Ambari Ansible Role

Ansible role for deploying Apache Ambari Server and Agents using either repository or tarball installation methods.

Requirements

• Ansible 2.9+
• Target hosts running:
  • RHEL/CentOS 7/8
  • Rocky Linux 8/9
  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS (recommended)
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS (legacy support)
• SSH access to target hosts
• Internet connectivity for package downloads
• For Ambari 3.0.0: PostgreSQL or MySQL 8.0 database (automatically installed by role)

Supported Ambari Versions

• 2.7.8 (Stable - use repository method)
• 2.7.9 (Latest 2.x - use repository method)
• 3.0.0 (Latest - use tarball method, default)

Role Variables

Key variables (see roles/ambari/defaults/main.yml for all options):

• ambari_version: Ambari version to install (default: 3.0.0)
• ambari_install_method: Installation method - "repo" or "tarball" (default: tarball)
• ambari_repo_base_url: Repository URL for repo method (default: Apache archive)
• ambari_tarball_url: Tarball download URL for tarball method
• ambari_install_dir: Installation directory for tarball method (default: /opt/ambari)
• ambari_build_from_source: Build from source when using tarball (default: false)
• ambari_server: Boolean to install Ambari Server (default: false)
• ambari_agent: Boolean to install Ambari Agent (default: true)
• ambari_server_hostname: Hostname of Ambari Server
• ambari_database_type: Database type (embedded, postgres, mysql, oracle)
• ambari_admin_user/ambari_admin_password: Admin credentials
• ambari_stack_name: Stack to use (HDP, HDF, Bigtop)
• ambari_stack_version: Stack version

Example Playbook

---
- name: Deploy Ambari Cluster
  hosts: all
  become: yes
  
  roles:
    - role: ambari
      vars:
        ambari_server: "{{ inventory_hostname in groups['ambari_server'] }}"
        ambari_agent: "{{ inventory_hostname in groups['ambari_agents'] or inventory_hostname in groups['ambari_server'] }}"

Example Inventory

[ambari_server]
ambari-server.example.com ansible_user=ubuntu

[ambari_agents]
ambari-agent-[1:3].example.com ansible_user=ubuntu

[all:vars]
ansible_ssh_private_key_file=~/.ssh/id_rsa
# For Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, Python 3 is default
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Usage

1. Update the inventory file with your hosts
2. Customize variables in group_vars/all.yml or roles/ambari/defaults/main.yml
3. Run the playbook:

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts.ini site.yml

Repository Configuration

The role uses official Apache Ambari repositories:

• Main repository: https://archive.apache.org/dist/ambari
• Mirror: https://downloads.apache.org/ambari

Repository structure:

• CentOS 7: ambari/centos7/2.x/updates/<version>/
• CentOS 8: ambari/centos8/2.x/updates/<version>/
• Ubuntu 18.04: ambari/ubuntu18/2.x/updates/<version>/
• Ubuntu 20.04: ambari/ubuntu20/2.x/updates/<version>/

Advanced Configuration

Installation Methods

Repository Installation (for Ambari 2.x)

ambari_version: "2.7.9"
ambari_install_method: "repo"
ambari_repo_base_url: "https://archive.apache.org/dist/ambari"

Tarball Installation (for Ambari 3.0.0)

ambari_version: "3.0.0"
ambari_install_method: "tarball"
ambari_tarball_url: "https://archive.apache.org/dist/ambari/ambari-3.0.0/apache-ambari-3.0.0-src.tar.gz"
ambari_install_dir: "/opt/ambari"
ambari_build_from_source: false  # Set to true to build from source

Building from Source

ambari_version: "3.0.0"
ambari_install_method: "tarball"
ambari_build_from_source: true
# Requires Maven, GCC, and development tools

Database Configuration

The role automatically installs and configures a database for Ambari 3.0.0.

PostgreSQL (Default)

ambari_database_type: postgres
ambari_database_install: true  # Install PostgreSQL locally
ambari_database_host: localhost
ambari_database_port: 5432
ambari_database_name: ambari
ambari_database_username: ambari
ambari_database_password: bigdata
ambari_create_service_databases: true  # Create Hive, Ranger, RangerKMS databases

MySQL 8.0

ambari_database_type: mysql
ambari_database_install: true  # Install MySQL locally
ambari_database_host: localhost
ambari_database_port: 3306
ambari_database_name: ambari
ambari_database_username: ambari
ambari_database_password: bigdata

Using External Database

ambari_database_install: false  # Don't install database locally
ambari_database_type: postgres
ambari_database_host: db.example.com
ambari_database_port: 5432
ambari_database_name: ambari
ambari_database_username: ambari_user
ambari_database_password: secure_password

The role also creates additional databases for Hadoop services:

• Hive metastore database
• Ranger policy database
• Ranger KMS database

Enabling SSL

ambari_ssl_enabled: true
ambari_two_way_ssl: true

Custom Repository

ambari_repo_base_url: "http://your-internal-repo.com/ambari"

Ubuntu-Specific Considerations

Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 LTS

• Uses OpenJDK 11 (automatically configured)
• Python 3 is the default interpreter
• chrony replaces ntp for time synchronization
• Fully compatible with Ambari 3.0.0 tarball installation

Ubuntu 18.04/20.04 LTS

• Uses OpenJDK 8 for compatibility
• Can use both Python 2 and Python 3
• Repository method available for Ambari 2.x versions

Post-Installation

After successful deployment:

1. Access Ambari Web UI at http://<ambari-server-host>:8080
2. Default credentials: admin/admin
3. Use the UI to create and manage your Hadoop cluster

Troubleshooting

• Check Ambari Server logs: /var/log/ambari-server/
• Check Ambari Agent logs: /var/log/ambari-agent/
• Verify repository access: yum repolist or apt-cache policy ambari-server
• Test connectivity: ambari-server status and ambari-agent status

License

Apache 2.0