How To Automate Initial Server Setup of Multiple Ubuntu 22.04 Servers Using Ansible

Mayur Chavhan July 14, 2023 Ansible

Automation is a key aspect of modern infrastructure management. It allows you to quickly and easily perform repetitive tasks across multiple servers with minimal human intervention. Ansible is a popular automation tool that enables you to automate the initial server setup of multiple Ubuntu 22.04 servers with ease.

In this guide, we will walk you through the steps to automate the initial server setup of multiple Ubuntu 22.04 servers using Ansible. We will cover the installation of Ansible, creating an inventory file, configuring SSH access, setting up sudo access, and installing some common packages.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, you will need the following:

Multiple Ubuntu 22.04 servers.
A user account with sudo privileges on each server.
Ansible installed on your local machine.

Step 1: Installing Ansible

Ansible is not installed by default on Ubuntu 22.04. To install Ansible on your local machine, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window on your local machine.
Update the package lists and install Ansible with the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ansible

Verify that Ansible is installed by running the following command:

ansible --version

You should see the version of Ansible that you installed.

Step 2: Creating an Inventory File

The inventory file is a list of all the servers that Ansible should manage. This file is written in INI format and can be located anywhere on your local machine. To create an inventory file, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window on your local machine.
Create a new text file with the following command:

nano inventory.ini

Add the IP addresses or hostnames of each server to the file, one per line:

[webserver]
192.168.1.101
192.168.1.102

[database]
192.168.1.103
192.168.1.104

In this example, we have two groups of servers: webserver and database. The IP addresses of the servers in each group are listed below the group name.

Save and close the file.

Step 3: Configuring SSH Access

In order for Ansible to manage your servers, it needs to be able to connect to them using SSH. To configure SSH access, follow these steps:

Generate an SSH key pair on your local machine with the following command:

ssh-keygen

Copy the public key to each server with the following command:

ssh-copy-id username@server_ip_address

Test that you can connect to each server with the following command:

ssh username@server_ip_address

Step 4: Setting Up Sudo Access

In order to perform certain tasks, such as installing packages, Ansible needs to be able to run commands with sudo privileges. To set up sudo access, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window on each server.
Add your user account to the sudo group with the following command:

sudo usermod -aG sudo username

Test that your user account has sudo access with the following command:

sudo whoami

You should see “root” as the output.

Step 5: Installing Common Packages

Now that Ansible is set up and configured to manage your servers, we can install some common packages. To do this, we will create a playbook.

Create a new text file with the following command:

nano playbook.yml

Add the following code to the file:

---
- name: Install common packages
  hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Update package lists
      apt:
        update_cache: yes

    - name: Install packages
      apt:
        name:
          - nano
          - git
          - curl
          - wget

This playbook will update the package lists and install the Nano, Git, Curl, and Wget packages on all servers in the inventory file.

Save and close the file.
Run the playbook with the following command:

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml

Ansible will connect to each server, update the package lists, and install the specified packages.

Step 6: Creating a Custom User

By default, Ubuntu 22.04 comes with a user named “ubuntu”. It is recommended that you create a custom user with a unique username and password for security reasons. To create a new user, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window on each server.
Create a new user with the following command, replacing “newuser” with your desired username:

sudo adduser newuser

Set a password for the new user when prompted.
Add the new user to the sudo group with the following command:

sudo usermod -aG sudo newuser

Test that the new user has sudo access with the following command:

sudo whoami

You should see “root” as the output.

Step 7: Configuring Firewall

A firewall is an essential security tool that prevents unauthorized access to your servers. Ubuntu 22.04 comes with UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) pre-installed. To configure UFW, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window on each server.
Enable UFW with the following command:

sudo ufw enable

Allow SSH access with the following command:

sudo ufw allow ssh

Allow HTTP and HTTPS access (if applicable) with the following command:

sudo ufw allow http
sudo ufw allow https

Verify that the firewall is configured correctly with the following command:

sudo ufw status verbose

You should see the rules that you just configured listed.

Step 8: Configuring Timezone

By default, Ubuntu 22.04 is set to the UTC timezone. To change the timezone, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window on each server.
List the available time zones with the following command:

timedatectl list-timezones

Set the timezone to your desired timezone with the following command, replacing “America/New_York” with your desired timezone:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

Verify that the timezone is set correctly with the following command:

timedatectl

You should see the timezone that you just set listed.

Conclusion

In this guide, we have shown you how to automate the initial server setup of multiple Ubuntu 22.04 servers using Ansible. We covered the installation of Ansible, creating an inventory file, configuring SSH access, setting up sudo access, installing some common packages, creating a custom user, configuring firewall, and configuring timezone. With this knowledge, you can easily automate the setup and configuration of your infrastructure, saving you time and effort.