Absolutely! Ansible Tower (now called Controller in AAP) has a robust, well-documented REST API. You can use it to automate everything you do via the web UI—launch jobs, manage inventories, users, credentials, and more.
Below is a practical, step-by-step guide (with examples!) to help you get started.

How to Work with Ansible Tower REST API (with Example)

1. Understanding the Ansible Tower API

• Type: RESTful, JSON-based API.
• Docs: Interactive Swagger/OpenAPI docs usually at:
  https://<tower-server>/api/
  (log in and try it!)
• Authentication:
  • Basic Auth (username/password or Personal Access Token)
  • OAuth2 (for advanced use cases)

2. API Authentication

• Basic Auth:
  Every request uses HTTP basic authentication.
  Example: user:password or Personal Access Token as username (no password needed).
• Getting a Token:
  In Tower UI:
  User → Tokens → Create Token
  (Recommended: use tokens for automation!)

3. Making a Simple API Request

Let’s say your Tower UI is at https://13.233.139.133/.

List all Job Templates (curl):

curl -k -u 'admin:yourpassword' https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/job_templates/
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• -k: Allow insecure (self-signed) SSL
• -u: Basic auth, 'user:password'
• The response is JSON

Using a Personal Access Token (PAT):

curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/job_templates/
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

4. Example: Launch a Job Template via API

Suppose you have a job template with ID 7.

API URL:
POST /api/v2/job_templates/7/launch/

Example (with token):

curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" \
     -X POST https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/job_templates/7/launch/
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• The response includes the job ID (e.g., "id": 81).

5. Check Job Status

Suppose your launched job returned "id": 81.

curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" \
     https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/jobs/81/
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• Look for "status": "successful" (other states: “pending”, “running”, “failed”).

6. See Job Output (Standard Out)

curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" \
     https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/jobs/81/stdout/?format=txt
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• Add ?format=txt or ?format=html as needed.

7. Example: Create an Inventory via API

curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name":"TestInventory","organization":1}' \
     -X POST https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/inventories/
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• Replace organization: 1 with your organization’s ID (list orgs via /api/v2/organizations/).

8. Useful Endpoints

9. Example Python Script (requests library)

Here’s a simple Python snippet to list all job templates:

import requests

api_url = "https://13.233.139.133/api/v2/job_templates/"
token = "<your_token>"  # Or use user/pass in auth param

headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {token}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.get(api_url, headers=headers, verify=False)
for jt in response.json()['results']:
    print(f"ID: {jt['id']}, Name: {jt['name']}")
Code language: PHP (php)

(use verify=False for self-signed SSL)

10. Finding More API Endpoints and Docs

• Visit: https://<tower-server>/api/ in your browser
• Try out requests in Swagger UI

Summary Table

Tips and Best Practices

• Use Personal Access Tokens for CI/CD or scripts (not passwords).
• Always use HTTPS for security.
• Use the /api/ browser docs for full details and live “try it now” features.
• Automate with Python (requests), Bash (curl), or your favorite language.
• Respect rate limits and error messages—read the "detail" field in API responses for helpful info.
• For bulk/complex changes, look at tower-cli (deprecated, now awx-cli) or the newer awx CLI tool.

Rajesh Kumar

I’m a DevOps/SRE/DevSecOps/Cloud Expert passionate about sharing knowledge and experiences. I have worked at Cotocus. I share tech blog at DevOps School, travel stories at Holiday Landmark, stock market tips at Stocks Mantra, health and fitness guidance at My Medic Plus, product reviews at TrueReviewNow , and SEO strategies at Wizbrand.

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