computer-playbook/inventories/TODO.md

Todo

Implement

Inventories Directory

Purpose

The inventories/ directory defines environment-specific inventory data for Ansible.

Each subdirectory within inventories/ represents a dedicated persona or environment (e.g., enterprise, developer, gamer) and contains the necessary templates and variables to generate the final Ansible inventory and variable files.

This structure allows fully automated and reproducible inventory generation using a Python tool.

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Directory Structure

inventories/
├── <persona-name>/
│   ├── README.md               # Description of the persona or environment
│   ├── inventory.yml.j2        # Jinja2 template for the dynamic inventory file
│   ├── vars.yml.j2             # Jinja2 template for generating group_vars / host_vars
│   └── config.yml              # Metadata and settings for this persona (optional)

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Purpose of Each File

File	Purpose
README.md	Documentation of the persona/environment, included roles, and intended use case.
inventory.yml.j2	Jinja2 template that generates the inventory structure (hosts, groups, variables).
vars.yml.j2	Jinja2 template generating environment-specific variables (used in group_vars or host_vars).
config.yml	Optional metadata file containing settings like acquired personas, feature flags, default variables.

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Recommended Workflow with Python Tool

1. The Python tool scans inventories/<persona> directories.
2. For each persona:
   • Load config.yml (optional).
   • Render vars.yml.j2 → Output: group_vars/all.yml
   • Render inventory.yml.j2 → Output: inventory.yml
   • Recursively acquire and merge dependent personas (defined in config.yml):

# Example: inventories/enterprise/config.yml
acquire_personas:
  - corporate
  - administrator
  - developer

3. Combine all output into a deployable inventory directory:

output/
├── enterprise/
│   ├── inventory.yml
│   └── group_vars/
│       └── all.yml

4. The generated inventory is ready for use:

ansible-playbook -i output/enterprise/inventory.yml site.yml

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Benefits of This Approach

• Personas remain fully modular and reusable.
• No duplication of host/group data.
• Centralized variable generation per persona.
• Automated and consistent inventory generation.
• Easy documentation per persona via README.md.
• Optional Feature Flags or Role Toggles in config.yml.
• Scalable for multi-environment setups.

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Example Python Features

Feature	Description
Auto Inventory Generation	Render inventory.yml and vars.yml from Jinja2 templates.
Recursive Persona Acquisition	Load dependent personas automatically.
Feature Flags	Enable/disable features via config.yml.
Variable Merging	Combine variables from all acquired personas.
Output Directory	Place final inventories in output/<persona> directory.

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Example Command

python generate_inventory.py --persona enterprise --output output/

This will render the enterprise persona, recursively acquire all dependent personas, and generate a fully deployable inventory with variables.