How to create a new partition with Ansible

Question

When I run this on the command line it works fine:

 echo -e "n\np\n1\n\n\nw" | sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

But in Ansible it does not want to run in shell:

 - name: partition new disk
   shell: echo -e "n\np\n1\n\n\nw" | sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

It does not come back with an error, but it does not create the partition either.

I checked that Ansible and LVM will not do what I need.

Any advice?

Answer 1

With Ansible 2.3 and above, you can use parted module to create partitions from a block device. For example:

 - parted:
     device: /dev/sdb
     number: 1
     flags: [ lvm ]
     state: present

To format the partition just use filesystem module as shown below:

 - filesystem:
     fstype: ext2
     dev: /dev/sdb1

To mount the partition to, let's say, /work folder just use mount module as shown below:

- mount:
    fstype: ext2
    src: /dev/sdb1
    path: /work
    state: mounted

Answer 2

By default, Ansible executes /bin/sh shell.
For example, if /bin/sh is linked to dash, it's built echo is different to the one in bash or GNU echo; so you end up with -e characters fed into fdisk.

Try:

- name: partition new disk
  shell: echo -e "n\np\n1\n\n\nw" | sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
  args:
    executable: /bin/bash

Or:

- name: partition new disk
  shell: /bin/echo -e "n\np\n1\n\n\nw" | sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

Answer 3

How to allocate all free space to a new partition and add it to LVM in Ansible

• If you're using LVM, look into this!

• If you want to use all the free space of the device, look into this!

Starting with a device /dev/sda and an existing partition on /dev/sda1 in {{ volumeGroup }}.

Use the following approach to create a partition /dev/sda2 in the free space of /dev/sda and to subsequently add the new partition to the existing {{ volumeGroup }}

- name: "Create partitions on devices"    
  block:   
    - name: install parted
      package:
        name: parted
        state: present 
        
    - name: "Read device information /dev/sda"
      parted: 
        device: "/dev/sda"
        unit: MiB
      register: device_info
    
    - name: "Add new partition /dev/sda2"
      parted: 
        device: "/dev/sda"
        number: "2"
        part_type: primary
        flags: [ lvm ]
        state: present
        part_end: "100%"
        part_start: "{{ device_info.partitions[0].end + 1}}MiB" 
        
    - name: "Add device to exising volume group {{ volumeGroup }}."
      lvg:
        vg: "{{ volumeGroup }}"
        pvs: "/dev/sda1,/dev/sda2"