Install AWX on CentOS 8

Leave a Comment / Automation, IT Infrastructure

I would like to automate also a lot of tasks at home, so I installed AWX and this are the steps I did.

First I installed Docker based on the following Documentation
https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/centos/

# Install Docker
yum install -y yum-utils
yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

yum install -y docker-ce
systemctl enable docker
systemctl start docker

# Test Docker
docker run hello-world

When Docker is running successfully, install the prerequisites needed for AWX.

yum install -y python38
yum install -y git
yum install -y ansible
yum install -y pwgen
pip3 install docker
pip3 install docker-compose

Then I create a dedicated folder for AWX and in there 2 directories for the projects and python virtual envs used in AWX. After the creation of the folders, clone the git-repo and checkout the needed version

mkdir -p /opt/awx/projects
mkdir -p /opt/awx/my-envs
cd /opt/awx
git clone --depth 50 https://github.com/ansible/awx.git
git checkout 15.0.1 #or choose other version from https://github.com/ansible/awx/tags

After cloning the repo, change the settings in the inventory file as you need it. For a basic installation I just changed:

# Generate a random code with
pwgen -N 1 -s 30
  • project_data_dir=/opt/awx/projects
  • custom_venv_dir=/opt/awx/my-envs/
  • secret_key=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Before starting the installation, open the firewall ports needed to access AWX and for Docker

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=http --permanent
# Docker and firewalld
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-masquerade --permanent

As a final stage start the installation by running the installation playbook with ansible

cd /opt/awx/awx/installer
ansible-playbook -i inventory install.yml

# check if containers are running with:
docker ps

After a while you see the awx login screen and you can login with admin:password

Leave a Comment