# Common Operations to initialize a node/service in CentOS infra

Once the server (bare-metal, Virtual Machine - internal or EC2 instance- ) is deployed, we just need to add it to ansible inventory (probably already done already during `deploy` step so complete with the following information)

Requirements:

  * Machine is reachable

  * You have initial credentials (either already injected ssh key and sudo right or just other equivalent credentials)

  * Access to required Ansible inventory 

## Adding node

You first need to add the node into DNS (either internally or externally) so please have a look at the dedicated [DNS section](/infra/dns), and that means kicking the `role-bind.yml` or `role-unbound.yml` playbooks based on the need, and after having pushed the change to git.

Once the node is available, we need *once* to initialize the node to confirm access and ssh host key/fingerprint and then sign it with our SSH CA.

Let's start by first ensuring that we can log onto a node (in our example a EC2 instance):

```

ssh centos@artwork-1.dev.centos.org uptime

The authenticity of host 'artwork-1.dev.centos.org (<no hostip for proxy command>)' can't be established.

ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:TFnZOT68OAkUQdTm1kCwoPxEN8d/4v/kqinsPcFD/04.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes

Warning: Permanently added 'artwork-1.dev.centos.org' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.

 09:41:48 up 7 min,  0 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.06, 0.04

```

!!! tip

    it's also possible to *not* do the ssh host key checking, but not adviced, by using `ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=False` env variable in front of the first playbook execution in the next steps. As said, it's possible and should *eventually* only be used for .dev. or .stg. environment, and on just provisioned instances (non public) like Virtual Machines

Now we can proceed with next steps.

Let's add the node in the correct Ansible inventory (like for example `CentOS-CI` or `CentOS-prod` or `CentOS-staging`, etc.

We first need to ensure that usual `sysadmins` will be granted first the correct rights and we just need to add the node in ansible inventory first.

If you already know which roles you want to directly apply feel free to add into correct `[group_name]` in the inventory or just add it to `[unclassified]` first.

When done, we can just play manually (only once) some playbooks and from there machine will be automatically reconfigured when role/inventory is updated (see the Ansible section about this)

```

fqdn="artwork-1.dev.centos.org"

ansible-playbook playbooks/adhoc-grant-access.yml -u centos -l ${fqdn} # or add -k to ask for password if needed to inject ssh keys

``` 

Now that `sysadmins` have their keys injected (including yours), you can initialize the node , but it will create a temporary file that you can then copy into inventory for some gathered facts, so you can use `--extras-vars` just for this specific call

```

out_dir="/home/arrfab/ansible/out"

test -d ${out_dir} || mkdir -p ${out_dir}

ansible-playbook playbooks/adhoc-init-node.yml -l ${fqdn} --extra-vars "out_dir=${out_dir}"

cat ${out_dir}/${fqdn} >> inventory/host_vars/${fqdn}

```

The `adhoc-init-node.yml` will do the following : 

  * (optional) retrieve the public IP and allow incoming connections from that new ip for some infra services restricted by iptables

  * retrieve ssh host keys, sign these and push the signed 

  * retrieve locally some facts that can be used later for basic host_vars template

  * play the `baseline` role (common for *all* nodes but with different settings, based on inventory

    * if that's a RHEL host, either point to internal mirror, or RH CDN (based on `rhel_host_use_cdn` variable/boolean in ansible)

  * (optional): play other roles that are tied to ansible inventory group membership (if you added the host already in some specific groups) 

Now that machine is in ansible inventory, you can always add new role, based on group memberships, change settings through `group_vars` or `host_vars`, etc, so Ansible BAU

!!! note

    For sponsored nodes, ensure that you define a root password that is unique and set it. Don't forget to reflect it (normally not needed anymore) in `ansible/inventory/host_vars/<host>` with `root_password` (all git-crypted and/or ansible-vault crypted depending on the inventory). You can use something like `pwgen` tool or even just `openssl rand -base64 24` (as an example)