Chapter 1. View key usage metrics with Automation Dashboard

Procedure

1. Download the latest installer tar file from access.redhat.com. Navigate to Downloads > Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Product Software.
2. Copy the installation source file to your RHEL 9 host.

3. Extract the installation source. This will require ~500Mb. of disk space. Throughout this example we will use the ec2-user home directory: /home/<username>.

   tar -xzvf ansible-automation-dashboard-containerized-setup-bundle-0.1-x86_64.tar.gz
   cd ansible-automation-dashboard-containerized-setup/

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4. Verify that the installation of necessary software by running the following commands:

   cd ansible-automation-dashboard-containerized-setup
   sudo dnf install ansible-core
   ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

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5. Create an application client_id/client_secret in your Ansible Automation Platform instance:

   1. Create an OAuth2 application using the following steps :

      1. For Ansible 2.4:

         • Navigate to https://AAP_CONTROLLER_FQDN/#/applications

      2. For Ansible 2.5 and 2.6:

         • Navigate to https://AAP_GATEWAY_FQDN/access/applications

      3. Add the following information:

         • Name: automation-dashboard-sso
         • Authorization grant type: authorization-code
         • Organization: Default
         • Redirect URIs: https://AUTOMATION_DASHBOARD_FQDN/auth-callback

         • Client type: Confidential

           Note

           The values for Name, Organization, and HTTPS port number for Ansible Automation Platform are configurable. The examples provided in this document assume use of port 443.

   2. Save the client_id and client_secret information inputs into the inventory file.

   3. Create an Ansible Automation Platform access token:

      1. Navigate to https://AAP_GATEWAY_FQDN/#/users/<id>/tokens, and create a token using the following information:

         • OAuth application: automation-dashboard-sso
         • Scope: read
      2. Store this access token value. clusters.yaml uses this access token.

6. Copy the example inventory and change it before running the installation program.

   cp -i inventory.example inventory
   vi inventory

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   Important
   • This is an example tested inventory containing default values for Ansible Automation Platform 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6.

   • You must change the following values to use this inventory configuration in your environment:

     • Change the RHEL 9 host occurrences from host.example.com to your FQDN host
     • Change the phrase TODO to match your passwords within all _admin_password or _pg_password values.
   • For more information, see the Inventory variables section of this document.

   # This is our Automation Dashboard front-end application
   [automationdashboard]
   host.example.com ansible_connection=local
   
   # These are required vars for the installation and should not be removed
   [automationdashboard:vars]
   # Configure AAP OAuth2 authentication.
   # aap_auth_provider_name - name as shown on login page.
   aap_auth_provider_name=Ansible Automation Platform
   # aap_auth_provider_protocol - http or https
   aap_auth_provider_protocol=https
   # AAP version - 2.4, 2.5 or 2.6
   aap_auth_provider_aap_version=2.5
   # aap_auth_provider_host - AAP IP or DNS name, with optional port
   aap_auth_provider_host=my-aap.example.com
   # aap_auth_provider_check_ssl - enforce TLS check or not.
   aap_auth_provider_check_ssl=true
   # aap_auth_provider_client_id and aap_auth_provider_client_secret -
   # they are obtained from AAP when OAuth2 application is created in AAP.
   aap_auth_provider_client_id=TODO
   aap_auth_provider_client_secret=TODO
   
   
   # Specify amount of old data to synchronoize after installation.
   # The initial_sync_days=N requests N days of old data, counting from "today".
   # The initial_sync_since requests data from the specified data until "today".
   # If both are specified, the initial_sync_since will be used.
   initial_sync_days=1
   # initial_sync_since=2025-08-08
   
   # Hide warnings when insecure https request are made.
   # Use this if your AAP uses self-signed TLS certificate.
   # show_urllib3_insecure_request_warning=False
   
   # Force clean install-like
   # dashboard_update_secret=true
   
   # HTTP/HTTPS settings
   # nginx_disable_https=true
   # Change nginx_http_port or nginx_https_port if you want to access dashboard on a different TCP port.
   # nginx_http_port=8083
   # nginx_https_port=8447
   # TLS certificate configuration
   # The dashboard_tls_cert needs:
   #   - contain server certificate, intermediate CA certificates and root CA certificate.
   #   - the server certificate must be the first one in the file.
   # dashboard_tls_cert=/path/to/tls/dashboard.crt
   # dashboard_tls_key=/path/to/tls/dashboard.key
   
   # Enable Django DEBUG.
   # django_debug=True
   
   [database]
   host.example.com ansible_connection=local
   
   [all:vars]
   postgresql_admin_username=postgres
   postgresql_admin_password=TODO
   
   # AAP Dashboard - mandatory
   # --------------------------
   dashboard_pg_containerized=True
   dashboard_admin_password=TODO
   dashboard_pg_host=host.example.com
   dashboard_pg_username=aapdashboard
   dashboard_pg_password=TODO
   dashboard_pg_database=aapdashboard
   #
   bundle_install=true
   # <full path to the bundle directory>
   bundle_dir='{{ lookup("ansible.builtin.env", "PWD") }}/bundle'

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7. Run the installation program.

   ansible-playbook -i inventory ansible.containerized_installer.dashboard_install

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Procedure

1. Verify that Automation Dashboard is running on https port 8447 on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux host.

   Note
   • This verification requires your Ansible Automation Platform login details.
   • Port 8447 is enabled by default, but this is configurable.

2. Add your Ansible Automation Platform instances into clusters.yaml using the following information:

   • Your Ansible Automation Platform URLs/ports for front-end access
   • A preconfigured Ansible Automation Platform OAuth access token and refresh for read access

   • OAuth2 client credentials

     Note

     If you do not have access to Ansible Automation Platform, consult your administrator.

3. Configure a personal access token. For more information, see Configuring access to external applications with token-based authentication.

4. Once you have configured your access token, run the following command:

   cp clusters.example.yaml clusters.yaml
   vi clusters.yaml

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5. You can add one or more Ansible Automation Platform instances (of the same Ansible Automation Platform version) into the Automation Dashboard configuration for pulling and combining data by using the following:

   Note

   If you only have one Ansible Automation Platform instance, then remove the second entry.

   ---
   clusters:
     - protocol: https			<--- Normally https
       address: my-aap.example.com  <--- Can use IP or FQDN without http(s)://
       port: 443				<--- Normally 443
       access_token: sampleToken	<--- Your preconfigured Ansible Automation Platform read access token
     Platform read access token
       refresh_token: myRefreshToken
       client_id: myClientID
       client_secret: myClientSecret
       verify_ssl: false		<--- Can be used when using self signed certs
       sync_schedules:
         - name: Every 5 minutes sync
           rrule: DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Ljubljana:20250630T070000 FREQ=MINUTELY;INTERVAL=5
           enabled: true
   
     - protocol: https
       address: aap2.example.com
       port: 443
       access_token: WRn2swiqg5spEwUndDkrJoCeg4Qwuw
       verify_ssl: true
       sync_schedules:
         - name: Every 5 minutes sync
           rrule: DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Ljubljana:20250630T070000 FREQ=MINUTELY;INTERVAL=5
           enabled: true

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   Note

   The access_token, refresh_token, and client_secret are stored in the Automation Dashboard database. These values are encrypted for security.

6. Run the following commands to load and activate your Automation Dashboard configuration:

   podman cp clusters.yaml automation-dashboard-web:/
   podman exec automation-dashboard-web /venv/bin/python ./manage.py setclusters /clusters.yaml

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   Note

   Automation Dashboard uses refresh_token, client_id, and client_secret to automatically obtain a new access_token and refresh_token when the current token expires. The utility uses the ping endpoint to detect the Ansible Automation Platform version and find the correct token refresh endpoint.

   Example

   podman exec automation-dashboard-web /venv/bin/python ./manage.py setclusters /clusters.yaml
   Check if table exists.
   Reading YML file.
   Adding cluster: address=my-aap.example.com
   
   INFO 2025-05-20 09:55:00,926 connector 187 140208297051968 Checking if is AAP 2.4 at https://my-aap.example.com:443
   INFO 2025-05-20 09:55:00,926 connector 187 140208297051968 Pinging api https://my-aap.example.com:443/api/v2/ping/
   INFO 2025-05-20 09:55:00,926 connector 187 140208297051968 Executing GET request to https://my-aap.example.com:443/api/v2/ping/
   
   ERROR 2025-05-20 09:55:00,032 connector 301 140025281152832 GET request failed with status 404
   Successfully set up AAP clusters

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   Note

   Automation Dashboard checks for Ansible Automation Platform 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 instances. As shown in the example output, this can result in 404 errors. For more information on errors, see the Verification section of this chapter.

7. Use the following command to test your Automation Dashboard configuration by manually fetching data:

   podman exec -it automation-dashboard-web /venv/bin/python ./manage.py syncdata --since=2025-04-01 --until=2025-06-01
   Successfully created Sync task for Cluster https://my-aap.example.com:443.

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   Note

   Consider using a short date interval to reduce test time. The format is YYYY-MM-DD.

   You can then use journalctl to check progress:

   sudo journalctl -fn10

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8. Refresh your browser to view retrieved data within your Automation Dashboard.

Procedure

1. Use the Average cost per minute to manually run the job field to enter the average cost per minute for an engineer to manually run jobs.
2. Use the Average cost per minute of running on Ansible Automation Platform field to enter an average cost per minute of running a job using Ansible Automation Platform.

3. Select Time taken to create automation into calculation to include the costs associated with creating the initial or ongoing automation execution.

   Automation Dashboard supplies the following data:

   • Cost of manual automation: This number represents the estimated cost of manually performing all of the automated tasks. This is an estimated value, not an actual expenditure. It represents the potential expenses that the organization would incur without automation. The calculation is based on the time taken to manually run each job, multiplied by a labor cost rate.
   • Cost of automated execution: This is the cost of automation execution using Ansible Automation Platform. This cost includes the resources consumed by Ansible Automation Platform, such as server time, processing power, and any other operational expenses associated with automation execution. It represents the actual cost incurred for automation execution.
   • Total savings/cost avoided: This is the difference between the Cost of manual automation and the Cost of automated execution. This is a key metric for demonstrating the return on investment attainable by using Ansible Automation Platform.
   • Total hours saved/avoided: This figure is calculated by adding host executions and automation creation time, then subtracting the running time in minutes.

   • Time taken to manually execute (min): This metric represents the amount of time it would take for a user to perform the task manually on a host. It is an input provided to compare the value of manual execution and automated execution using the time taken by the organization to manually automate.

     Note

     You can export the data from your cost and savings analysis as a CSV.