Deploy development virtual machines on AWS

This page details the Terraform configuration required for deploying development virtual machines (VMs) on AWS with multiple operating system options and automated Netprobe deployment. This environment creates development VMs on AWS with:

• Multiple operating system options (Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 LTS, RHEL 7, RHEL 8, and RHEL 9)
• Ansible deployment automation
• SSH key authentication
• Configurable VM specifications
• Resource tagging for organization

Template files Copied

The environment contains the following Terraform configuration files:

• main.tf — the main configuration that provisions VM instances and triggers the Ansible deployment
• variables.tf — variable definitions for all configurable parameters
• outputs.tf — output definitions for deployment information
• providers.tf — AWS provider configuration
• versions.tf — Terraform and provider version constraints
• terraform.tfvars.[os].example — configuration file for your operating system

Prerequisites Copied

1. Terraform version 1.0 or higher installed

2. AWS CLI version 2.0 or higher installed

3. AWS authentication configured

   Select one method:

   # Method 1: Default profile
   aws configure
   
   # Method 2: Named profile  
   aws configure --profile my-profile
   
   # Method 3: Environment variables
   export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
   export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
   export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"
   

4. SSH key pair for instance access (choose one method)

   • Import an existing public key to AWS:

     # Generate SSH key pair if you don't already have one
     ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -f ../../../../../resources/id_rsa
     
     # Import the public key as an EC2 key pair
     aws ec2 import-key-pair --key-name my-key --public-key-material fileb://../../../../../resources/id_rsa.pub
     

   • Or create an AWS-managed key pair and download the private key:

     aws ec2 create-key-pair --key-name my-key --query 'KeyMaterial' --output text > my-key.pem
     chmod 400 my-key.pem
     

5. IAM permissions, where the user or role must have:

   • EC2 full access
   • VPC full access
   • IAM PassRole permission (if using roles)

Authentication overview Copied

This deployment requires two types of authentication:

1. Terraform authentication (infrastructure creation) to allow Terraform to create virtual machines, networks, and cloud resources. For AWS, you need to configure the AWS CLI profiles or environment variables. Select only one method:

   • Default AWS CLI profile — makes use of the default AWS CLI profile configured on your system.

     aws_region = "us-east-1"
     key_name = "your-key-pair-name"
     

   • Specific AWS CLI profile — makes use of a named AWS CLI profile.

     aws_region = "us-east-1"
     aws_profile = "my-profile"
     key_name = "your-key-pair-name"
     

   • Assume IAM role — assumes a specific IAM role for deployment.

     aws_region = "us-east-1"
     assume_role_arn = "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/TerraformRole"
     assume_role_session_name = "terraform-deployment"
     key_name = "your-key-pair-name"
     

2. Application authentication (cloud storage access) to allow applications running on virtual machines to download the deployment resources from the respective cloud storage. This is configured in the netprobe.yml file for each environment. Refer to AWS authentication for detailed authentication configuration.

Deployment setup Copied

1. Copy the example configuration.

   # For Ubuntu 22.04 (default)
   cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars
   
   # For Ubuntu 24.04
   cp terraform.tfvars.ubuntu24.example terraform.tfvars
   
   # For RHEL 8
   cp terraform.tfvars.rhel8.example terraform.tfvars
   
   # For RHEL 9
   cp terraform.tfvars.rhel9.example terraform.tfvars
   

2. Update the terraform.tfvars configuration file with your AWS settings.

   nano terraform.tfvars
   

3. Deploy the infrastructure.

   terraform init
   terraform plan
   terraform apply
   

Configuration files Copied

Select the appropriate configuration file for your operating system:

In the selected configuration file, configure the parameters outlined below.

AWS account configuration Copied

EC2 instance configuration Copied

You must create the instance profile before running Terraform. This instance profile will be attached to the VM instances during creation. To create an instance profile:

# Create the IAM role for EC2 instances
aws iam create-role \
   --role-name dev-instance-role \
   --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json

# Create the instance profile
aws iam create-instance-profile \
   --instance-profile-name dev-instance-profile

# Add role to instance profile
aws iam add-role-to-instance-profile \
   --instance-profile-name dev-instance-profile \
   --role-name dev-instance-role

Deployment configuration Copied

Network configuration Copied

Virtual machine configuration Copied

Virtual machine configurations are based on the Netprobe system requirements. The default instance type follows the ITRS AWS AMI specifications.

SSH access configuration Copied

Ansible deployment configuration Copied

Terraform commands Copied

Run the following Terraform commands to deploy the infrastructure.

terraform init

terraform plan -var-file="terraform.tfvars"

terraform apply -var-file="terraform.tfvars"

terraform output

terraform destroy -var-file="terraform.tfvars"

Resources created Copied

The following AWS infrastructure resources and outputs will be created:

Outputs Copied

The following outputs will be available after deployment:

Ansible integration Copied

Ansible playbooks are automatically executed after the creation of the virtual machine. These are used to:

• Configure the Netprobe service.
• Set up monitoring connections to the Gateway.
• Apply environment-specific settings.
• Install the required dependencies.

Troubleshooting Copied

You can run the given commands if you encounter the following issues:

# Check current AWS identity
aws sts get-caller-identity

# Check AWS CLI configuration
aws configure list

# Test specific profile
aws sts get

# Check instance status via AWS CLI
aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids <instance-id>

# Check via Terraform
terraform show

# View Terraform state
terraform state list

# Check available Ubuntu AMIs
aws ec2 describe-images --owners 099720109477 \
  --filters "Name=name,Values=ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"

# Check available RHEL AMIs
aws ec2 describe-images --owners 309956199498 \
  --filters "Name=name,Values=RHEL-9*"

# Check security group rules
aws ec2 describe-security-groups --group-ids <security-group-id>

# Verify key pair exists
aws ec2 describe-key-pairs --key-names <key-name>

# Test SSH connection
ssh -i /path/to/key.pem ubuntu@<instance-ip>

# Check Ansible logs in Terraform output
terraform apply -auto-approve

# Manual Ansible execution
ansible-playbook -i <instance-ip>, ../../../../ansible/netprobe.yml \
  --private-key ../../../../../resources/id_rsa \
  --user ubuntu \
  --extra-vars "operation=install"

Netprobe configuration Copied

The netprobe.yml file contains Ansible configuration for Netprobe deployment. For general configuration structure and available parameters, refer to Ansible configuration.

Update the following environment-specific settings in netprobe.yml file for your AWS development environment:

SSH configuration Copied

# SSH connection configuration (required)
ansible_ssh_private_key_file: "../../../../../resources/id_rsa"
ansible_ssh_common_args: "-o ControlMaster=no -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null"

Bootstrap configuration Copied

# Set to false for dev environments (minimal bootstrap)
perform_bootstrap: false

# AWS-specific bootstrap if perform_bootstrap is true
additional_bootstrap: ""

Cloud provider configuration Copied

For AWS S3 authentication configuration (downloading deployment resources), see authentication overview.

resources:
  source:
    aws:
      # Authentication configuration varies by method
  container: geneos  # S3 bucket name
  # Resource paths
  path: netprobe.tar.gz
  setupfile:
    path: netprobe.setup_template.xml

Gateway connection Copied

env_vars:
  # Gateway information (configure for your setup)
  GATEWAY_HOST: "0.0.0.0"
  GATEWAY_PORT: "7039"

Netprobe connection Copied

env_vars:
  # Netprobe information
  SERVICE_PARAM: "-port 7036 -setup {{ workspace_dir }}/{{ resources.setupfile.path | basename }}"