role-developer

Role Developer Skill

Develop comprehensive Ansible roles following Red Hat Communities of Practice (CoP) standards with complete testing, validation, and documentation.

Core Role Concepts

Roles in the Type-Function Pattern

• Function Roles: Implement reusable capabilities (e.g., apache_install, postgresql_config)

  • Single, focused purpose
  • Reusable across multiple types
  • Self-contained with all dependencies documented

• Component Roles: Smaller roles used within function roles for complex implementations

  • Break large functions into maintainable components
  • Used via include_role or import_role within parent role

Role Naming Standards

CRITICAL: No dashes in role names - they cause collection packaging issues.

Good naming:
  apache_install
  postgresql_config
  firewall_setup
  monitoring_agent

Bad naming:
  apache-install      # Dashes not allowed
  postgresqlConfig    # CamelCase not allowed
  fw_setup            # Abbreviations discouraged
  monitoring-agent    # Dashes not allowed

Naming convention:

• Snake_case exclusively
• No dashes (breaks collections)
• No abbreviations (clarity over brevity)
• Verb_noun pattern when appropriate (install_apache, configure_firewall)
• Descriptive names that indicate purpose

Complete Role Structure

Every role must include these components:

role_name/
├── defaults/
│   └── main.yml           # User-facing default variables
├── files/                 # Static files
├── handlers/
│   └── main.yml           # Event handlers (service restarts, etc.)
├── meta/
│   ├── main.yml           # Role metadata and dependencies
│   └── argument_specs.yml # Argument validation (Ansible 2.11+)
├── molecule/              # Testing with Molecule
│   └── default/
│       ├── molecule.yml   # Molecule configuration
│       ├── converge.yml   # Test playbook
│       └── verify.yml     # Verification tests
├── tasks/
│   └── main.yml           # Main task list (orchestrates includes)
├── templates/             # Jinja2 templates
├── tests/
│   ├── inventory          # Test inventory
│   └── test.yml           # Legacy test playbook
├── vars/
│   ├── main.yml           # Internal role variables
│   ├── RedHat.yml         # RedHat-specific variables
│   └── Debian.yml         # Debian-specific variables
├── README.md              # Comprehensive documentation
└── .ansible-lint          # ansible-lint configuration