Getting rid of configuration task lists?

[ipspace]

After almost exactly five years, we have a single (rarely used, not much worked-on) device that uses Ansible task lists for the configuration. Thanks to @a-v-popov we also have an alternate solution (or a workaround, whatever you want to call it) in #2271 (#2271 (reply in thread))

I would love to get rid of the "using configuration task lists" functionality because it just makes my life miserable every time I have to touch the Ansible playbooks. Is anyone willing to migrate the little Fortinet functionality we have into configuration templates?

Any volunteers @a-v-popov @sdargoeuves @DanPartelly ?

[sdargoeuves]

Maybe it's time for me to dive into the code to understand how this will work. That would be the first step before trying to add a new vendor in some (distan?) future.
I'll have a look!

[ipspace]

Thanks a million!

We already have the generic module call that would need to be used for "deploy-config" task thanks to @a-v-popov. The "only" thing that needs to be done are the configuration templates that would replace the current task lists.

[sdargoeuves]

Before I start going a wrong direction, I would like to ensure I understand correctly the task ahead, as I am still wrapping my head around the magic behind the netlab up

Is the idea to remove (and convert to jinja2) the two files under netsim/ansible/tasks/fortinet.fortios.fortios/ : initial.yml and ospf.yml

Deploy-config

Create the file netsim/ansible/tasks/deploy-config/fortinet.fortios.fortios.yml and use something like this (not tested yet)

- name: "fortinet.fortios.fortios_config: deploying {{ netsim_action }} from {{ config_template }}"
  fortinet.fortios.fortios_monitor:
      selector: upload.system.config-script
      params:
        filename: set_initial_config
        file_content: "{{ lookup('template', {{ config_template }}) | b64encode }}"
  tags: [ print_action, always ]
  register: fortios_output

initial.yml

then create the Jinja2 template file: netsim/ansible/templates/initial/fortinet.fortios.fortios.j2

I have already a potential challenge with the vdom configuration, as the current playbook is waiting for 60s after applying the multi vdom configuration. This is due to the fact the device reboots or if it doesn't reboot, some services might restarts which required the addition of the pause, I can't remember exactly.
I am not sure how to deal with this when pushing the configuration this way, I will need to test to see how it works, maybe the pause can be added after applying the configuration (if needed)

ospf.yml

and the Jinja2 template file: netsim/ansible/templates/ospf/fortinet.fortios.fortios.j2

---

At this stage I would really appreciate some high level guidance, to check that I am looking in the right direction, before getting deeper into it.
Many thanks!

[ipspace]

Before I start going a wrong direction, I would like to ensure I understand correctly the task ahead

I would say you're spot on

as I am still wrapping my head around the magic behind the netlab up

It's actually the magic behind the Ansible playbook started by netlab initial 😎

Is the idea to remove (and convert to jinja2) the two files under netsim/ansible/tasks/fortinet.fortios.fortios/ : initial.yml and ospf.yml

Yes.

Create the file netsim/ansible/tasks/deploy-config/fortinet.fortios.fortios.yml and use something like this (not tested yet)

Yes.

then create the Jinja2 template file: netsim/ansible/templates/initial/fortinet.fortios.fortios.j2

Yes.

I have already a potential challenge with the vdom configuration, as the current playbook is waiting for 60s after applying the multi vdom configuration.

In that case, keep the initial.yml in netsim/ansible/tasks/fortinet.fortios.fortios/ (similar to what we do for vMX or FRR containers), configure VDOM in it, and then use the generic "deploy-config" to deploy the rest of the configuration template.

You could either copy the fortinet.fortios.fortios_monitor task into initial.yml or include deploy-config/fortinet.fortios.fortios.yml task. The path to use in the include-task directive might be a bit counterintuitive; relative paths never worked for me, but maybe tasks/deploy-config/fortinet.fortios.fortios.yml would.

Even though you haven't got rid of the initial configuration task, this would simplify the playbooks because we could safely assume that every device has a device configuration template for every operation we want to perform.

and the Jinja2 template file: netsim/ansible/templates/ospf/fortinet.fortios.fortios.j2

Correct.

Thanks a million!

[sdargoeuves]

Amazing, thank you so much, now let the fun begin!!

[sdargoeuves]

PR: #2864

[sdargoeuves]

#2864 was merged