Tower Notifications in Ansible

1. Introduction

Ansible Tower (or AWX, the open-source version) provides a powerful interface for managing Ansible playbooks and inventories. One of the key features of Tower is its notification system which allows users to receive alerts based on specific job events.

2. Key Concepts

**Notifications**: Alerts triggered by specific events such as job completion, failure, or success.
**Webhooks**: Methods to receive real-time updates from external services.
**Notification Templates**: Configurable templates that define the content and format of notifications.

3. Configuring Notifications

Step 1: Accessing the Notification Settings

Step 2: Creating a Notification Template

Follow these steps:

Select "Notifications" from the menu.

Click on the "+" button to create a new notification template.

Choose the type of notification (Email, Slack, etc.).

Fill in the required fields (name, recipients, etc.).

Click "Save" to create the notification template.

Step 3: Linking Notifications to Jobs

To associate notifications with specific jobs:

Navigate to the Job Template you wish to modify.

Scroll to the "Notifications" section.

Select the previously created notification template from the dropdown.

Choose the events that will trigger the notification (Success, Failure, etc.).

Save the Job Template.

4. Best Practices

Regularly review and update notification templates to ensure relevance.
Use clear and concise messaging in notifications to avoid confusion.
Test notifications to ensure they are correctly configured and operational.

5. FAQ

What types of notifications can I configure?

You can configure various notification types including email, Slack messages, and custom webhooks.

Can I customize the content of notifications?

Yes, you can define custom templates for notifications that allow for personalized messages.

How do I test notifications?

You can manually trigger a job that uses the notification template to verify if it is functioning correctly.

6. Notification Workflow


            graph TD;
                A[Job Event] --> B{Event Type}
                B -->|Success| C[Send Success Notification]
                B -->|Failure| D[Send Failure Notification]
                B -->|Pending| E[Send Pending Notification]