Ansible + Podman/systemd Guide

Manage containers as systemd services with Ansible automation.

Why This Approach

• Standard Linux tools (systemd, journalctl)
• GitOps via Ansible + GitHub Actions
• Multi-server ready
• Rootless containers (better security)
• No daemon overhead
• Easy client handoffs

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Architecture

Git Repository
├── ansible/
│   ├── inventory/production.yml
│   ├── playbooks/site.yml
│   └── roles/
│       ├── umami/
│       ├── grafana/
│       └── postgres/
└── .github/workflows/deploy.yml

        ↓ (CI/CD runs Ansible)

VPS Servers
├── systemd services
└── Podman containers

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Example: Umami Service

systemd unit file:

[Unit]
Description=Umami Analytics
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/podman pull ghcr.io/umami-software/umami:v2.10.0
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman run --rm --name umami \
    -p 3000:3000 \
    -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql://... \
    ghcr.io/umami-software/umami:v2.10.0
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop umami

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Ansible role:

- name: Install Podman
  apt:
    name: podman
    state: present

- name: Create systemd service
  template:
    src: umami.service.j2
    dest: /etc/systemd/system/umami.service

- name: Enable and start service
  systemd:
    name: umami
    enabled: yes
    state: started

---

Deployment

# Deploy everything
ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml

# Deploy specific service
ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml --tags umami

# Update version
ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml -e "umami_version=v2.11.0"

---

CI/CD (GitHub Actions)

name: Deploy to Production
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Install Ansible
        run: sudo apt install -y ansible
      - name: Deploy
        run: ansible-playbook playbooks/site.yml

---

Monitoring

# Service status
systemctl status umami

# Logs
journalctl -u umami -f

# Resource usage
podman stats

---

When to Use

• 5-20 services
• Want simplicity over features
• Comfortable with Linux/systemd
• Easy client handoffs important
• Don't need auto-scaling yet