86 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
86 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: Syncthing ansible role
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date: 2023-01-21
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description: The ansible role I wrote to manage my syncthing configurations
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tags:
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- ansible
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- syncthing
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---
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## Introduction
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I have been using [syncthing](https://syncthing.net/) for some time now. It is a tool to handle bidirectional synchronisation of data. For example I use it on my personal infrastructure to synchronise:
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- org-mode files between my workstation, laptop, a server and my phone (I need those everywhere!)
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- pictures from my phone and my nas
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- my music collection between my phone and my nas
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It is very useful, but by default the configuration leave a few things to be desired like telemetry or information leaks. If you want maximum privacy you need to disable the autodiscovery and the default nat traversal features.
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Also provisioning is easy, but deleting or unsharing stuff would require to remember what is shared where and go manage each device individualy from syncthing's web interface. I automated all that with ansible (well except for my phone which I cannot manage with ansible, its syncthing configuration will remain manual... for now).
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## Why another ansible role
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I wanted a role to install and configure syncthing for me and did not find an existing one that satisfied me. I had a few mandatory features in mind:
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- the ability to configure a servers parameters in only one place to avoid repetition
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- having a fact that retrieves the ID of a device
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- the validation of host_vars which virtually no role in the wild ever does
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- the ability to manage an additional inventory file for devices which ansible cannot manage (like my phone)
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## Role variables
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There is a single variable to specify in the `host_vars` of your hosts: `syncthing`. This is a dict that can contain the following keys:
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- address: optional string to specify how to connect to the server, must match the format `tcp://<hostname>` or `tcp://<ip>`. Default value is *dynamic* which means a passive host.
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- shared: a mandatory dict describing the directories this host shares, which can contain the following keys:
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- name: a mandatory string to name the share in the configuration. It must match on all devices that share this folder.
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- path: the path of the folder on the device. This can difer on each device sharing this data.
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- peers: a list a strings. Each item should be either the ansible_hostname of another device, or a hostname from the `syncthing_data.yaml` file
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Configuring a host through its `host_vars` looks like this:
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```yaml
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syncthing:
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address: tcp://lore.adyxax.org
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shared:
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- name: org-mode
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path: /var/syncthing/org-mode
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peers:
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- hero
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- light
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- lumapps
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- Pixel 3a
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```
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## The optional syncthing_data.yaml file
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To be found by the `action_plugins`, this file should be in the same folder as your playbook. It shares the same format as the `host_vars` but with additional keys for the hostname and its ID.
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The data file for non ansible devices looks like this:
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```yaml
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- name: Pixel 3a
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id: ABCDEFG-HIJKLMN-OPQRSTU-VWXYZ01-2345678-90ABCDE-FGHIJKL-MNOPQRS
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shared:
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- name: Music
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path: /storage/emulated/0/Music
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peers:
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- phoenix
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- name: Photos
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path: /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera
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peers:
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- phoenix
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- name: org-mode
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path: /storage/emulated/0/Org
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peers:
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- lore.adyxax.org
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```
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## Example playbook
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```yaml
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- hosts: all
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roles:
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- { role: syncthing, tags: [ 'syncthing' ], when: "syncthing is defined" }
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```
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## Conclusion
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You can find the role [here](https://git.adyxax.org/adyxax/syncthing-ansible-role/about/). If I left something unclear or some piece seems to be missing, do not hesitate to [contact me]({{< ref "about-me.md" >}}).
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