This article provides a brief walk-through of the Ansible Manager interface and describes the the Ansible roles packaged with Ansible Manager starting in this release.
Main Canvas
Use the table and screen capture below to navigate the main canvas.
| UI Label | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | The left navigation tree view provides a group list of all the Modules, Roles, Playbooks and Devices in your Ansible deployment. |
| 2 | The top toolbar displays the group name (i.e. family) and unit within that collection. A breadcrumb trail allows you to keep track of your location within Ansible Manager. |
| 3 | The main canvas is a card-based user interface. It captures each input within a family and provides a brief description. |
| 4 | The Details icon for each card opens a screen to display a list of configurable parameters and values. Information displayed on the Details screen align with information shown in the RedHat Ansible documentation |
| 5 | Users can "decorate" (enhance) a configuration by augmenting the variables of a module, role, or playbook. A blue triangle denotes user applied decoration. An orange triangle denotes Itential applied decoration. Decoration is stored in the database. |
Version Information, API Documentation & Logout
| UI Label | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Click the stacked bars icon to open a separate dialog box. |
| 2 | Click About to display the version of Ansible Manager and Ansible that is running. Click OK to close the window. |
| 3 | Click API Documentation to open a slide-out panel from the right. The panel provides access to the API documentation for Ansible Manager. |
| 4 | Click Logout to exit Ansible Manager. You will return to the login screen. |
Property Details
| UI Label | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Click the Information icon to display the name and schema type for your Ansible deployment of a module, role, or playbook. For devices, the OS type and device user role is displayed. This information is rendered directly from the RedHat Ansible documentation. |
| 2 | Click Edit to display the JSON schema in Edit mode. |
| 3 | Use Revert to rollback any changes made to the JSON properties for a module, role, playbook or device. This will reset the schema to the original property settings that were shipped with the current installation. |
| 4 | Use the top row of fields to sort/search by various parameters (i.e., name, type, description, etc.). |
API Documentation
| UI Label | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | The slide-out panel for API Documentation can be resized. Hover on the left edge of the panel until the sizing handlebar displays. |
| 2 | The Try it out button allows the user to interact with and run each operation command the API exposes in Ansible Manager. |
| 3 | Click Close at the bottom to close the panel. |
Metadata File - Edit JSON Schema
| UI Label | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Displays the name of the metadata file to be edited. The colored triangle denotes decoration enhancement (i.e, user applied, or Itential). |
| 2 | Use this area to modify properties in the JSON schema. |
| 3 | Use the Save button to save changes made to the JSON schema. |
| 4 | Use the Cancel button to exit Edit mode. Changes made to the JSON schema will not be saved. |
Roles, Modules & Playbooks
Ansible Manager aggregates all of your Ansible modules, roles, and playbooks. Along with this attribute is the ability to decorate or enhance each module, role, and playbook. With decoration, users have the flexibility to write/edit JSON schemas for identifying and modifying metadata such as input parameters, descriptions, or types. Decoration is currently stored in the database.
- Login to Ansible Manager. The main page displays.
- Click the appropriate group (Module, Roles, and Playbooks) from the left navigation menu. The navigation tree expands to display a family of configurable items in your Ansible deployment.
- Click the arrow to expand the family, or select a card from the main canvas.
- From the card view, click the "eye" icon to display details for the selected item such as required parameters and other inputs.
- Click the Edit icon to display the metadata file (JSON schema).
- Modify the metadata file properties, as needed.
- Click Save to apply your changes. Click Cancel to exit the file; changes will not be saved.
