Example of creating a jumphost in OpenStack cPouta

A template on how to create a JumpHost in Openstack with 4 instances behind it.

Pre-requisites

• Ansible Playbook tested on macOS Ventura and Ubuntu 22.04:
  • Ansible version 2.15.4
  • Ansible openstack.cloud 2.1.0
  • Python module openstacksdk 1.3.1

For Ubuntu, add the Ansible repo to have the latest version:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible

You must have the openstack.cloud collection installed: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/openstack/cloud/index.html
Type this command:

ansible-galaxy collection install openstack.cloud

and the latest version of openstacksdk for Python: https://pypi.org/project/openstacksdk/

pip install openstacksdk

ansible.posix collection is need for authorized_key module. Install it by typing this command:

ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.posix

You must source your project before launching this playbook:

source project_xxxxxxx

Also, there will be a need to ssh to the newly created instances during the playbook. Create a folder files and copy your public key in this folder and add the key with this command:

ssh-add path/to/your/private_key

For this template, you can create a new key. Just remember to upload it to your cPouta project.

Create a folder keys, add all the public keys you of the users you want to authorize to connect to the different hosts.
During the playbook, it will read those files and add the public keys to the authorized_keys file of the different hosts.

Custom your playbook

In group_vars/all.yaml:

• number_instances: You can edit the number of instances you want behind the jumphost. In this example, we set to 4.
• jumphost_name & instances_name: You can edit the name of the jumphost and the name of the instances.
• os_image: You can edit which Operating System you want to use for the jumphost and the instances. (openstack images list to retrieve all images available).
• user: By default ubuntu. If you want CentOS machines, replace it by cloud-user.
• flavor_jumphost: Choose the flavor you want to use for your jumphost(openstack flavor list to retrieve all flavors available).
• flavor_instances: Choose the flavor you want to use for your instances(openstack flavor list to retrieve all flavors available).
• key_name: Either the name of your ssh key that you use to connect to cPouta instances or the name of the newly created key for this deployment. (Don't forget to upload this newly created key in your cPouta project).
• internal_ips: Edit the list and secure your instances by allowing only few networks to connect through SSH.

Running the playbook

Run the playbook by typing this command:

ansible-playbook main.yaml

It will prompt for the network. Use the command openstack network list to retrieve this information. Usually it's the name of your project (project_xxxx)

Alternatively, you can use this command for running the playbook:

ansible-playbook -e network=project_xxxx main.yaml

Cleanup

To clean everything, run this command:

ansible-playbook -e network=project_xxxx -e state=absent main.yaml