Case Study: Automating Web Application Deployment with Ansible #

Scenario: #

ABC Corporation is a growing e-commerce company that has decided to migrate its web application to a cloud infrastructure for scalability and better resource management. The web application consists of a front-end developed in React.js and a back-end using Node.js. The company has chosen AWS as its cloud provider.

Requirements: #

1. Infrastructure Provisioning:
   • Provision EC2 instances for the web application.
   • Set up a VPC, security groups, and other necessary networking components.
2. Dependency Installation:
   • Install required software dependencies on the EC2 instances, such as Node.js, npm, and any other libraries.
3. Code Deployment:
   • Clone the latest version of the web application code from the company’s Git repository.
   • Build and deploy the front-end and back-end code.
4. Configuration Management:
   • Configure the web servers based on the environment (development, staging, production).
   • Manage application configuration files.
5. Service Management:
   • Start and manage the Node.js services for the web application.
6. Monitoring and Logging:
   • Set up monitoring for the deployed application.
   • Configure logging for better debugging and analysis.

Ansible Solution: #

1. Inventory File:

• Create an Ansible inventory file listing the IP addresses of the target EC2 instances.

2. Playbooks:

• Infrastructure Provisioning Playbook:
  • Use Ansible to provision EC2 instances, configure VPC, and set up security groups.
• Dependency Installation Playbook:
  • Install required software dependencies using Ansible roles.
• Code Deployment Playbook:
  • Use Ansible to clone the latest code from the Git repository, build the application, and deploy it.
• Configuration Management Playbook:
  • Use Ansible to manage configuration files based on the target environment.
• Service Management Playbook:
  • Start and manage Node.js services using Ansible tasks.
• Monitoring and Logging Playbook:
  • Configure monitoring tools and set up logging using Ansible.

3. Roles:

• Common Role:
  • Includes tasks common to all playbooks, like updating the system packages.
• Node.js Role:
  • Installs Node.js and npm on target servers.
• Web Application Role:
  • Handles the deployment of the web application code, including cloning the repository and building the code.
• Configuration Role:
  • Manages configuration files for different environments.
• Service Management Role:
  • Manages the Node.js services on the deployed instances.
• Monitoring and Logging Role:
  • Configures monitoring and logging tools.

4. Variables:

• Use Ansible variables to make playbooks and roles flexible and reusable.

5. Tags:

• Implement tags to allow selective execution of specific tasks or roles.

6. Dynamic Inventory:

• Utilize dynamic inventory to automatically discover and manage EC2 instances.

Benefits: #

1. Consistency:
   • Ensures a consistent environment across different stages (dev, staging, prod).
2. Efficiency:
   • Reduces manual intervention, saving time and effort.
3. Scalability:
   • Easily scales to manage a larger number of servers or environments.
4. Reusability:
   • Playbooks and roles can be reused for similar projects or environments.
5. Maintainability:
   • Simplifies maintenance and updates through modular roles and playbooks.
6. Audibility:
   • Provides a clear audit trail of changes made to the infrastructure.

In summary, Ansible facilitates the automation and management of the entire deployment lifecycle, making it an efficient and scalable solution for ABC Corporation’s web application deployment on AWS.