infra-automation/SYSTEM_INFO_ROLE_SUMMARY.md

System Info Role - Implementation Summary

Overview

Complete Ansible role for comprehensive system information gathering has been created.

Role Location

• Path: /opt/ansible/roles/system_info
• Playbook: /opt/ansible/playbooks/gather_system_info.yml
• Cheatsheet: /opt/ansible/cheatsheets/system_info.md
• Documentation: /opt/ansible/docs/roles/system_info.md

Features Implemented

Hardware Information Gathering

✓ CPU: Model, vendor, cores, threads, frequency, flags, virtualization support ✓ GPU: NVIDIA, AMD, Intel detection with driver information ✓ RAM: Total, used, free, physical modules, hardware details ✓ Disk: LVM, RAID, SSD/HDD detection, SMART status ✓ Network: Interfaces, IP addresses, routes, DNS

Hypervisor Detection

✓ KVM/Libvirt: Version, VMs count, networks, storage pools ✓ Proxmox VE: Version, cluster, VMs, containers, storage ✓ LXD/LXC: Version, containers, storage, networks, cluster ✓ Docker: Version, containers, images count ✓ Podman: Detection and version ✓ VMware ESXi: Detection ✓ Hyper-V: Detection via kernel modules

Output Formats

✓ JSON (structured data export) ✓ Timestamped JSON backups ✓ Human-readable summary text

Storage Location

• Base directory: ./stats/machines/
• Per-host directory: ./stats/machines/<fqdn>/
• Files created:
  • system_info.json - Latest statistics
  • system_info_<epoch>.json - Timestamped backup
  • summary.txt - Human-readable summary

Quick Start

Run on all hosts

ansible-playbook playbooks/gather_system_info.yml

Run on specific host

ansible-playbook playbooks/gather_system_info.yml -l hostname

Selective gathering

# CPU and Memory only
ansible-playbook playbooks/gather_system_info.yml -t system_info,cpu,memory

# Hypervisor detection only
ansible-playbook playbooks/gather_system_info.yml -t system_info,hypervisor

View results

# View JSON statistics
jq . ./stats/machines/<fqdn>/system_info.json

# View human-readable summary
cat ./stats/machines/<fqdn>/summary.txt

# Extract specific information
jq '.cpu.model' ./stats/machines/*/system_info.json
jq '.hypervisor.is_hypervisor' ./stats/machines/*/system_info.json

Available Tags

• system_info - Main role tag
• install - Package installation
• gather - Information gathering
• cpu - CPU information
• gpu - GPU information
• memory - Memory information
• disk - Disk information
• network - Network information
• hypervisor - Hypervisor detection
• export - Export statistics
• validate - Health checks

Role Structure

roles/system_info/
├── defaults/main.yml           # Default variables
├── vars/main.yml               # Role variables
├── tasks/
│   ├── main.yml               # Main orchestration
│   ├── install.yml            # Package installation
│   ├── gather_system.yml      # System information
│   ├── gather_cpu.yml         # CPU details
│   ├── gather_gpu.yml         # GPU detection
│   ├── gather_memory.yml      # Memory information
│   ├── gather_disk.yml        # Disk information
│   ├── gather_network.yml     # Network information
│   ├── detect_hypervisor.yml  # Hypervisor detection
│   ├── export_stats.yml       # JSON export
│   └── validate.yml           # Health checks
├── templates/
│   └── summary.txt.j2         # Summary template
├── meta/main.yml              # Role metadata
├── handlers/main.yml          # Handlers (none needed)
├── tests/
│   ├── test.yml              # Test playbook
│   └── inventory             # Test inventory
└── README.md                  # Complete documentation

Testing

Local testing

cd /opt/ansible/roles/system_info/tests
ansible-playbook -i inventory test.yml

Syntax check

ansible-playbook playbooks/gather_system_info.yml --syntax-check

Dry run

ansible-playbook playbooks/gather_system_info.yml --check

Security Considerations

• Requires sudo/root privileges for hardware information
• Collects serial numbers, UUIDs (sensitive data)
• No credentials or secrets are collected
• Statistics stored on control node only
• Restrict access to statistics directory appropriately

Performance

• Execution time: 30-60 seconds per host
• Read-only operations - no system changes
• Low CPU and memory impact
• Parallel execution supported

Documentation

• Role README: /opt/ansible/roles/system_info/README.md
• Cheatsheet: /opt/ansible/cheatsheets/system_info.md
• Detailed Docs: /opt/ansible/docs/roles/system_info.md

Configuration Examples

Custom statistics directory

- hosts: all
  roles:
    - role: system_info
      vars:
        system_info_stats_base_dir: /var/lib/ansible/stats

Disable specific gathering

- hosts: servers
  roles:
    - role: system_info
      vars:
        system_info_gather_gpu: false
        system_info_gather_network: false

Integration Examples

Query all hypervisors

jq -r 'select(.hypervisor.is_hypervisor == true) | .host_info.fqdn' \
  ./stats/machines/*/system_info.json

Memory usage report

jq -r '"\(.host_info.fqdn): \(.memory.total_mb)MB total, \(.memory.usage_percent)% used"' \
  ./stats/machines/*/system_info.json | column -t

Count total CPU cores

jq -s 'map(.cpu.count.total_cores) | add' \
  ./stats/machines/*/system_info.json

Next Steps

1. Test the role on a sample host
2. Review and adjust default variables if needed
3. Integrate with your inventory management
4. Set up automated collection (cron/AWX/Tower)
5. Create reports and dashboards from collected data

Version

• Role version: 1.0.0
• Created: 2025-01-11
• Compatible with: Ansible >= 2.9
• Tested on: Debian 11/12, Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04, RHEL/Rocky/Alma 8/9

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Generated: $(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC")