Graph-IT Push

The 'graphit/push'-project contains a PHP tool that aside from some helper functionallity is ment to generate configuration files for specified hosts and copy those generated files to the host machine. This allows us a faster setup of systems inside our network (see: 'Server/Rechner hinzufügen'), to update configurations and keep them consistent in case:

• a new server was added
• an old server was removed
• a new client was added
• ...

Installation

Run:

composer create-project --stability dev graphit/push <target folder>

Components

The main components of the graphit/push-project are:

• the push.php executable
• the configuration templates inside the var-folder (see: inventory.json)
• the inventory.json-file which holds data regarding the associations between the hosts and the configuration templates and host specific variables. (see: inventory.json)
• the network.json-file which holds the key data for the network. (see: network.json)
• the tmp-folder which holds all the generated and collected data.

push.php

This is the executable of the push-project.

Usage:

push.php [options] [arguments]

Workflow

The general work flow when using push to handle host configuration files is to:

1. Create/Update the network.json-file by hand if need be. This is the case whenever a new network host group is added. (see: network.json)
2. Create/Update the inventory.json-file using the inventory:xxx-commands of push. (see: inventory.json and push.php).
3. In case no dynamic data for the host exists, collect the dynamic data (/etc/network/interfaces and /etc/fstab) using dynamic:acquire. (see: push.php)
4. Generate the files which need to be synched to the host using the configuration:xxx-commands of push. (see: push.php)
5. Compare the generated configuration files of a host against the existing configuration using the configuration:diffsync-command of push. (see: push.php)
6. Copy/Apply the newly generated configuration files to the host using the configuration:diffsync-command of push. (see: push.php)

Folders

Here's an overview of the folders which are present inside the project folder.

• bin: contains the push.php executable file
• doc: contains the documentation of the project
• etc: contains
  • host and template specific variables for each host (To which groups does the host belong? What IP, MAC adress does it have? Which configuration groups does it belong to? ... ) inside the inventory.json-file.
  • the basic configuration of the network itself inside the network.json-file. (What's the domain name? Subnet? IP ranges? Which host groups exist? Which routers and nameservers exist?)
• helper: contains a helper script to remove unneeded services from workstations.
• lib: contains our extension of the ReactPHP-project
• src: contains the rest of the source code of the graphit/push-project.
• var: contains configuration templates which can be processed using the push.php together with the network and host specific configurations (inventory.json, network.json, dynamic.json).
• tmp: contains:
  • generated configurations created and updated by push configuration:generate and push configuration:allgenerate. (see: push.php)
  • the dynamic.json-file which contains data about the fstab and main network interface of the host and is created and updated by push dynamic:acquire. (see: push.php)