Deploying Multi-VM Applications on AHV with Ansible

Introduction

Many enterprise applications require multiple virtual machines, web frontends, app layers, and databases. With Ansible and Nutanix AHV, you can define entire application stacks in YAML and deploy them with a single command. This playbook demonstrates how to deploy and configure multiple VMs in a repeatable fashion.

My Personal Repository on GitHub

Nutanix Repository on GitHub

Diagram: Multi-VM Application Stack Flow

Use Case

• Deploy 3-tier applications (Web, App, DB)
• Assign networks, tags, and disks per VM
• Configure post-provision settings like NICs or categories

YAML File: app_stack.yml

app_vms:
  - name: web01
    memory: 4096
    vcpus: 2
    disk: 20
    subnet: vlan10
    category: "env:prod"

  - name: app01
    memory: 8192
    vcpus: 4
    disk: 40
    subnet: vlan20
    category: "env:prod"

  - name: db01
    memory: 16384
    vcpus: 8
    disk: 100
    subnet: vlan30
    category: "env:prod"

Playbook: deploy_app_stack.yml

- name: Deploy Nutanix Application Stack
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  collections:
    - nutanix.ncp
  vars_files:
    - nutanix_credentials.yml
    - app_stack.yml
  tasks:

    - name: Launch each VM in app stack
      loop: "{{ app_vms }}"
      loop_control:
        loop_var: vm
      nutanix.ncp.vms:
        name: "{{ vm.name }}"
        state: present
        cluster_name: "prod-cluster"
        memory_size_mib: "{{ vm.memory }}"
        num_vcpus_per_socket: "{{ vm.vcpus }}"
        num_sockets: 1
        vm_disks:
          - disk_size_mib: "{{ vm.disk * 1024 }}"
            storage_container: "default-container"
        vm_nics:
          - subnet_name: "{{ vm.subnet }}"
        categories:
          - name: "{{ vm.category.split(':')[0] }}"
            value: "{{ vm.category.split(':')[1] }}"

Run the Playbook

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

Optional Enhancements

• Add cloud-init or attach ISOs
• Tag VMs by role (role:web, role:db)
• Loop over clusters for DR deployment

Summary

This playbook showcases how Ansible can manage full-stack deployments on Nutanix AHV. By storing application VM definitions in YAML, you gain agility, auditability, and consistency across environments.

External Documentation:

• nutanix.ncp.vms Module