Overview

Date: 2026-05-11

Time: 15:20

Overview

This page tracks the implementation status of FTL2's example automation scripts, covering local execution, remote SSH, and multi-host scenarios. It documents which modules have been created, resolved issues (particularly around SSH authentication), and the current test status of each example set.

Key Concepts

• FTL2 ships five basic modules: ping (connectivity), setup (fact gathering), shell (command execution), file (file/directory management), copy (file copying), all located in src/ftl2/modules/
• Inventory variable naming: FTL2 does NOT use the ansible prefix. Use sshprivatekeyfile instead of ansiblesshprivatekeyfile. Only fields starting with ansible_ are treated as direct host attributes; other variables go into a vars dict.
• SSH key authentication is the preferred and more production-like approach over password authentication.
• FTL2 supports parallel execution across multiple hosts (demonstrated in Example 03).
• The CLI uses shlex for proper shell-style argument parsing, handling quoted strings like cmd='echo hello'.
• The CLI automatically detects the default modules directory.
• Inventory groups are flattened (not nested) in FTL2's inventory structure.

Commands and Syntax

# Local execution
cd examples/01-local-execution
./run_examples.sh

# Remote SSH with container setup
cd examples/02-remote-ssh
./setup.sh start   # Starts container & installs Python
./run_examples.sh  # Run examples
./setup.sh stop    # Clean up

# SSH integration tests (requires running test container)
SSH_INTEGRATION_TESTS=true pytest tests/test_ssh_integration.py -xvs

Inventory structure uses groups like webservers and databases defined in inventory.yml, with SSH key paths configured per-host.

Relationships

• Modules — the five basic modules form the foundation for all examples and are the primary user-facing API surface
• Inventory management — inventory YAML format and variable naming conventions differ from Ansible (no ansible_ prefix)
• Migration from Ansible — the ansible_ prefix difference is a key gotcha for migrating users
• Remote execution — depends on SSH key setup and Python being available on target hosts
• Multi-host parallel execution — builds on remote SSH, uses Docker Compose for test environments

Exam-Relevant Points

• FTL2 inventory variables do NOT use the ansible prefix; use sshprivatekeyfile not ansiblesshprivatekeyfile
• Non-ansible_ prefixed variables are placed in the vars dict within inventory
• FTL2 uses flattened group structures in inventory
• SSH key-based authentication is the standard approach (not password)
• The five built-in modules are: ping, setup, shell, file, copy
• The SSHINTEGRATIONTESTS=true environment variable gates SSH integration tests
• The CLI handles quoted argument strings via shlex parsing