Ansible AWX

Deploy Ansible AWX on a fresh Kali host using Docker.

Prerequisites

N/ABASH

sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose docker-compose-plugin ansible npm -y

Add user to the Docker group:

N/ABASH

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# OR create a dedicated user
sudo useradd awx && sudo passwd awx && sudo usermod -aG docker awx && id awx

Setup

N/ABASH

# Clone repository
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/ansible/awx/releases/latest | grep "zipball_url"
git clone -b 24.3.1 https://github.com/ansible/awx.git
 
# Generate security keys
openssl rand -base64 30
vim tools/docker-compose/inventory
 
# Build base image
make docker-compose-build
docker images
 
# Start containers
make docker-compose COMPOSE_UP_OPTS=-d
docker container ls

Build UI

N/ABASH

docker exec tools_awx_1 make clean-ui ui-devel

⚠ Warning — If you have 4 GB RAM or below, OOM Killer will kill the process during the UI build.

Access at https://localhost:8043/#/home

Create Superuser

N/ABASH

docker container logs 0e2c2dd78493 | grep -i "admin password"
docker exec -ti tools_awx_1 awx-manage createsuperuser

Container Management

N/ABASH

docker compose -f tools/docker-compose/_sources/docker-compose.yml start
docker compose -f tools/docker-compose/_sources/docker-compose.yml stop
docker compose -f tools/docker-compose/_sources/docker-compose.yml restart

Troubleshooting

Docker Compose version conflict — Install the plugin variant (docker-compose-plugin) instead of standalone.

Connection refused — Perform a full system reboot before accessing the web interface.

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