SolarWinds dynamic inventory

To create and manage device inventory via plugin, several steps are required. This guide covers the SolarWinds NCM (Network Configuration Manager) plugin.

Related reading: SolarWinds NCM

Install the required Ansible collections

For SolarWinds NCM, install the following two Ansible collections using ansible-galaxy:

itential-core-1.0.0.tar.gz

itential-plugins-1.0.0.tar.gz

Add the SolarWinds plugin config file

Configure the SolarWinds NCM plugin by creating an inventory file in the inventory directory found on a typical IAG server at the following location:

/opt/automation-gateway/ansible/inventory/solarwinds.yml

This example enables the SolarWinds NCM plugin.

1 # Copyright 2024, Itential, Inc
2 # GNU General Public License v3.0+ (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)
3 ---
4 
5 # The value for plugin is required and is always set to
6 # `itential.plugins.solarwinds`.
7 plugin: itential.plugins.solarwinds
8 
9 # Configures the url to the server.  For example, `https://1.2.3.4` or
10 # `https://solarwindows.example.com`.  This value is required
11 base_url: <Hostname or IP address to server>
12 
13 # Configures the port value to use when connecting to the server.  If this
14 # value is not specified, the default value of `17778` will be used
15 api_port: <API port>
16 
17 # Configures the username to use when authenticating to the server.  This value
18 # is required.
19 username: <username used to authenticate to Solarwinds API>
20 
21 # Configures the password to use when authenticating to the server.  This value
22 # is required.
23 password: <password used to authenticate to Solarwinds API>
24 
25 # Enables or disables certification verification for TLS connections.  The
26 # default value is `True`
27 verify_ssl: <true | false>
28 
29 # Enables or disables the use of Solarwinds ConnectionProfile as the device
30 # credentials.  Typically set this value to True
31 use_connection_profiles: <true | false>

Configure Ansible to use the SolarWinds plugin

Configure Ansible to use this plugin as the inventory source by using the following configuration. The Ansible config file is typically found on an IAG server at the following location:

/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

1 [defaults]
2 collections_path=/opt/automation-gateway/ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
3 inventory=/opt/automation-gateway/ansible/inventory/solarwinds.yml
4 
5 [inventory]
6 enable_plugins=itential.plugins.solarwinds

Confirm the plugin is working

Execute the inventory plugin with the following command to confirm everything works as intended outside of IAG:

$ ansible-inventory -vvv --list

When executed correctly, this step should return a list of devices from SolarWinds with their associated variables.

Restart IAG

Restarting IAG should trigger the plugin to execute. Once execution finishes, you should see devices in the Ansible inventory.

$ sudo systemctl restart automation-gateway

Troubleshooting

Plugin can’t connect to SolarWinds NCM

Refer to SolarWinds Platform Release Notes: In the SolarWinds 2023.1 release, you can continue using port 17778. However, it is being deprecated and will not be supported in a future version.

Navigate to the advanced global settings page located at:

<SolarwindsURL>/Orion/Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx

Inspect the following endpoint port flags:

DisableSwisRestEndpointOnPort17774
DisableSwisRestEndpointOnPort17778

Passwords not appearing

Check the settings. If you set the inventory file use_connection_profiles flag to true, and only ansible_user has a value (but ansible_password does not), try the following:

Log in to SolarWinds using an admin account.
Navigate to the advanced global settings page located at <SolarwindsURL>/Orion/Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx.
Uncheck the flag HideSwisConnectionProfilePasswords to expose inventory passwords to the plugin.
Save the settings.