Closes #2262: Allowing users to specify arbitrary CLI arguments for A…

…nsible-based operators (#3374)

* Added `--ansible-args` flag that allows users to pass in arbitrary flags to the ansible binary.

changelog/fragments/arbitraryArgs.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+entries:
+  - description: >
+      Added the "--ansible-args" command-line flag that allows users to specify arbitrary
+      CLI arguments for ansible-based operators that are passed through ansible-runner.
+      For example, passing --ansible-vault as an arbitrary argument allows the user to store
+      sensitive data in encrypted files.
+
+    kind: "addition"
+
+    breaking: false

internal/ansible/flags/flag.go

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ type Flags struct {
 	MetricsAddress          string
 	LeaderElectionID        string
 	LeaderElectionNamespace string
+	AnsibleArgs             string
 }
 
 const AnsibleRolesPathEnvVar = "ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH"
@@ -99,4 +100,9 @@ func (f *Flags) AddTo(flagSet *pflag.FlagSet) {
 			" holding the leader lock (required if running locally with leader"+
 			" election enabled).",
 	)
+	flagSet.StringVar(&f.AnsibleArgs,
+		"ansible-args",
+		"",
+		"Ansible args. Allows user to specify arbitrary arguments for ansible-based operators.",
+	)
 }

internal/ansible/runner/internal/inputdir/inputdir.go

@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ type InputDir struct {
 	Parameters   map[string]interface{}
 	EnvVars      map[string]string
 	Settings     map[string]string
+	CmdLine      string
 }
 
 // makeDirs creates the required directory structure.
@@ -131,6 +132,19 @@ func (i *InputDir) Write() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Trimming off the first and last characters if the command is wrapped by single quotations
+	if strings.HasPrefix(i.CmdLine, string("'")) && i.CmdLine[0] == i.CmdLine[len(i.CmdLine)-1] {
+		i.CmdLine = i.CmdLine[1 : len(i.CmdLine)-1]
+	}
+
+	cmdLineBytes := []byte(i.CmdLine)
+	if len(cmdLineBytes) > 0 {
+		err = i.addFile("env/cmdline", cmdLineBytes)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	// ANSIBLE_INVENTORY takes precedence over our generated hosts file
 	// so if the envvar is set we don't bother making it, we just copy
 	// the inventory into our runner directory

internal/ansible/runner/runner.go

@@ -89,17 +89,17 @@ func roleCmdFunc(path string) cmdFuncType {
 		// check the verbosity since the exec.Command will fail if an arg as "" or " " be informed
 		if verbosity > 0 {
 			return exec.Command("ansible-runner", ansibleVerbosityString(verbosity), "--rotate-artifacts",
-				fmt.Sprintf("%v", maxArtifacts), "--role", roleName, "--roles-path", rolePath, "--hosts",
-				"localhost", "-i", ident, "run", inputDirPath)
+				fmt.Sprintf("%v", maxArtifacts), "--role", roleName, "--roles-path", rolePath,
+				"--hosts", "localhost", "-i", ident, "run", inputDirPath)
 		}
 		return exec.Command("ansible-runner", "--rotate-artifacts",
-			fmt.Sprintf("%v", maxArtifacts), "--role", roleName, "--roles-path", rolePath, "--hosts",
-			"localhost", "-i", ident, "run", inputDirPath)
+			fmt.Sprintf("%v", maxArtifacts), "--role", roleName, "--roles-path", rolePath,
+			"--hosts", "localhost", "-i", ident, "run", inputDirPath)
 	}
 }
 
 // New - creates a Runner from a Watch struct
-func New(watch watches.Watch) (Runner, error) {
+func New(watch watches.Watch, runnerArgs string) (Runner, error) {
 	var path string
 	var cmdFunc, finalizerCmdFunc cmdFuncType
 
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ func New(watch watches.Watch) (Runner, error) {
 		GVK:                 watch.GroupVersionKind,
 		maxRunnerArtifacts:  watch.MaxRunnerArtifacts,
 		ansibleVerbosity:    watch.AnsibleVerbosity,
+		ansibleArgs:         runnerArgs,
 		snakeCaseParameters: watch.SnakeCaseParameters,
 	}, nil
 }
@@ -154,6 +155,7 @@ type runner struct {
 	maxRunnerArtifacts  int
 	ansibleVerbosity    int
 	snakeCaseParameters bool
+	ansibleArgs         string
 }
 
 func (r *runner) Run(ident string, u *unstructured.Unstructured, kubeconfig string) (RunResult, error) {
@@ -188,6 +190,7 @@ func (r *runner) Run(ident string, u *unstructured.Unstructured, kubeconfig stri
 			"runner_http_url":  receiver.SocketPath,
 			"runner_http_path": receiver.URLPath,
 		},
+		CmdLine: r.ansibleArgs,
 	}
 	// If Path is a dir, assume it is a role path. Otherwise assume it's a
 	// playbook path

internal/ansible/runner/runner_test.go

@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func TestNew(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			testWatch := watches.New(tc.gvk, tc.role, tc.playbook, tc.vars, tc.finalizer)
 
-			testRunner, err := New(*testWatch)
+			testRunner, err := New(*testWatch, "")
 			if err != nil {
 				t.Fatalf("Error occurred unexpectedly: %v", err)
 			}

internal/cmd/ansible-operator/run/cmd.go

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ func run(cmd *cobra.Command, f *flags.Flags) {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 	for _, w := range watches {
-		runner, err := runner.New(w)
+		runner, err := runner.New(w, f.AnsibleArgs)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Error(err, "Failed to create runner")
 			os.Exit(1)

test/ansible/build/Dockerfile

@@ -15,4 +15,6 @@ USER root
 RUN chmod -R ug+rwx /tmp/fixture_collection
 USER 1001
 RUN ansible-galaxy collection build /tmp/fixture_collection/ --output-path /tmp/fixture_collection/ \
- && ansible-galaxy collection install /tmp/fixture_collection/operator_sdk-test_fixtures-0.0.0.tar.gz
+ && ansible-galaxy collection install /tmp/fixture_collection/operator_sdk-test_fixtures-0.0.0.tar.gz 
+RUN echo abc123 > /opt/ansible/pwd.yml \
+ && ansible-vault encrypt_string --vault-password-file /opt/ansible/pwd.yml 'thisisatest' --name 'the_secret' > /opt/ansible/vars.yml

test/ansible/deploy/crds/test.example.com_argstest_crd.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+apiVersion: apiextensions.k8s.io/v1
+kind: CustomResourceDefinition
+metadata:
+  name: argstests.test.example.com
+spec:
+  group: test.example.com
+  names:
+    kind: ArgsTest
+    listKind: ArgsTestList
+    plural: argstests
+    singular: argstest
+  scope: Namespaced
+  versions:
+  - name: v1alpha1
+    schema:
+      openAPIV3Schema:
+        type: object
+        x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields: true
+    served: true
+    storage: true
+    subresources:
+      status: {}

test/ansible/molecule/cluster/tasks/args_test.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+- name: Create the test.example.com/v1alpha1.ArgsTest
+  k8s:
+    state: present
+    definition:
+      apiVersion: test.example.com/v1alpha1
+      kind: ArgsTest
+      metadata:
+        name: args-test
+        namespace: '{{ namespace }}'
+      spec:
+        field: value
+    wait: yes
+    wait_timeout: 300
+    wait_condition:
+      type: Running
+      reason: Successful
+      status: "True"
+  register: args_test
+
+- name: Assert sentinel ConfigMap has been created for Molecule Test
+  assert:
+    that: cm.data.msg == "The decrypted value is thisisatest"
+  vars:
+    cm: "{{ q('k8s', api_version='v1', kind='ConfigMap', namespace=namespace,
+    resource_name='args-test').0 }}"

test/ansible/molecule/templates/operator.yaml.j2

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ spec:
               port: 6789
             initialDelaySeconds: 5
             periodSeconds: 3
+          args: ["--ansible-args='--vault-password-file /opt/ansible/pwd.yml'"]
       volumes:
         - name: runner
           emptyDir: {}

test/ansible/playbooks/args.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+---
+- hosts: localhost
+  gather_facts: no
+  collections:
+    - community.kubernetes
+  tasks:
+    - name: Get the decrypted message variable
+      include_vars:
+        file: /opt/ansible/vars.yml
+        name: the_secret
+    - name: Create configmap
+      k8s:
+        definition:
+          apiVersion: v1
+          kind: ConfigMap
+          metadata:
+            name: '{{ meta.name }}'
+            namespace: '{{ meta.namespace }}'
+          data:
+            msg: The decrypted value is {{the_secret.the_secret}}

test/ansible/watches.yaml

@@ -45,3 +45,10 @@
   snakeCaseParameters: false
   vars:
     meta: '{{ ansible_operator_meta }}'
+
+- version: v1alpha1
+  group: test.example.com
+  kind: ArgsTest
+  playbook: playbooks/args.yml
+  vars:
+    meta: '{{ ansible_operator_meta }}'

website/content/en/docs/building-operators/ansible/reference/advanced_options.md

@@ -211,3 +211,51 @@ spec:
     served: true
     storage: true
 ```
+
+## Passing Arbitrary Arguments to Ansible
+
+You are able to use the flag `--ansible-args` to pass an arbitrary argument to the Ansible-based Operator. With this option we can, for example, allow a playbook to run a specific part of the configuration without running the whole playbook:  
+
+```shell
+ansible-operator run --ansible-args='--tags "configuration,packages"'
+```
+```
+ansible-operator run --ansible-args='--skip-tags "notification"'
+```
+Ansible-runner will perform the task relevant to the command specified by the user in the ```---ansible-args``` flag.
+
+
+## Using Ansible-Vault
+
+[Ansible Vault][ansible-vault-doc] allows you to keep sensitive data such as passwords or keys in encrypted files, rather than as plaintext in playbooks or roles. You can specify Ansible-Vault file via an arbitrary argument by using the `--ansible-args` flag. For example, let's assume that a playbook reads in a file `vars.yml` which contains an encrypted text and stores it in a variable `secret`:
+
+```
+---
+- name: Playbook to print debug messages
+  gather_facts: false
+  hosts: localhost
+  tasks:
+    - name: Get the decrypted message variable
+      include_vars:
+        file: vars.yml
+        name: secret
+    - debug:
+        msg: The decrypted value is {{secret.the_secret}}
+```
+
+Now, let's also assume that we have a password file, `pwd.yml`, that contains the password to decrypt the encrypted text. Then, by running the command `ansible-operator run --ansible-args='--vault-password-file pwd.yml'` the operator will read in the encrypted text from the file and perform decryption using the password stored in the `pwd.yml` file:
+
+```
+--------------------------- Ansible Task StdOut -------------------------------
+
+ TASK [debug] ******************************** 
+ok: [localhost] => {
+    "msg": "The decrypted value is DECRYPTED-TEST-VALUE"
+}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+```
+[ansible-vault-doc]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/vault.html
+
+
+