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Ansible integration

qbee Ansible Integration

Overview

qbee integrates with Ansible through the qbee-cli tool, enabling secure SSH access to device fleets via port forwarding. The integration includes qbee-devices-ansible.pyfor automatic Ansible inventory generation based on qbee device groups or tags.

Prerequisites

  • Active qbee-cli session (qbee-cli login)
  • SSH public keys distributed to target devices via qbee

Inventory Generation

Generate Ansible inventory files using one of two methods:

Group-Based Organization

qbee-cli devices list --json --limit <n> | python3 qbee-devices-ansible.py --by-groups > ansible_inventory.yml

Tag-Based Organization

qbee-cli devices list --json --limit <n> | python3 qbee-devices-ansible.py --by-tags > ansible_inventory.yml

Generated Inventory Structure

The tool generates YAML inventory files with the following structure: 

example_tag_1:
  hosts:
    636f6e04f254592cc99a7324f2ba07f2abe3755d5f5c4fd941379c6e5094afd5:
      ansible_ssh_common_args: -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o ProxyCommand="qbee-cli
        connect -d 636f6e04f254592cc99a7324f2ba07f2abe3755d5f5c4fd941379c6e5094afd5
        -t stdio:localhost:22"

Example Playbook

Sample playbook for reading MOTD from RaspberryPi devices:

---
- name: 
  gather_facts: false
  hosts: example_tag_1
  tasks:
    - name: get motd
      ansible.builtin.command: cat /etc/motd
      register: mymotd

    - name: debug motd
      debug:
        msg: "This is my motd: {{ mymotd }}"

Execute the playbook: 

ansible-playbook -i ansible_inventory.yml --user pi ansible_playbook.yml

Technical Implementation

  • Uses qbee-cli's port forwarding functionality for secure device access
  • Automatically configures SSH ProxyCommand for each device
  • Supports both group and tag-based device organization
  • Devices are identified by unique qbee IDs in the inventory

Resources