mm_inventory plugin

This plugin generates the inventory from Micetro. It supports reading configuration from both a YAML configuration file and environment variables. If reading from the YAML file, the filename must end with mm_inventory.(yml|yaml), the path in the command would be /path/to/mm_inventory.(yml|yaml). If some arguments in the configuration file are missing, this plugin will try to fill in the missing arguments by reading from environment variables. If reading configurations from environment variables, the path in the command must be @mm_inventory.

Valid configuration filenames are:

  • mm_inventory

  • mmsuite

  • mandm

  • menandmice

  • mandmsuite

  • mm_suite

  • mandm_suite

Options

There are two sets of configuration options, the options for the inventory plugin to function correctly and for Ansible to know how to use the plugin.

Plugin configuration

The mm_inventory plugin is configured through a configuration file, named mm_inventory.yml and the options are:

plugin

Name of the plugin (mm_inventory)

host

Micetro to connect to (http://micetro.example.net)

user

UserID to connect with (apiuser)

password

The password to connect with (apipasswd)

filters

Filter on custom properties, can be more than 1 and should be a list. If multiple filters are given, they act as an and function

ranges

What IP ranges to examine (172.16.17.0/24) Multiple ranges can be given, they act as an or function

Note

When both ranges and filters are supplied that will result in an and function.

Example:

filters:
  - location: home
  - owner: tonk
ranges:
  - 192.168.4.0/24
  - 172.16.17.0/24

Would result in an inventory for all host that have the location: home and owner: tonk custom properties set and are either a member of the 192.168.4.0/24 or 172.16.17.0/24 range.

An example of the mm_inventory.yml file:

plugin: mm_inventory
host: "http://micetro.example.net"
user: apiuser
password: apipasswd
filters:
  - location: London
ranges:
  - 172.16.17.0/24

Environment variables:

The mm_inventory plugin can also be configured through environment variables

export MM_HOST=YOUR_MM_HOST_ADDRESS
export MM_USER=YOUR_MM_USER
export MM_PASSWORD=YOUR_MM_PASSWORD
export MM_FILTERS=YOUR_MM_FILTERS
export MM_RANGES=YOUR_MM_RANGES

When reading configuration from the environment, the inventory path must always be @mm_inventory.

ansible-inventory -i @mm_inventory --list

Ansible configuration

Ansible needs to know about the mm_inventory plugin and also has some extra configuration options. First the mm_inventory plugin needs to be enabled, so Ansible can use it. This is done in the [inventory] section in the ansible.cfg file.

1[inventory]
2enable_plugins   = mm_inventory, host_list, auto
3cache            = yes
4cache_plugin     = jsonfile
5cache_prefix     = mm_inv
6cache_timeout    = 3600
7cache_connection = /tmp/mm_inventory_cache

With the following meaning:

cache:

Switch caching on and off

cache_plugin:

Which caching plugin to use

  • jsonfile

  • yaml

  • pickle

  • …

cache_prefix:

User defined prefix to use when creating the cache files

cache_connection:

Path in which the cache plugin will save the cache files

cache_timeout:

Timeout for the cache in seconds

Now the inventory plugin can be used with Ansible, like:

ansible-inventory -i /path/to/mm_inventory.yml --list

Or set the mm_inventory.yml as the Ansible inventory in the ansible.cfg file.

1inventory = mm_inventory.yml