Using LXC and Ansible to build isolated development environments

This is the content from my talk at Ansible Barcelona meetup on 15th October 2015.

LXC Setup

1. Install LXC tools for your GNU/Linux distribution and setup network configuration (e.g. Arch Linux or Ubuntu)

2. Clone this repo:

    > git clone git@github:enricostano/ansible-lxc-demo.git
   

3. Modify the shared filesystem part of the provisioning/ubuntu.custom.conf file to reflect the actual path of your directories

4. From the provisioning directory run:

    > sudo lxc-create --name project_1_dev -f ubuntu.custom.conf -t /usr/share/lxc/templates/lxc-ubuntu -- --release trusty
    > sudo lxc-start --name project_1_dev
    > sudo lxc-ls --fancy
   

   The last command should show you the list of existing LXC containers in your machine, something like the following:

    NAME           STATE    IPV4        IPV6  GROUPS  AUTOSTART
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    project_1_dev  RUNNING  10.0.3.106  -     -       NO
   

   Fix your network configuration if you don't get an IP address for your container.

5. Copy your SSH key into the default container user:

    > ssh-copy-id ubuntu@10.0.3.106
   

Ansible setup

1. Install Ansible for your GNU/Linux distribution

2. Add the container IP to the list of Ansible's hosts:

    # /etc/ansible/hosts
    [development]
    10.0.3.106
   

3. Enter through SSH into the container:

    > ssh ubuntu@10.0.3.106
   

4. From inside the container install Ansible's dependency Python 2.7 (remember that the default ubuntu password is ubuntu):

    > sudo apt-get install python2.7
    > sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python2.7 /usr/bin/python
   

5. Exit the container using CTRL^D and run the Ansible playbook from the provisioning directory. It will ask for the ubuntu sudo password:

    > ansible-playbook development.yml
   

Backend application setup (Ruby on Rails)

1. Enter through SSH into the container:

    > ssh ubuntu@10.0.3.106
   

2. Enter the backend directory and install the application dependencies:

    > bundle install
   

3. Run the application:

    > bundle exec rails s --binding 10.0.3.106
   

4. Open a browser and visit the following URL:

    10.0.3.106:3000
   

Frontend application setup (Express.js)

1. Enter through SSH into the container:

    > ssh ubuntu@10.0.3.106
   

2. Enter the frontend directory and install the application dependencies:

    > npm install
   

3. Run the application:

    > node app.js
   

4. Open a browser and visit the following URL:

    10.0.3.106:8000