Fabric is a command-line tool for application deployment and systems administration tasks. It allows the user to run commands across a server farm.
At GDS, we use Fabric to simplify and automate common systems administration
tasks. These scripts are deployed on our "jumpbox" machines at
/usr/local/share/govuk-fabric, and can be executed using the govuk_fab
helper script, installed in /usr/local/bin
In order to use the fabric scripts, you will need to enable ssh-agent forwarding when you connect to the jumpboxes. For example:
$ ssh -A jumpbox-1.management.production
You can also use the fabric scripts from an external machine with a small amount of setup on your part. You will need to install Fabric,
$ pip install -Ur requirements.txt
NB: if you get a "pip: command not found" error, run this first:
$ sudo easy_install pip
configure it (see the fabric documentation for more examples),
$ echo 'user = jimbob' >> ~/.fabricrc
and then you should be able to run it:
$ fab preview all hosts
...
$ fab preview class:frontend do:'uname -a'
...