from Lithium Hosting
We're always open to pull requests, feel free to make this your own or help us make it better.

(c) Lithium Hosting, llc

This ansible playbook is licensed under the MIT license; you can find a full copy of the license itself in the file /LICENSE

• Ansible 2.0+
• CentOS 6.x Server targeted for deployment of cPanel (not currently supporting CentOS 7)
• Knowledge of Ansible, SSH and authenticating to a remote server

Ansible Playbook for installing cPanel / cPanel DNS-Only on a fresh CentOS server
Support for installing / configuring the following Applications:

• cPanel
  • PostgreSQL
  • SSH
  • Apache
  • EasyApache3 Profiles
  • MySQL
• CloudLinux
• KernelCare
• ConfigServer
  • CSF
  • CXS
  • CMM
  • CMQ
  • CSE
  • CMC
• RFX Apps
  • LSM
  • SIM
  • LMD
  • PRM
• RVSkin
• RVSiteBuilder
• Softaculous
• WHM Plugins
  • CloudFlare
  • Attracta SEO Tools
  • LogView
  • RemoteMXWizard
  • Domain Stats
  • Account DNS Check

The purpose of this package is to allow System Administrators to easily deploy cPanel to a new CentOS server.
This package also supports provisioning a cPanel DNS-Only server and can be used to pre-install several software packages commonly used with cPanel.

Please note, this playbook is not intended to be run on functional cPanel servers, it's sole purpose is for the initial provisioning / bootstrapping of a new server.

Inventory Files
By default, we've only included a production file called production.example. Rename this to production before using. This file structure can be used in a development or testing inventory file as per your needs
The group names in the file are simply a suggestion, you're welcome to make any changes as needed.

Inventory Groups

Roles

Variables
All variables are defined as defaults in the Roles. This means you can override them with other values quite easily.
We've provided a sample group_vars structure to get you started.
Refer to this document for more information on variable precedence.

Some variables MUST be defined by you or certain tasks won't run. Variables prefixed with "install_" are used to determine if a specific app should be installed. Any install tasks will check if that variable is "true". Variables prefixed with "use_" are used to determine if a specific role / task should be run (this may include installing a package like NTP but not an app like CloudLinux).
Below is a list of those variables. Please note the defaults, if you don't define a variable in your host_vars or group_vars, the default will be used.

Running a Play
In the event of a failure, the play will stop for the failed host. By declaring --force-handlers, any successful changes that require a service restart will still be applied.

Run a play and use vault password file, in this example we used a file called .vault-pass which contains the vault password

ansible-playbook -i production cpanel.yml --force-handlers --vault-password-file .vault-pass

Run a play and prompt for the vault password

ansible-playbook -i production cpanel.yml --force-handlers --ask-vault-pass

Vault Encryption / Decryption
Encrypt your vault files. Be sure to reference all of them if you use more than one. Refer above to using a vault password file or prompt

ansible-vault encrypt group_vars/all/vault --vault-password-file .vault-pass

Decrypt them.

ansible-vault decrypt group_vars/all/vault --vault-password-file .vault-pass

If you have host key check issues, try this on your ansible server:

export ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=False

This is just a starting point, internally we use another 20 roles to customize our servers.
I hope this has helped you get started, if you'd like to show your gratitude, we're trying to encourage knowledge-sharing between web-hosts and other IT professionals.
Send us an email [email protected] with a link to an article, project or post that details something unique you or your organization does that you'd like to share.
We'll add it to a list of contributors and give you credit. Pay it forward and share your knowledge with others.

We are also very open to pull requests, comments and feedback. Please let us know if you have any issues, have suggestions for improving roles and tasks or would like to see new features.