AWS ContainerLab Deployment

This project automates the deployment of ContainerLab on an AWS EC2 instance using Terraform for infrastructure provisioning and Ansible for software setup and configuration. It also configures a Route53 DNS record for easy access to the ContainerLab instance.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following prerequisites installed and configured:

AWS CLI
Terraform
Ansible
Git (if cloning the repository)
An AWS account with the necessary permissions
A configured AWS Key Pair

Installation

Configure AWS Credentials and Variables

Set your AWS credentials and other sensitive data in terraform/terraform.tfvars.
Example:
```
AWS_ACCESS_KEY = "your_access_key"
AWS_SECRET_KEY = "your_secret_key"
AWS_REGION     = "desired_aws_region"
AWS_KEY_NAME   = "your_key_pair_name"
```
Important: Never commit terraform.tfvars to version control as it contains sensitive information.
Clone the Repository

If you haven't already, clone this repository to your local machine:
```
git clone <repository_url>
cd AWS-ContainerLab-Deployment
```
Initialize Terraform

Navigate to the Terraform directory and initialize the Terraform environment:
```
cd terraform
terraform init
```
Apply Terraform Configuration

Apply the Terraform configuration to start the deployment:
```
terraform apply
```
If you want to clone a specific GitHub repository during installation, pass the repository URL as a variable:
```
terraform apply -var="GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/MasqAs/projet-vxlan-automation"
```
Enter yes when prompted to proceed.
Ansible Automation

The Terraform configuration will automatically trigger the Ansible playbook install_containerlab.yml after the EC2 instance is up. This playbook configures the instance with the necessary packages and settings, installs ContainerLab, and optionally clones the specified GitHub repository.

Network Images Folder and Naming Convention

Network Images Folder

The network_images folder is intended for Docker images that will be used by ContainerLab. These images should be pre-downloaded and placed in this folder before running the Ansible playbook. During the setup process, the images will be copied to the remote /tmp directory of the ContainerLab host and then imported into Docker.

Naming Convention for Images

It's important to follow a specific naming convention for the images to ensure they are correctly imported into Docker. The naming convention is as follows:

system_name_without_digit-*-tag.tar.xz

system_name_without_digit: This part of the filename should include the system name without any digits and need to be written in lower case. The system name will be converted to lowercase during the import process.
*: This is a wildcard segment that can include any characters but should not contain the version or tag information.
tag: This part should specify the version or tag of the image. The tag can include both lowercase and uppercase characters and digits.

Example

Given an image file named cEOS64-lab-4.30.3M.tar.xz:

cEOS64 will be the system name. Digits will be removed ceos.
4.30.3M will be the tag, kept as-is.

The image will be imported into Docker with the tag ceos:4.30.3M.

Please ensure that all image files in the network_images folder conform to this naming convention for the automated process to function correctly.

Accessing ContainerLab

You can access the ContainerLab instance via SSH using the public IP or the DNS name provided by Route53.
The public IP of the instance can be found in the Terraform output.
The DNS name will be in the format containerlab <your_route53_zone_name>

Customization

You can customize the deployment by modifying the Terraform variables in terraform/variables.tf.
The Ansible playbook can be customized by editing ansible/install_containerlab.yml.

Clean Up

To destroy the AWS resources created by Terraform, run:

terraform destroy

Enter `yes` when prompted.

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome. Please ensure you follow the established coding standards and update the documentation as necessary.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

This README provides a comprehensive guide for users on how to use your project. You can add this to your GitHub repository by creating a new file named README.md and pasting this content into it. Be sure to replace <repository_url> with the actual URL of your GitHub repository.

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