Install and Setup Ghostjs with Ansible

Ansible is fun but need to be intuitive too !

Objective: Install and setup Ghostjs using ansible-playbook

What does the code do:

1. File: hosts

   list out server's IP to run ansible playbook

   [all]
   18.206.151.166 ansible_ssh_user=ubuntu
   
   

2. File: client.my.cnf.j2

   jinja template concept used..that's what the extension ".j2"

   A simple text file, varibles defined here is replaced when the template

   is rendered.

   Here,using to replace my.cnf at destination with provided password.

   Variables are defined in .yml file

   Make sure no spaces are present it took me a day to figure out the error

   [client]
   user=root
   password={{ mysql_root_password }}
   
   

3. File: config.production.json

   It is ghostjs config file, created upon running ghost setup.

   Instead of running setup and configuring manually, json file is created

   with required details.

   This file is added directly at destination using ansible.

   {
   "url": " Blog URL ",
     "server": {
       "port": 2368,
       "host": "127.0.0.1"
     },
     "database": {
       "client": "mysql",
       "connection": {
         "host": "localhost",
         "user": "root",
         "database": "ghost_prod",
         "password": "your password"
       }
     },
     "mail": {
       "transport": "Direct"
     },
     "logging": {
       "transports": [
         "file",
         "stdout"
       ]
     },
     "process": "systemd",
     "paths": {
       "contentPath": "/var/www/ghost/content"
     },
     "bootstrap-socket": {
       "port": 8000,
       "host": "localhost"
     }
   }
   
   

4. File: ghostinstall.yml

   Ansible playbook to install/update required package, software and setup

   the environment to run ghostjs.

   • calling host file

   - hosts: all
     become: true #become sudo globally
   
   

   • setup variables

    vars:
    mysql_root_password: yourpassword
    dir: /var/www/ghost
   
   

   • install/update required software, packages.

     tasks:
   #upgrades
   - name: Update all packages to the latest version
     apt:
       upgrade: dist
   # Nginx
   - name: Nginx | install
     apt:
       name: nginx
       state: latest
       update_cache: yes
   
   

   • install mysql and other dependent packages to use ansible modulei.e.PyMySQL and some setuptools mentioned below.

    #mysql
   - name: Install mysql-server
     apt:
       name: mysql-server
       state: present
   #PyMySQL
   - name: pymsqli install
     apt:
       name: python-pip
       state: present
   - name: install setuptools
     apt:
       name: '{{ packages }}'
       state: present
     vars:
       packages:
         - python-setuptools
         - python-dev
         - build-essential
   - name: pip
     pip:
       name: PyMySQL
   
   

   • Set root user password.firstly, if my.cnf file exists, mysql-root-password updateelse, replace my.cnf file with the jinja template created before.

     - name: Set root user password
     mysql_user:
       name: root
       password: "{{ mysql_root_password}}"
       check_implicit_admin: true
   - name: Create .my.cnf
     template:
       src: "client.my.cnf.j2"
       dest: "/root/.my.cnf"
       owner: root
       group: root
       mode: 0600
   
   

   • install nodejs and ghost-cli

   - name: Install nodejs
     shell: curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -; sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
   #ghostcli
   - name: Install ghost-cli
     shell: npm i -g ghost-cli
   
   

   • create a directory for ghost and change its permission.

   #ghost install process
   - name: Create ghost directory
     shell: mkdir -p '{{ dir }}'
   - name: Changes permissions
     file:
       path: '{{ dir }}'
       state: directory
       owner: ubuntu
       group: ubuntu
       mode:  '775'
       recurse: yes
   
   

   • Run ghost installinteractive comments are generated for active inputs from user tosetup ghost config file i.e. config.production.jsonsilent the errors and let run ghost install process.proceed to next step.

   - name: finally installing ghostjs
     become: false
     ignore_errors: true
     no_log: true
     shell:  ghost install
     args:
       chdir: '{{ dir }}'
   
   

   • Now manually set up config.production.jsoncreate a file, add the contents and set the permission.

   # ghost config
   - name: create json file
     file:
       path: "/var/www/ghost/config.production.json"
       state: touch
   - name:  config.production.json - contents
     copy:
      src: "config.production.json"
      dest: "/var/www/ghost/config.production.json"
   - name: set file permissions
     file:
      path: "/var/www/ghost/config.production.json"
      state: file
      owner: ubuntu
      group: ubuntu
      mode: '664'
   
   

   • ghost is installed, do ghost start.

   - name: setup systemd
     become: false
     shell: ghost setup systemd
     args:
      chdir: '{{ dir }}'
     tags:
       - system
   # ghost start
   - name: ghost start
     shell: ghost start
     args:
       chdir: '{{ dir }}'
   
   

   Link to my github repository