Automate pimatic installation using Ansible

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Hello,

I automatically setup my Raspberry Pis using Ansible. This is why I wrote an Ansible role to automatically install and setup pimatic. It comprises the steps mentioned in:

• pimatic getting-started guide
• https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/2083/v0-9-install-pimatic-v0-9-from-scratch
• https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/2082/instalation-guide-v0-9-from-the-scratch

Including: software installation (node.js, pimatic, other necessary software), configuration (using Ansible template), setup as system service, SSL setup

Give it a try, I hope you find it useful. Feedback is highly appreciated.

very nice!! thx for your efforts!
this will be very useful !!

Great stuff, thanks @layereight!
(sorry for being off topic, but I could not help but notice your username, it’s awesome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layer_8).

This is very interesting! Personally i have never heard of Ansible but by the looks of it this could resolve one major whish for me, an automated install with Let’s Encrypt https!

Is this actual? If Yes, is there more explinations besides Github how this works?

Hi thanks for refreshing that this tool exists.
It looks like a nice automation tool for installing Pimatic.
If you would use it, it will install pimatic 4.6.2 and the ‘old’ Initd Service Wrapper.
But that could possibly be changed.

Hi @lschip,

the Ansible role is not up-to-date. But it’s still working last time I checked. As @bertreb points out it’s using an old version of NodeJS and a rather old service wrapper script. When I initially created the role 3 years ago I was relying on the documentation I found here https://pimatic.org/guide/getting-started/installation/.

But as I understand the installation instructions were updated in the wiki here https://pimatic.teamemo.com/Guide/Getting-Started.

At first glance updating the role according to the latest instructions in the wiki doesn’t look too hard. Maybe I can do it next weekend or so if you’re interested.

@lschip, the documentation found on github is kind of standard for an Ansible role, assuming you’re familiar with the usage and concepts of Ansible. If you’re not, don’t worry. Ansible is a pretty popular automation tool worth learning. And there’s tons of documentation about it. Including https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/index.html. Or just google.

My two cents: Ansible is cool automation tool for IT-nerds. Users who are not familiar with it and who are not willing to learn Ansible to modify the scripts to their own needs should not use it.

Hi all,

I updated the Ansible role according to the docs at https://pimatic.teamemo.com/Guide/Getting-Started. By default it’s using NodeJS’ latest 10.x branch which is version v10.18.1 at the time of writing. The NodeJS version is also configurable now through the variable pimatic_nodejs_version. The service script was also updated to the more modern systemd one.

Have a look at https://github.com/layereight/ansible-pimatic and give it a try. Feedback’s highly appreciated.