Where is ec2_asg?

[onitake]

SUMMARY

According to the changelog, there should be a module for modifying EC2 autoscaling groups called ec2_asg, but I can't find it anywhere. Was this removed?

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

ec2_asg

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.9.13
  python version = 3.8.5 (default, Aug  2 2020, 15:09:07) [GCC 10.2.0]

CONFIGURATION

N/A

OS / ENVIRONMENT

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

- name: create autoscaling group
  amazon.aws.ec2_asg:
    name: test-asg
    vpc_zone_identifier: vpc_zone
    launch_config_name: lc
    desired_capacity: 1
    min_size: 1
    max_size: 1

EXPECTED RESULTS

The ASG is created.

ACTUAL RESULTS

TASK [aws-infra : include_tasks] ************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"reason": "couldn't resolve module/action 'amazon.aws.ec2_asg'. This often indicates a misspelling, missing collection, or incorrect module path.\n\nThe error appears to be in 'xxx.yml': line 2, column 3, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n- name: create autoscaling group\n  ^ here\n"}

[zeten30]

@onitake Hi, check https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.aws or on Ansible Galaxy

AWS stuff is actually is split to two repositories. Explained here.

I'd say this can be closed:)

[onitake]

Ok... I see.

The blog states:

The Ansible-maintained Collection, (amazon.aws) houses the modules, plugins, and module utilities that are managed by the Ansible Cloud team and are included in the downstream Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform product.

The Community Collection (community.aws) houses the modules and plugins that are supported by the Ansible community. New modules and plugins developed by the community should be proposed to community.aws. Content in this Collection that is stable and meets other acceptance criteria has the potential to be promoted and migrated into amazon.aws.

I kind of understand the need for a distinction there, but I think it's very confusing this way. I think there should be a note in the README that mentions the community collection and the difference between the two.

[onitake]

Thanks, these sections provide the missing link.

A newcomer might still have trouble to understand what the difference is and when to use one or the other.
What's planned for the future of the two modules? Will they stay separate, or are you planning to merge them at some point?

[zeten30]

@jillr Can you please respond? (that's above my 'newcomer contributor' level:)). Thanks in advance.

[tremble]

Caveat - I'm not a part of the Ansible Engineering/Product teams and can not speak to any official plans.

The general hope is that the two collections will merge over time with modules migrating from community.aws to amazon.aws.

However, the unfortunate truth is that we get a lot of drive-by contributions (including new modules), where someone will contribute a module that they needed, but then not assist with the maintenance of the module. While such contributions are still very much appreciated this makes it very difficult to 'support' the over 200 AWS related modules we currently have.

Currently many of the community modules are lacking test suites, use boto v2, or generally need a code-cleanup. This makes it very difficult to 'support' them. Amazon has a huge range of products, and code reviews can only go so far without automated test suites in place. I personally expect that a community / "incubator" collection will exist for a good long while, but with an increasing number of modules in the 'supported' collection.

For anyone interested in getting involved with the Ansible AWS modules and plugins (both collections), probably the biggest contribution you could make would be helping to build out the integration test suites and fixing the bugs they throw up. It's laborious and repetitive work, but done right it really helps improve the quality of the modules.

[onitake]

@tremble Thanks for the clarification.

So from my perspective, it's preferred to use amazon.aws modules, and only rely on community.aws when a specific module or feature is not available in amazon.aws. That works for me.

The two READMEs are very similar, and the distinction mainly lies in these statements:

amazon.aws: This collection is maintained by the Ansible cloud team.
community.aws: This collection is maintained by the Ansible community.

For a someone like me who doesn't quite understand how the Ansible community works, that is a bit unclear. Hence why I asked.