pip install molecule docker

molecule init --driver docker --role role_name

molecule init --driver docker

---
ansible:
  playbook: playbook.yml

driver:
  docker
docker:
  containers:
    - name: zabbix-01
      ansible_groups:
        - group1
      image: debian
      image_version: latest
      privileged: True

verifier:
  name: testinfra

This is the configuration file for Molecule. We specify which playbook Molecule will execute, in this case playbook.yml.
We specify that we want to make use of the Docker driver and that we have a docker container configuration. In this case, we only have 1 docker container specified. We use a Debian docker container with the ‘latest’ tag. We name the container ‘test-01’ and is in the group ‘group1’. And at last we configure molecule to use testinfra as the testtool.

File: <root>/playbook.yml

---
- hosts: all
  roles:
    - role: ansible-zabbix-agent

The playbook that is executed in the Docker container. This is a very basic one, we only have to specify the correct .

File: <root>/tests/inventory

localhost
[group1]
zabbix-01 ansible_connection=docker

The Ansible inventory file. Should be a known file to you 😉

File: <root>/tests/test_default.py

from testinfra.utils.ansible_runner import AnsibleRunner
testinfra_hosts = AnsibleRunner('.molecule/ansible_inventory').get_hosts('all')

def test_hosts_file(File):
    hosts = File('/etc/hosts')
    assert hosts.user == 'root'
    assert hosts.group == 'root' 

(Edit 2016-09-14: As of release 1.9, the first 2 lines should be present in the TestInfra script.)

This is the test infra python file, containing the tests. After the init command, we have 1 test that will check if there is a hosts file, and the user and group of the file belongs to user ‘root’. We discuss this file later on by adding some more tests.

File: <root>/tests/test.yml

---
- hosts: localhost
  remote_user: root
  roles:
    - zabbix-agent-role

Now we have discussed the files.

We add some infra test checks in the ‘test_default.py’ file. We add the following 2 tests:

def test_zabbix_package(Package):
    zabbixagent = Package('zabbix-agent')
    assert zabbixagent.is_installed
    assert zabbixagent.version.startswith("1:3.0")

def test_zabbixagent_running_and_enabled(Service):
    zabbixagent = Service("zabbix-agent")
    # assert zabbixagent.is_running
    assert zabbixagent.is_enabled

These are 2 Python function which are executed with Testinfra. With the first function, we validate if the package ‘zabbix-agent’ is installed. Also we check if the version starts with: 1:3.0. If you have some experience with testing Python code, this might be familiar to you. Test Infra uses ‘PyTest‘ to execute the tests and validate the.

The 2nd function we validate the ‘zabbix-agent’ service. We make sure the service is enabled. As you see, I’ve commented the check if the service is running. When it is enabled, I get this error message:

Failed to get D-Bus connection: Unknown error -1

Strange, because I’ve configured the privileged mode on the docker container. So maybe this is a bug or misconfiguration on my part, but for now I leave it commented and need to find a solution for this.

Within the molecule.yml we have to update the docker container configuration by adding the following property for all the docker containers:

    required: True

Now we added it, we have to do a “molecule destroy” and start again. The container will be recreated and we won’t get an error message about the dbus.

Now we are ready to move on (I’m well aware that these 2 tests that I added will not be enough, I’ll add these myself later on).

Molecule has several subcommands, let run molecule -h and see what is available:

No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"
Usage:
    molecule [-hv] <command> [<args>...]

Commands:
    check         check playbook syntax
    create        create instances
    converge      create and provision instances
    idempotence   converge and check the output for changes
    test          run a full test cycle: destroy, create, converge, idempotency-check, verify and destroy instances
    verify        create, provision and test instances
    destroy       destroy instances
    status        show status of instances
    list          show available platforms, providers
    login         connects to instance via SSH
    init          creates the directory structure and files for a new Ansible role compatible with molecule

Options:
    -h --help     shows this screen
    -v --version  shows the version

We first start with the ‘check’ command:

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ molecule check
No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"

playbook: playbook.yml
[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ echo $?
0

Seems very well, the check commands validate if the playbook.yml doesn’t have any problems/syntax errors.
We can continue with the next command: create.

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ molecule create
No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"
 Building ansible compatible image ...
 Step 1 : FROM debian:latest

  ---> 1b088884749b

 Step 2 : RUN bash -c 'if [ -x "$(command -v apt-get)" ]; then apt-get update && apt-get install -y python sudo; fi'

  ---> Using cache

  ---> 8ef54383599a

 Step 3 : RUN bash -c 'if [ -x "$(command -v yum)" ]; then yum makecache fast && yum update -y && yum install -y python sudo; fi'

  ---> Running in 6d3142fa72aa

...
 Finished building molecule_local/debian:latest
 Creating container zabbix-01 with base image debian:latest ...
 Container created.

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$

Now we have created a docker container where we can install our Ansible role on to, we do that with the ‘converge’ subcommand.

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ molecule converge
No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"

PLAY [all] *********************************************************************

TASK [setup] *******************************************************************
ok: [zabbix-01]

TASK [ansible-zabbix-agent : Include OS-specific variables] ********************
ok: [zabbix-01]

TASK [ansible-zabbix-agent : Install the correct repository] *******************
skipping: [zabbix-01]

...
RUNNING HANDLER [ansible-zabbix-agent : restart zabbix-agent] ******************
changed: [zabbix-01]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
zabbix-01                  : ok=12  changed=7    unreachable=0    failed=0

Nice, the role is installed correctly without any issues on the container. With Test Kitchen we had to use BATS to validate if the Role is idempotent, but luckily molecule has just a simple sub command for it: idempotence

Well, it seems that the Role has passed the idempotence test:

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ molecule idempotence
No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"
Idempotence test in progress (can take a few minutes)...
Idempotence test passed.

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$

Testing the role is nicely going on right now, but we are not there yet. Now we need to use the ‘verify’ command to actually validate our role on the Docker container:

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ molecule verify
No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"
Trailing whitespace found in ./defaults/main.yml on lines: 35
Trailing newline found at the end of ./handlers/main.yml
Trailing whitespace found in ./library/zabbix_host.py on lines: 29
Trailing newline found at the end of ./library/zabbix_hostmacro.py
[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$

Whoops, it seems it has found some issues. Let me fix that first, probably need to run the verify again after fixing it.

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$ molecule verify
No handlers could be found for logger "vagrant"

Executing testinfra tests found in tests/.
============================= test session starts ==============================
platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.5, pytest-2.9.2, py-1.4.31, pluggy-0.3.1
rootdir: /git/ansible/ansible-zabbix-agent/tests, inifile:
plugins: xdist-1.14, testinfra-1.4.0
collected 3 itemss

tests/test_default.py ...

=========================== 3 passed in 0.63 seconds ===========================

No serverspec tests found in spec/.

[vagrant@localhost ansible-zabbix-agent]$

After fixing it, everything seems to work fine. Nice!

Now we are done with the container, so we can execute molecule again, but with the delete sub command and the container will be deleted.

These were the basics for testing an Ansible role with Molecule, Docker and Test Infra. This page uses the ‘Debian’ Docker image, whereas I normally use CentOS for this. I have some issues (Get the same error message when I enable the Test Infra test to validate if the service is running) to make this work on CentOS. So maybe Molecule isn’t mature enough yet, but it is getting there.

I’ll update my Ansible roles so it will use Molecule instead of Test Kitchen (No hard feelings ;-))