Deploying RKE2 with Ansible

Deploying RKE2 with Ansible

In this post, I’ll walk you through deploying RKE2 on six VMs using Ansible. I’ll be using an Ansible script from JimsGarage. Before proceeding, make sure you have an Ansible VM set up, as this guide assumes that you do.

Configuring the Ansible Script

1. Configure the hosts.ini File:

   The first step is to add the IP addresses of your VMs to the hosts.ini file located in the inventory directory.

    # Ensure the Ansible host has access to these devices.
    # It's a good idea to snapshot all machines and deploy using cloud-init.
    # Make sure the Ansible machine has the SSH key from the cloud-init VMs.
    # The SSH key should be placed in the .ssh directory and named id_rsa.
   
    [servers]
    server1 ansible_host=192.168.2.211
    server2 ansible_host=192.168.2.221
    server3 ansible_host=192.168.2.231
   
    [agents]
    agent1 ansible_host=192.168.2.212
    agent2 ansible_host=192.168.2.222
    agent3 ansible_host=192.168.2.232
   

2. Configure the all.yaml File:

   Next, modify the all.yaml file located in the /inventory/group_vars/ directory. I recommend not changing the versions of MetalLB and Kube-VIP, as they could be incompatible with other versions, but this configuration works:

    os: "linux"
    arch: "amd64"
   
    kube_vip_version: "v0.8.0"
    vip_interface: eth0
    vip: 192.168.2.240
   
    metallb_version: v0.13.12
    lb_range: 192.168.2.241-192.168.2.250
    lb_pool_name: lb-pool
   
    rke2_version: "v1.29.4+rke2r1"
    rke2_install_dir: "/usr/local/bin"
    rke2_binary_url: "https://github.com/rancher/rke2/releases/download//rke2.linux-amd64"
   
    ansible_user: rke2
    ansible_become: true
    ansible_become_method: sudo
   

3. Ensure SSH Key Availability:

   The SSH key you used when setting up your VMs with cloud-init must be available on the Ansible VM. Place this SSH key in the .ssh directory of the Ansible VM with the name id_rsa. This will allow Ansible to connect to your VMs securely.

    #C opy the SSH key to the Ansible VM .ssh directory
    cp /path/to/your/id_rsa ~/.ssh/id_rsa
    chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
   

   Running the Ansible Script

Once everything is configured, navigate to the directory where site.yaml is located and run the following command:

ansible-playbook site.yaml -i inventory/hosts.ini --key-file ~/.ssh/id_rsa

I hope the script runs smoothly for you on the first try. If you encounter any issues, I recommend seeking support in the JimsGarage Discord channel.