Nectere Atlas

01The app

Click a sidebar item to open that panel. The switch changes who is signed in.

Projects, Playbooks, Variables and Collections belong to the Ansible station. It's still in progress and has a separate guide. Under Array sign-on, Array manages accounts, so Users and Sign Out are hidden.

02How the pieces fit

Hosts and credentials are set up once and joined in inventories. Most jobs start by picking an inventory.

The usual order

1. Hosts: add machines, several at a time if needed.
2. Credentials: add the login they accept.
3. Inventories: pick hosts and a credential, add groups if needed.
4. Command Station: pick the inventory, press Ping Test, then run the job.
5. Runs: full output of past jobs.

For a single machine, skip the inventory. Press Connect on the host and pick a credential.

03Getting Atlas

Atlas is deployed from Array's menu, Menu › Deploy › Nectere Atlas. When the tile shows Running, press Open. Updates, restarts and the activity log are on the back of the tile. The sign-in mode chosen at deploy decides how people get in.

04Sign-in and setup

With Application sign-in, the first visit to a new tile opens the setup screen and that person becomes the first admin. Everyone after that uses Sign In.

Array sign-on

No setup screen or Sign In page; the tile opens straight to Overview. The Users panel shows User accounts are managed in Nectere Array. If the Array session expires, reopen the tile from Array.

05Sidebar and notifications

06Overview

The landing page after sign-in. Counts plus recent activity.

1. 1Tiles. Counts, each linked to its panel. Running turns orange during a job; Failed turns rose if history holds a failure.
2. 2Recent Runs. Eight newest runs with status, kind, label, inventory, user, age and duration. Click one for its log.
3. 3Engine. Ansible and Python versions, variable set count, uptime since the last restart.
4. 4Quick Start. Four steps from empty to a finished run, each linked to its panel.

07Hosts

The display name is what Atlas and Ansible call the host everywhere, so keep it short with no spaces: web01, not Web Server 1. The address is a hostname or IP. Connect opens a terminal.

Adding hosts

+ Add Hosts takes one line per machine. + adds a line and × removes one. A blank port means 22, and blank lines are skipped.

Editing a host

The pencil also exposes Host variables (YAML), which follow the host into every inventory. Use them for things always true of the machine, like a Python path.

08SSH terminal

Connect on a host opens an interactive SSH session in a new browser window, logged in with the credential you pick.

Connect to Host

Only login credentials are listed. Vault passwords can't open a session.

The terminal window

• One window, one session. Closing it or typing exit ends the session.
• Ten terminals at most per tile. No available SSH session slots. Close an existing session first. means close one and retry.
• New host keys are accepted without a prompt and noted in a single line.
• The terminal is a pop-up. If nothing appears after Connected! Opening terminal..., allow pop-ups for the Array address.
• Terminals always use port 22 and ignore a custom SSH port. Command Station jobs honour it.

09Credentials

Secrets aren't shown after saving. Leave them blank when editing to keep them.

Type also shows whether the secret is stored. no key! or no password! means edit the credential and fill it in. In use counts the inventories that depend on it, so check it before deleting.

The credential form

Type is locked after saving. To move a login from password to key, create a new credential and point the inventory at it.

10Inventories

Jobs target inventories. One per application or site plus a catch-all usually works.

The form has three tabs.

Basics

Every host logs in with the inventory's credential. The host list is for ungrouped hosts; hosts ticked on the Groups tab are added anyway. If sudo wants a password, tick Include ansible_become_pass. Become Password defaults to the credential's.

Groups

+ Add Group, name it (letters, digits, underscores), tick its hosts. Group variables are YAML and apply only to that group.

Variables

Inventory variables apply to every host. Per-host variables has a box per selected host and only applies inside this inventory, unlike host variables set on the Hosts panel.

YAML and Graph

YAML shows the inventory as Ansible receives it, passwords masked. Graph has Ansible parse it and draws the group tree with each host's resolved variables. A YAML mistake anywhere shows up here: the title ends in (rc 1) and the body has Ansible's error.

all:
  vars:
    ansible_python_interpreter: auto_silent
    ansible_user: 'ubuntu'
    ansible_ssh_private_key_file: '<key file for ops-key>'
    ansible_become_pass: '********'
    nfs_domain: corp.lab
  hosts:
    nfs01:
      ansible_host: 'nfs01.corp.lab'
      nfs_threads: 32
    nfs02:
      ansible_host: 'nfs02.corp.lab'
  children:
    nfs_servers:
      vars:
        nfs_export_root: /srv/nfs
      hosts:
        nfs01:
    nfs_clients:
      hosts:
        nfs02:

@all:
  |--@ungrouped:
  |--@nfs_servers:
  |  |--nfs01
  |  |  |--{ansible_become_pass = ********}
  |  |  |--{ansible_host = nfs01.corp.lab}
  |  |  |--{ansible_user = ubuntu}
  |  |  |--{nfs_domain = corp.lab}
  |  |  |--{nfs_export_root = /srv/nfs}
  |  |  |--{nfs_threads = 32}
  |--@nfs_clients:
  |  |--nfs02
  |  |  |--{ansible_become_pass = ********}
  |  |  |--{ansible_host = nfs02.corp.lab}
  |  |  |--{ansible_user = ubuntu}
  |  |  |--{nfs_domain = corp.lab}

11Command Station

Runs a job against every host in an inventory. Ad-Hoc, Send Files, Ping Test, Gather Facts and the output pane are covered here. Project Playbook and Saved Playbook are in the station guide.

Ad-Hoc

Runs one command on every host the pattern matches. Pick a Module, keep Host pattern at all or narrow it, enter the command and press Run.

Host patterns: all, a host, a group, wildcards like web*, or combinations like group1:&group2.

Send Files

Drop files on the drop area or click browse; × removes one. Set Remote Destination Path (a folder such as /etc) and File Mode (default 0644). Send copies every file to every host. Tick become (sudo) if the folder needs root.

Shared options

Ping Test and Gather Facts work from any tab. Ping logs in to each host rather than using ICMP, so it tests the credential too.

Output

While a job runs the buttons are disabled, the pill shows running and output streams in with colour. Untick auto-scroll to read while lines arrive. Cancel stops the job; Open in Runs opens its record. Leaving the panel or closing the browser doesn't stop it.

Recent Runs under the output includes everyone's jobs on the tile.

12Runs

Every job with its full output, kept across restarts.

Run detail

Download saves the log as atlas-run-<id>.log.

Atlas keeps the 200 newest runs and prunes older finished ones. A job caught by an Atlas restart is marked failed with interrupted by server restart. Re-run it.

13Users and roles

Standard users can't manage users or back up and restore. Anyone who can sign in can use every stored credential, so hand out accounts accordingly.

• + Add User asks for username, password and role. Role defaults to User.
• Usernames can't be changed. A blank password keeps the current one.
• Delete confirms with Delete user "tnguyen"? This will revoke their sessions. and signs the user out everywhere. You can't delete yourself.

14Backup and restore

• Export configuration downloads one zip of hosts, credentials, inventories, projects and run history. Admins only.
• Passwords, keys and vault secrets are in the zip in readable form. Store it like a password file.
• Import configuration asks This OVERWRITES all current configuration with the uploaded backup. Continue? There's no merge.
• The restored setup applies after a restart: State › Restart on the tile in Array.
• Backups restore onto other Atlas tiles too, so they work for cloning a setup.

15Things to know

• The inventory decides the login. Hosts that need different logins go in different inventories.
• Deleting a host is quiet. No in-use warning. It drops out of every inventory it was in.
• Deleting a credential can break an inventory. The inventory shows missing under Credential and its jobs try to log in without one. Pick another credential.
• Host variables follow the host; per-host variables stay in the inventory. Permanent facts go on Hosts, context-specific ones in the inventory.
• Jobs carry on without you. Check Runs for the result.
• Terminals end with their window. Anything still in the foreground goes with it.
• Everyone shares one tile. Recent Runs, the Runs list and the ten terminal slots are shared.
• Backups contain secrets. Anyone with the zip can read every stored password and key.

16Troubleshooting