Ansible Level 04 Day 04: Setup HTTPD and PHP

This document outlines the solution for Ansible Level 04 Day 04. The objective was to write a playbook to install an Apache web server alongside PHP on App Server 1, reconfigure its default DocumentRoot, and deploy a template file.

Table of Contents

1. Task Overview
2. Step-by-Step Solution
   • 1. Verify the Environment
   • 2. Create the Playbook
   • 3. Execute and Validate
3. Deep Dive: Ansible Concepts Used
   • Multi-Package Installation
   • Configuration Management (replace)
   • Order of Operations

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Task Overview

Objective: Deploy and configure a LAMP-style (without DB) stack on App Server 1 using a single playbook.

Requirements: 1. Target: App Server 1 (stapp01). 2. Playbook: ~/playbooks/httpd.yml. 3. Packages: Install httpd and php (default repo versions). 4. Configuration: Change the Apache DocumentRoot in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf to /var/www/html/myroot. 5. Directory: Ensure the directory /var/www/html/myroot actually exists. 6. Template: Copy the existing ~/playbooks/templates/phpinfo.php.j2 template to the new document root as phpinfo.php. Owner/Group must be apache. 7. Service: Start and enable the httpd service. 8. Execution: Run strictly using ansible-playbook -i inventory httpd.yml.

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Step-by-Step Solution

1. Verify the Environment

Before starting, ensure you are in the correct directory and that the inventory and templates exist.

Command:

cd ~/playbooks
ls -l inventory
ls -l templates/phpinfo.php.j2

2. Create the Playbook

Create the playbook to execute the requirements sequentially. We require become: yes because installing packages and modifying files in /etc and /var require root privileges.

Command:

vi httpd.yml

Content:

---
- name: Setup Apache and PHP on App Server 1
  hosts: stapp01
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Install httpd and php packages
      yum:
        name:
          - httpd
          - php
        state: present

    - name: Ensure custom DocumentRoot directory exists
      file:
        path: /var/www/html/myroot
        state: directory
        owner: apache
        group: apache
        mode: '0755'

    - name: Change DocumentRoot path in httpd.conf
      replace:
        path: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
        regexp: 'DocumentRoot "/var/www/html"'
        replace: 'DocumentRoot "/var/www/html/myroot"'

    - name: Change Directory block in httpd.conf
      replace:
        path: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
        regexp: '<Directory "/var/www/html">'
        replace: '<Directory "/var/www/html/myroot">'

    - name: Copy phpinfo template to the new DocumentRoot
      template:
        src: templates/phpinfo.php.j2
        dest: /var/www/html/myroot/phpinfo.php
        owner: apache
        group: apache

    - name: Start and enable httpd service
      service:
        name: httpd
        state: started
        enabled: yes

3. Execute and Validate

Run the playbook using the standard command requested.

Execution Command:

ansible-playbook -i inventory httpd.yml

Expected Output:

PLAY [Setup Apache and PHP on App Server 1] *****************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] **************************************************************
ok: [stapp01]

TASK [Install httpd and php packages] ***********************************************
changed: [stapp01]

TASK [Ensure custom DocumentRoot directory exists] **********************************
changed: [stapp01]

TASK [Change DocumentRoot path in httpd.conf] ***************************************
changed: [stapp01]

TASK [Change Directory block in httpd.conf] *****************************************
changed: [stapp01]

TASK [Copy phpinfo template to the new DocumentRoot] ********************************
changed: [stapp01]

TASK [Start and enable httpd service] ***********************************************
changed: [stapp01]

PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************
stapp01                    : ok=7    changed=6    unreachable=0    failed=0    ...

Manual Verification (Optional): To ensure the setup works, you can curl the server from the jump host.

ansible stapp01 -i inventory -a "curl http://localhost/phpinfo.php"

(If PHP is correctly configured, it will return the HTML output of the phpinfo function).

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Deep Dive: Ansible Concepts Used

Multi-Package Installation

Instead of writing two separate yum tasks for httpd and php, you can pass a list directly to the name parameter in the yum module. This is cleaner and executes faster as Ansible can pass the entire list to the underlying package manager in a single transaction.

Configuration Management (replace)

To change the DocumentRoot safely without completely overwriting the httpd.conf file (which would destroy other default settings), we use the replace module. * We must target both the actual DocumentRoot "/var/www/html" directive and the corresponding <Directory "/var/www/html"> permissions block. * Failing to update the <Directory> block would result in Apache throwing a "403 Forbidden" error when trying to access the new /var/www/html/myroot folder.

Order of Operations

The tasks are intentionally ordered: 1. Packages: httpd must be installed first so that the apache user/group exists, and the /etc/httpd/ config directory is created. 2. Directories: /var/www/html/myroot is created using the newly available apache user. 3. Configs & Files: httpd.conf is modified, and the .php file is placed inside the new directory. 4. Service: Finally, the service is started. If we started the service before changing the config, we would need to add a "handler" to restart Apache after the config changes. By starting it at the very end, it boots up utilizing our modifications immediately.