Using Ansible Firewall Rules

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Using Ansible Firewall Rules

Being able to use Ansible to create and change firewall rules is a valuable skill. On top of that, it is now an objective of the *Red Hat Certified Ansible Specialist* exam. In this lab we will create playbooks using the firewalld module, and use them to perform firewall related tasks. Note: Ansible has been set up and configured for use which will save you time when doing this hands-on lab. *This course is not approved or sponsored by Red Hat.*

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 04, 2025

Duration

45m

Challenge

Sign on to the Ansible Control Node Server as cloud_user and change to the `ansible` user. Test to ensure that Ansible has been set up for you.
1. Sign in to the server called Ansible Control Node using the cloud_user, and then change to the ansible user via the su - ansible command.
2. Test that Ansible is working via an ad-hoc command. We can use the following:
  
  ansible all -m ping
Challenge

Ensure that `firewalld` is not installed on the Ansible nodes, `node1` and `node2`
1. Check that firewalld is not installed on the nodes:
```
ssh node1
sudo systemctl status firewalld
```
1. Use exit to move onto the next node check:
```
ssh node2
sudo systemctl status firewalld
```

Challenge

Using an Ansible playbook, install the Apache Web Server, `httpd` and also `elinks` onto the Ansible nodes and start the Apache Web Server.

Create the playbook:

vim setup-server.yml

The playbook file could appear like so for the installations, plus enabling and starting the Apache Web Server:

---
- hosts: all
  user: ansible
  become: yes
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
    - name: install elinks
      action: yum name=elinks state=installed
    - name: install httpd
      action: yum name=httpd state=installed
    - name: Enable Apache on system reboot
      service: name=httpd enabled=yes
    - name: Start service httpd, if not started
      service:
        name: httpd
        state: started

Challenge

Ensure the webserver is working and test that apache on the nodes can be accessed.
1. Using the elinks command. We will verify that we can see the Apache HTTP Server test page on the 2 Ansible nodes with the following commands:
```
elinks http://node1
elinks http://node2
```

Challenge

Using the playbook, install `firewalld` on the Ansible nodes. Ensure the `firewalld` is running. Test the Apache test pages are not available.

Make changes to the playbook for installing firewalld:

---
- hosts: all
  user: ansible
  become: yes
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
    - name: install elinks
      action: yum name=elinks state=installed
    - name: install httpd
      action: yum name=httpd state=installed
    - name: Enable Apache on system reboot
      service: name=httpd enabled=yes
    - name: Start service httpd, if not started
      service:
        name: httpd
        state: started
    - name: install firewalld
      action: yum name=firewalld state=installed
    - name: Enable firewalld on system reboot
      service: name=firewalld enabled=yes
    - name: Start service firewalld, if not started
      service:
        name: firewalld
        state: started

Save and exit.
Run the playbook with the changes applied:

vim setup-server.yml
ansible-playbook setup-server.yml

Verify that we are unable to access the test pages on node1 and node2 with the following commands:

elinks http://node1
elinks http://node2

Note: We will be unable to access the test pages because the firewall will be blocking them.

Challenge

Change the Ansible playbook to add the firewall rule to allow port 80.

Make changes to the playbook for installing firewalld:

---
- hosts: all
  user: ansible
  become: yes
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
    - name: install elinks
      action: yum name=elinks state=installed
    - name: install httpd
      action: yum name=httpd state=installed
    - name: Enable Apache on system reboot
      service: name=httpd enabled=yes
    - name: Start service httpd, if not started
      service:
        name: httpd
        state: started
    - name: install firewalld
      action: yum name=firewalld state=installed
    - name: Enable firewalld on system reboot
      service: name=firewalld enabled=yes
    - firewalld:
        service: http
          permanent: yes
          state: enabled
      - name: Restart service firewalld
        service:
        name: firewalld
        state: restarted

Save and exit.
Run the playbook with the changes applied:

vim setup-server.yml
ansible-playbook setup-server.yml

Verify that we are unable to access the test pages on node1 and node2 with the following commands:

elinks http://node1
elinks http://node2

Note: We will be unable to access the test pages because the firewall will be blocking them.

Challenge

Test that you can access the test pages on the web servers on the 2 Ansible nodes.
1. Run the playbook:
```
vim setup-server.yml
ansible-playbook setup-server.yml
```
1. Using the elinks command again:
```
 elinks http://node1
 elinks http://node2
```

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