Create ISO image from Files and Folders - Ansible module iso_create

How to automate the creation of a "test.iso" ISO9660 file containing an "helloworld.txt" file using Ansible Playbook and iso_create module.

August 18, 2022

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#ansible #iso_create #module #iso9660 #rhel #centos #fedora #ubuntu #debian #suse #rock-ridge #joliet #udf

How to Create ISO image from Files and Folders with Ansible?

I’m going to show you a live demo with some simple Ansible code. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot

Create ISO images from the Files and Folders

community.general.iso_create
Generate ISO files with specified files or folders

Let’s talk about the Ansible module iso_create. The full name is community.general.iso_create, which means that is part of the collection of modules “community.general” maintained by the Ansible Community. This module requires the extra pycdlib Python library. You can easily install the pycdlib Python library using PIP, the Python Package Installer. The purpose of the module is to generate ISO files with specified files or folders.

Parameters

dest_iso path - ISO file absolute path
src_files list - absolute paths of source files or folder
interchange_level integer - ISO9660 standards (1–4)
joliet integer - Joliet extension (1–3)
rock_ridge string - Rock Ridge extension (1.09, 1.10, 1.12)
udf boolean - no/yes UDF support 2.60

Let me summarize the main parameters of the module iso_create. The required parameters are “dest_iso” and “src_files”. The “dest_iso” parameter contains the generated ISO file absolute path according to the ISO9660 standard. The “src_files” parameter contains the list of absolute paths of source files or folders. You probably would like to set to four the “interchange_level” parameter because it allows you to specify which of the fourth ISO9660 standards to support, default to “1”. Level 1 is the most restrictive standard and Level 4 is the most permissive one. With all ISO9660 levels from 1 to 3, all file names are restricted to uppercase letters, numbers, and underscores (_). File names are limited to 31 characters, directory nesting is limited to 8 levels, and path names are limited to 255 characters. Level 1 allows a maximum of 8 characters for names and 3 characters in the extension. Joliet is a popular ISO9660 extension in the Windows-like environment that you could enable setting to three the “joliet” parameter to allow the support of filenames up to 103 characters in length (according to the mkisofs documentation). Rock Ridge is another popular ISO9660 extension in the Unix-like operating systems to enable up to 255 bytes long file names and soft/hard links. You can enable the “1.12” specification setting accordingly the “rock_ridge” parameter. Another popular extension is the Universal Disk Format (UDF) which allows files to be created, deleted, and changed on a disc just as a general-purpose filesystem. You can enable the UDF specification 2.60 setting the “udf” boolean.

demo

Let’s jump into a real-life Ansible Playbook to Create ISO images from Files and Folders. I’m going to show you how to create an example.iso image with a file “helloworld.txt” inside the user’s devopshome directory.

code

create_iso.yml

---
- name: iso_create module demo
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Create an ISO file
      community.general.iso_create:
        src_files:
          - /home/devops/helloworld.txt
        dest_iso: /home/devops/test.iso
        interchange_level: 4
        joliet: 3

execution

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory file_management/create_iso.yml
PLAY [iso_create module demo] *********************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [Create an ISO file] *************************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

not-idempotent

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory file_management/create_iso.yml
PLAY [iso_create module demo] *********************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [Create an ISO file] *************************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

before execution

$ ssh [email protected]
[[email protected] ~]$ ls
helloworld.txt
[[email protected] ~]$

after execution

ansible-pilot $ ssh [email protected]                                                      
[[email protected] ~]$ ls
helloworld.txt  test.iso
[[email protected] ~]$ file test.iso 
test.iso: ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem data ''
[[email protected] ~]$ cat helloworld.txt 
example
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo mount -t iso9660 test.iso /mnt/
mount: /mnt: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
[[email protected] ~]$ ls -al /mnt/helloworld.txt 
-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root 8 Aug 18 09:24 /mnt/virtualbox/helloworld.txt
[[email protected] ~]$ cat /mnt/helloworld.txt
example
[[email protected] ~]$

code with ❤️ in GitHub

Recap

Now you know how to create an ISO image from Files and Folders. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, Website, Twitter, and Substack to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.