jinja2_challenge.md

Jinja2 Morning Warmup!

Using the template module in Ansible, there are MANY things we can render with Jinja! A practical example might be something like a switch config. Using the text below, create a new template that will contain a Cisco IOS switch configuration template.

student@bchd:~$ mkdir -p ~/mycode/templates/

student@bchd:~$ vim ~/mycode/templates/baseIOS.conf.j2

!=== {{ switchname }} ===!

!--- IOS config ---!
enable
configure terminal
hostname {{ switchname }}

!--- MGMT ---!
username {{ username }} secret alta3
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 {{ defaultgateway }}
interface Management 1
ip address {{ switchIP }} {{ netmask }}
mtu {{ mtusize }}
exit

!--- SSH ---!
management ssh
  idle-timeout 0
  authentication mode keyboard-interactive
  server-port 22
  no fips restrictions
  no hostkey client strict-checking
  no shutdown
  login timeout 120
  log-level info
exit
exit
write memory

Now create a file that will contain the data you pass to this template!

student@bchd:~$ mkdir -p ~/mycode/vars/

student@bchd:~$ vim ~/mycode/vars/challengevars.yml

---
switchname: sw_1
username: admin
defaultgateway: 5.6.7.8
switchIP: 1.2.3.4
netmask: 255.255.255.0
mtusize: 1450

THE CHALLENGE

Create a playbook that:

• uses the template module (make sure it's in the ~/mycode directory!)
• uses localhost as your host
• populate the switch config file above with data from challengevars.yml
• save the completed config file to your localhost machine!

BONUS

Make the new file's name unique! Include the name of the switch somewhere in the file name.

Solution:

   dest: "{{switchname}}.cfg"

SUPER BONUS

Suppose one of the keys is not provided (such as, there is no value for mtusize or switchIP). Figure out a way to pass a default value instead! It doesn't matter what the default value is. You can test this by removing one of the lines from challengevars.yml.

Solution:

Check out the | default filter! https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_filters.html#providing-default-values