Creating Storage Containers with Ansible

Introduction

Storage containers in Nutanix define how data is stored, deduplicated, compressed, and tiered. Automating container creation using Ansible enables consistent configurations across clusters and sites. This article walks through creating storage containers with compression enabled using a reusable playbook.

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My Personal Repository on GitHub

Nutanix Repository on GitHub

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Diagram: Container Provisioning Workflow

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Use Case

• Create storage containers with compression/dedupe
• Apply consistent naming standards and policies
• Integrate into new site builds or disaster recovery workflows

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YAML File: container_config.yml

containers:
  - name: app-storage
    storage_container: "app-container"
    storage_pool: "default-storage-pool"
    compression_enabled: true
    deduplication_enabled: false

  - name: db-storage
    storage_container: "db-container"
    storage_pool: "default-storage-pool"
    compression_enabled: false
    deduplication_enabled: true

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Playbook: create_containers.yml

- name: Create Nutanix storage containers
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  collections:
    - nutanix.ncp
  vars_files:
    - nutanix_credentials.yml
    - container_config.yml
  tasks:

    - name: Create container
      loop: "{{ containers }}"
      loop_control:
        loop_var: container
      nutanix.ncp.storage_containers:
        state: present
        name: "{{ container.storage_container }}"
        storage_pool_name: "{{ container.storage_pool }}"
        compression_enabled: "{{ container.compression_enabled }}"
        deduplication_enabled: "{{ container.deduplication_enabled }}"
        cluster_name: "prod-cluster"

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Run It

ansible-playbook create_containers.yml --ask-vault-pass -i inventory.yml

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Optional Enhancements

• Add advertised_capacity
• Attach a replication policy or protection domain
• Use tags for search and metadata

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Summary

This playbook makes Nutanix storage provisioning fast, consistent, and scalable. Whether for onboarding new clusters or configuring containers per business unit, Ansible provides a reliable framework for infrastructure-as-code.

External Documentation:

• Nutanix Storage Documentation
• nutanix.ncp Ansible Collection Reference

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