Re: Initial Postgres admin account setup using Ansible?

Hello,

On Tue, Dec 31, 2024 at 10:32 PM Nick <lists2(at)ageofdream(dot)com> wrote:

>
> I'm trying to create an Ansible playbook that sets up and manages
> Postgres on Debian 12.
>
> I'm having issues with the default username/login structure, and could
> use some help.
>
> I'm installing the `postgresql` package via apt, and Debian creates a
> `postgres` system account that has a locked password.
>
> I can login to Postgres manually by first becoming root then running
> `sudo -u postgres psql` as root. But when the Ansible user (which has
> passwordless sudo) tries to run `sudo -u postgres psql`, I get:
>
> "Sorry, user Ansible is not allowed to execute '/usr/bin/psql' as
> postgres on example.com."
>
> This is likely because the postgres POSIX account has a locked
> password, so only root can become postgres. Other users with sudo
> permissions can't become a locked account.
>
> So I **could** unlock the `postgres` POSIX account, but I understand
> that this account is locked for a reason.
>
> The goal is to have Ansible manage the creation of databases and roles
> in the Postgres database.
>
> So I need to create an account in Postgres that Ansible can use as the
> super user. I would like to do this in a way that doesn't require me to
> manually login to the server, become root, become postgres as root,
> then manually create an Ansible role.
>
> What is the proper (secure) way to let the Ansible POSIX user manage
> postgres? It seems there should be a fully automated way to bootstrap
> an Ansible user for `postgres`.
>

Can you please provide an example of the task(s) which fail?
If you have passwordless "sudo" configured tor the user running Ansible,
this works:

- name: Ping PostgreSQL
postgresql_ping:
db: postgres
login_unix_socket: "/var/run/postgresql"
login_user: postgres
become: yes
become_user: postgres

More examples and details:
https://andreas.scherbaum.la/writings/Managing_PostgreSQL_with_Ansible_-_Percona_Live_2022.pdf

Regards,

--
Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum
German PostgreSQL User Group
European PostgreSQL User Group - Board of Directors
Volunteer Regional Contact, Germany - PostgreSQL Project