Ansible Code Backup Role

Overview

This role backs up the entire Ansible repository (playbooks, roles, configurations) to dual NAS storage for redundancy. It creates timestamped compressed archives and automatically manages retention by keeping only the last 5 backups per NAS.

Purpose

Disaster Recovery: Protects your infrastructure-as-code against accidental deletion or corruption
Version History: Maintains 5 timestamped backups for rollback capability
Dual Redundancy: Backs up to two separate NAS devices (Synology DS418 and Proxmox OMV)
Automated Cleanup: Automatically removes old backups to manage storage space

Requirements

Ansible 2.9 or higher
Collection: community.general (for archive module)
NAS mount points must be accessible and writable
Sufficient storage space on both NAS devices

Role Variables

Required Variables

None - all variables have defaults.

Optional Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`ansible_code_backup_syno_mount_point`	`/mnt/synology-ds418/gitlab`	Mount point for Synology NAS backup destination
`ansible_code_backup_prxmxomv_mount_point`	`/mnt/prxmx-omv/gitlab`	Mount point for Proxmox OMV NAS backup destination
`ansible_code_backup_source_path`	`/home/bjoffrey/Documents/ansible/homelab/`	Source directory to backup
`ansible_code_backup_nases_path`	See defaults/main.yml	List of destination paths with timestamps

Variable Details

ansible_code_backup_source_path

The root directory of your Ansible repository. Everything in this directory will be archived.

Example:

ansible_code_backup_source_path: /home/user/ansible/

ansible_code_backup_nases_path

Automatically generates timestamped filenames using ansible_facts['date_time'].iso8601_basic_short (format: YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS).

Default behavior:

Synology: /mnt/synology-ds418/gitlab/ansible_code_backup_20260107T143022.tar.gz
Proxmox OMV: /mnt/prxmx-omv/gitlab/ansible_code_backup_20260107T143022.tar.gz

Dependencies

This role has no dependencies on other Ansible roles, but requires:

NAS mounts to be configured (see nas_mount or nas_mount_systemd roles)
Write permissions to the NAS mount points

Example Playbook

Basic Usage

---
- name: Backup Ansible Code
  hosts: localhost
  become: true

  roles:
    - ansible_code_backup

Custom Backup Locations

---
- name: Backup Ansible Code to Custom Locations
  hosts: localhost
  become: true

  vars:
    ansible_code_backup_syno_mount_point: /mnt/backup1/ansible
    ansible_code_backup_prxmxomv_mount_point: /mnt/backup2/ansible
    ansible_code_backup_source_path: /opt/ansible/

  roles:
    - ansible_code_backup

What This Role Does

Ensures backup directories exist on both NAS mount points
Creates compressed tar.gz archive of the entire Ansible repository
Copies archive to both NAS devices with timestamp in filename
Finds all existing backups on each NAS
Removes old backups, keeping only the 5 most recent per NAS

Backup Retention

The role implements automatic retention management:

Keeps: Last 5 backups per NAS
Deletes: Backups older than the 5th most recent
Per-NAS logic: Each NAS independently maintains 5 backups

This ensures you have:

5 backups on Synology DS418
5 backups on Proxmox OMV
Total: Up to 10 backup copies across both devices

File Naming Convention

Backup files are named using ISO 8601 basic short format:

ansible_code_backup_YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS.tar.gz

Examples:

ansible_code_backup_20260107T143022.tar.gz
ansible_code_backup_20260107T190530.tar.gz

This naming scheme:

Sorts chronologically by default
Is timezone-agnostic
Prevents filename conflicts
Makes it easy to identify backup age

Restoration

To restore from a backup:

# On the backup destination
cd /mnt/synology-ds418/gitlab/

# Extract the desired backup
tar -xzf ansible_code_backup_20260107T143022.tar.gz -C /path/to/restore/

Notes

The role uses community.general.archive which creates efficient compressed backups
Archive creation is idempotent - will show as changed when a new backup is created
Cleanup operation uses safe file handling with loop control labels
Both NAS destinations are processed in parallel where possible

Troubleshooting

”Permission denied” errors

Ensure the user running Ansible has write permissions to both NAS mount points.

”No such file or directory” for mount points

Verify NAS devices are mounted before running this role. Check with mount | grep synology and mount | grep prxmx-omv.

Backups are not being removed

Verify the backup filename pattern matches ansible_code_backup_*.tar.gz. Manual backups with different names won’t be cleaned up.

License

MIT

Author

Created for homelab infrastructure management.

Ansible Code Backup