Ansible 2.8: What’s new for Azure

With the release of Ansible 2.8, Microsoft continues its commitment to ensure Azure provides a great experience for Ansible users. We have our biggest release to-date with new modules supporting a wide range of Azure services. Read below for more details about what’s new for Azure with Ansible 2.8.

Enhanced support for Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)

A key scenario we enabled based on community feedback is the ability to update applications deployed to Azure VMSS through a custom image. Check out this new tutorial to see how you can create an image from an existing VM and then update a scale set using the custom image.

New modules with tutorials

Speaking of guidance, we are particularly excited to share the following 11 new tutorials and sample playbooks to walk you through how to automate deployment and configuration of these new modules in Ansible 2.8.

Azure Container Service (AKS):

• Tutorial: Configure kubenet networking in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) using Ansible
• Tutorial: Configure Azure Container Networking Interface (CNI) networking in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) using Ansible
• Tutorial: Configure role-based access control (RBAC) roles in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) using Ansible

Azure Cosmo DB:

• Tutorial: Configure Azure Cosmos DB accounts using Ansible

Azure Cache for Redis:

• Tutorial: Configure caches in Azure Cache for Redis using Ansible

Azure HD Insight:

• Tutorial: Configure clusters in Azure HDInsight using Ansible

Azure Service Bus

• Tutorial: Configure queues in Azure Service Bus using Ansible
• Tutorial: Configure topics in Azure Service Bus using Ansible

Azure DevTest Labs:

• Tutorial: Configure caches in Azure Cache for Redis using Ansible

Virtual Network Peering:

• Tutorial: Configure Azure virtual network peering using Ansible

Dynamic Inventory configuration:

• Tutorial: Configure dynamic inventories of your Azure resources using Ansible

Additional new modules

On top of the modules with tutorials mentioned above, here are several new modules that allow users to configure even more automation on Azure:

Azure Database for MariaDB:

• azure_rm_mariadbconfiguration
• azure_rm_mariadbconfiguration_facts
• azure_rm_mariadbdatabase
• azure_rm_mariadbdatabase_facts
• azure_rm_mariadbfirewallrule
• azure_rm_mariadbfirewallrule_facts
• azure_rm_mariadbserver
• azure_rm_mariadbserver_facts

Azure Role Assignment:

• azure_rm_roleassignment
• azure_rm_roleassignment_facts

Azure Role Definition:

• azure_rm_roledefinition
• azure_rm_roledefinition_facts

Azure Web App Slot:

• azure_rm_webappslot

For a full list of what’s supported, refer to the Ansible module and version matrix on the Ansible Documentation Hub.

Questions, comments or feedback? Let us know in the comments.