SSH access to target servers

Project Structure

.
├── ansible.cfg              # Ansible configuration
├── inventory.ini            # Host inventory
├── playbooks/
│   ├── ping-hosts.yml               # Host connectivity testing
│   ├── reboot-hosts.yml             # Server reboot management
│   ├── check-docker-containers.yml  # Docker container monitoring
│   ├── check-open-ports.yml         # Open port scanning
│   ├── export-mysql-databases.yml   # MySQL database backup
│   ├── export-mariadb-databases.yml # MariaDB database backup
│   ├── export-postgres-databases.yml # PostgreSQL database backup
│   ├── export-packages-inventory.yml # Package inventory export
│   ├── update-packages.yml          # System package updates
│   ├── backup-docker-volumes.yml    # Docker volume backups
│   ├── cleanup-old-backups.yml      # Backup retention cleanup
│   └── delete-test-folder.yml       # Test folder cleanup
└── playbooks/output/        # Generated reports (JSON)

Playbooks

ping-hosts.yml

Tests connectivity to all hosts in the inventory and gathers basic system information.

ansible-playbook playbooks/ping-hosts.yml

Features:

• Verifies SSH connectivity to all hosts
• Gathers minimal host facts
• Displays hostname, IP, OS version, and kernel information

---

reboot-hosts.yml

Performs controlled server reboots with wait-for-reconnection logic.

ansible-playbook playbooks/reboot-hosts.yml

Features:

• Graceful system reboot
• Automatic reconnection verification
• Configurable reboot timeout
• Post-reboot connectivity checks

---

check-docker-containers.yml

Monitors Docker containers across hosts and checks for available image updates.

ansible-playbook playbooks/check-docker-containers.yml

Features:

• Lists all running containers
• Checks for newer image versions
• Exports detailed JSON reports

---

check-open-ports.yml

Scans all servers for open TCP and UDP ports and generates detailed reports.

ansible-playbook playbooks/check-open-ports.yml

Features:

• Scans TCP and UDP listening ports
• Identifies processes bound to each port
• Supports both ss and netstat (automatic fallback)
• Exports detailed JSON reports per host

---

export-mysql-databases.yml

Exports MySQL/MariaDB databases to backup files using mysqldump. Fully Semaphore-compatible with extensive variable configuration.

# Export all databases
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mysql-databases.yml

# Export with authentication
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mysql-databases.yml -e "mysql_username=backup mysql_pass=secret"

# Export specific databases
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mysql-databases.yml -e "databases_to_backup=['wordpress','nextcloud']"

# With retention policy
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mysql-databases.yml -e "backup_retention_days=30 minimum_backups=5"

Features:

• Exports all databases or specific ones
• Automatic compression with configurable levels
• Includes routines, triggers, and events
• Uses single-transaction for consistency
• Organized backups by database name with timestamps
• Saves to /mnt/share/backup/mysql/<databaseName>/
• Automatic cleanup with retention policies
• Fully variable-driven for Semaphore integration
• Socket or TCP connection support
• Comprehensive error handling

Semaphore Setup: See export-mysql-databases-vars.md for complete variable documentation and Semaphore configuration examples.

---

export-mariadb-databases.yml

Exports MariaDB databases to backup files using mariadb-dump. Fully Semaphore-compatible with extensive variable configuration.

# Export all databases
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mariadb-databases.yml

# Export with authentication
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mariadb-databases.yml -e "mariadb_username=backup mariadb_pass=secret"

# Export specific databases
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-mariadb-databases.yml -e "databases_to_backup=['wordpress','nextcloud']"

Features:

• Native MariaDB support using mariadb-dump
• Exports all databases or specific ones
• Automatic compression with configurable levels
• Organized backups by database name with timestamps
• Retention policy with minimum backup guarantees
• Fully variable-driven for Semaphore integration

---

export-postgres-databases.yml

Exports PostgreSQL databases to backup files using pg_dump. Fully Semaphore-compatible with extensive variable configuration.

# Export all databases
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-postgres-databases.yml

# Export with authentication
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-postgres-databases.yml -e "postgres_username=backup postgres_pass=secret"

# Export specific databases
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-postgres-databases.yml -e "databases_to_backup=['webapp','analytics']"

# With retention policy
ansible-playbook playbooks/export-postgres-databases.yml -e "backup_retention_days=30 minimum_backups=5"

Features:

• Full pg_dump support with configurable format (plain/custom)
• Automatic database discovery or explicit list
• Compression with configurable gzip levels (1-9)
• Include/exclude CREATE DATABASE and DROP statements
• Schema-only or data-only backup options
• Retention policy with minimum backup guarantees
• Saves to /mnt/storage/databases/postgresql/<databaseName>/
• Detailed backup summary with file sizes
• Socket or TCP connection support

---

backup-docker-volumes.yml

Backs up all Docker volumes to compressed tar archives.

# Backup all volumes
ansible-playbook playbooks/backup-docker-volumes.yml

# Custom backup directory
ansible-playbook playbooks/backup-docker-volumes.yml -e "backup_dir=/custom/path"

# Exclude specific volumes
ansible-playbook playbooks/backup-docker-volumes.yml -e "exclude_volumes=['cache_vol','temp_data']"

Features:

• Backs up all Docker volumes to compressed .tar.gz archives
• Each volume gets its own folder with timestamped backups
• Uses Alpine container for portable, permission-safe backups
• Supports excluding specific volumes
• Skips hosts without Docker installed
• Saves to /mnt/storage/docker_volumes/<volume_name>/

Backup Structure:

/mnt/storage/docker_volumes/
├── myvolume1/
│   ├── myvolume1-2025-12-06_0451.tar.gz
│   └── myvolume1-2025-12-07_0300.tar.gz
├── myvolume2/
│   └── myvolume2-2025-12-06_0451.tar.gz
└── ...

---

cleanup-old-backups.yml

Cleans up old backup files based on a grandfather-father-son retention policy. Fully Semaphore-compatible with all options configurable via variables.

# Preview what would be deleted (dry run)
ansible-playbook playbooks/cleanup-old-backups.yml -e "dry_run=true"

# Run with default retention (7 daily, 4 weekly, 12 monthly)
ansible-playbook playbooks/cleanup-old-backups.yml

# Custom retention policy
ansible-playbook playbooks/cleanup-old-backups.yml -e "keep_daily_days=14 keep_weekly_weeks=8 keep_monthly_months=24"

# Different backup directory
ansible-playbook playbooks/cleanup-old-backups.yml -e "backup_directory=/custom/backup/path"

Features:

• Grandfather-Father-Son retention policy:
  • Daily: Keep all backups from the last 7 days (configurable)
  • Weekly: Keep one backup per week for the last 4 weeks (configurable)
  • Monthly: Keep one backup per month for the last 12 months (configurable)
• Applies to all backup types:
  • MariaDB database exports
  • MySQL database exports
  • PostgreSQL database exports
  • Docker volume backups
• Dry run mode to preview deletions without removing files
• Minimum backup guarantee (always keeps at least 1 backup per item)
• Detailed summary of files kept and deleted
• Runs locally on the Ansible controller

Semaphore Variables:

Variable	Default	Description
keep_daily_days	7	Days to keep daily backups
keep_weekly_weeks	4	Weeks to keep weekly backups
keep_monthly_months	12	Months to keep monthly backups
minimum_backups	1	Minimum backups to always keep
dry_run_mode	false	Preview mode (no deletions)
backup_directory	/mnt/storage	Base backup directory
enable_verbose	true	Show detailed output

---

update-packages.yml

Updates and upgrades system packages on Debian/Ubuntu hosts.

ansible-playbook playbooks/update-packages.yml

Features:

• Updates apt cache
• Performs dist-upgrade
• Cleans up unused packages

---

export-packages-inventory.yml

Exports a complete inventory of installed packages to JSON format.

ansible-playbook playbooks/export-packages-inventory.yml

Features:

• Gathers package facts from all hosts
• Exports to JSON with metadata
• Includes OS and version information

---

delete-test-folder.yml

Safely removes contents from a specified test directory.

ansible-playbook playbooks/delete-test-folder.yml -e "target_folder=/path/to/folder"

Output

Playbook reports are saved to playbooks/output/:

• containers-<hostname>.json - Docker container reports
• packages-<hostname>.json - Package inventory exports

Database backups are saved to:

• MySQL: /mnt/storage/databases/mysql/<databaseName>/
• MariaDB: /mnt/storage/databases/mariadb/<databaseName>/
• PostgreSQL: /mnt/storage/databases/postgresql/<databaseName>/

Docker volume backups are saved to:

• Docker Volumes: /mnt/storage/docker_volumes/<volumeName>/

Files are timestamped: <name>-<timestamp>.tar.gz or <name>_<timestamp>.sql.gz

License

Private repository - All rights reserved.