The four ports were the only entries in services_config.yml with a real
justification: each is read twice, by the role that deploys the service on its
own box AND by a socket-proxy or Caddy play that runs on the EDGE host and
publishes it. A role default is invisible to that second play.
But the shape was wrong in two ways. The file had to be named in vars_files: by
30 plays - opt-in configuration that someone will eventually forget - and five
role defaults silently interpolated service_settings.*, so bitcoin_knots,
fulcrum, datum_gateway and mempool were not self-contained: using any of them
without that one vars_file entry broke it.
Each port now lives in host_vars/<owning box>/main.yml:
host_vars/knots_box_local/main.yml bitcoin_p2p_port, datum_gateway_api_port,
datum_gateway_stratum_port
host_vars/fulcrum_box_local/main.yml fulcrum_ssl_port
host_vars/mempool_box_local/main.yml mempool_frontend_port
host_vars auto-loads and outranks role defaults, so the owning role picks the
value up with no vars_files at all, and the edge play reads the same single
definition as hostvars['<host>'].<name>. The role defaults keep the protocol
standard (8333, 50002, ...) so each role still works standalone, with the live
deployment's value in host_vars winning.
Also fixed a fourth copy of an inventory identity: the mempool Caddy play had
"mempool-box:{{ ... }}" hardcoded in the upstream. It now derives the host from
hostvars['mempool_box_local'].ansible_host, so inventory is the only place any
box's name is written down.
services_config.yml is deleted, with 25 more vars_files entries across 19
playbooks. Between this and the previous commit, 87 vars_files entries are gone
and every variable in the repo now comes from group_vars/all, host_vars,
inventory, a role default, or that service's own *_vars.yml.
Verification: an edge-host probe resolves all eight ports and hostnames to
byte-identical values to the ones services_config.yml used to supply. Each
owning host resolves its own port through host_vars. All 37 playbooks'
--list-tasks output is unchanged. The four edge plays that consume these values
all check-diff changed=0 - the socket-proxy and Caddy units on vipy are
byte-identical, which is the direct proof the rewiring landed on the same
values. fulcrum and datum-gateway check-diff exactly as before (ok=28/changed=1
and ok=15/changed=1, both the known timer re-arm).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three files existed only as second copies of things group_vars/all already
auto-loads, and 34 playbooks named them in vars_files: - which outranks
group_vars, so the copies won. The day someone edited one and not the other,
those plays would silently keep the stale value. infra_vars.yml was already
drifting: group_vars/all/main.yml had grown age_backup_recipient and
backup_pull_public_key that it lacked.
infra_vars.yml - a strict subset of group_vars/all/main.yml
infra_secrets.yml - decrypts byte-identical to group_vars/all/vault.yml
infra_secrets.yml.example - documented Uptime Kuma credentials as the reason
the file exists, which stopped being true
Deleted, along with 62 vars_files entries across 34 playbooks (12 of which
named ../../group_vars/all/main.yml directly - same defect, a vars_files entry
duplicating an auto-loaded file at higher precedence than the file itself).
Checked before touching anything: infra_secrets.yml was listed LAST in 10 plays,
after services_config.yml, so removal would flip precedence if the two shared a
key. They share none, and neither does services_config.yml with
group_vars/all/main.yml, so the removal is provably inert.
services_config.yml was the last one standing. It held four unrelated things:
caddy_sites_dir - an identical copy of roles/caddy_site/defaults/.
Deleted; the role default is now the only one.
*.tailscale_hostname (x3) - a THIRD copy of each box's identity, which
inventory.ini already holds as ansible_host.
Deleted. Edge plays now read
hostvars['<host>'].ansible_host - verified an
edge play resolves that with nothing loaded and
the other host in no play. Three copies of one
name is how bitcoin_rpc_host ended up labelled
"knots_box" while pointing at fulcrum-box.
subdomains, ntfy topic, - genuinely global: their readers span managed,
headscale namespace monitoring, vpn_control and edge, so no single
group covers them. Moved to group_vars/all/main.yml
where they auto-load. The ntfy_topic and
headscale_namespace indirection through
service_settings collapses to the global name.
the four cross-host ports - the only entries with a real justification.
Left in place; they move in the next commit.
Also dead, all Uptime Kuma residue or duplication:
phoenixd_monitor_name, forgejo_runner healthcheck_timeout_seconds/retries,
fulcrum_tailscale_hostname, and bitcoin_knots_version - the last being a
v-prefixed copy of bitcoin_knots_version_short that nothing read, two
hand-maintained copies of one version string.
Corrected a false comment: services_config.yml claimed the uptime_kuma subdomain
"no longer resolves to anything". It resolves to 164.92.239.72 and answers HTTP
302, and 11 playbooks still template it. Same wrong premise as PLAN_3.
Verification: all 37 playbooks' --list-tasks output is byte-identical before and
after. A probe resolving all 22 values services_config.yml used to supply returns
21 identical and one intended deletion (caddy_sites_dir, now role-only - confirmed
the role still resolves it: "Ensure Caddy sites-enabled directory exists" comes
back ok against the real path). memos check-diff identical before and after.
Syntax passes on every playbook.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
685-line playbook becomes 33 lines plus a 426-line role
(install/service/healthcheck phases, six templates, one handler).
fulcrum_vars.yml is deleted; its content is the role's defaults.
Verified: fulcrum untouched - active since 2026-07-29 (no restart), 192G datadir,
height 966842, bitcoind and db_mem unchanged on disk. Second run changed=1 (the
arming run, changed_when: false aside). vipy changed=0.
THREE PRE-EXISTING LANDMINES the check-mode diff caught, any of which a faithful
extraction would have detonated:
- bitcoin_rpc_host was "192.168.1.140", commented "IP of knots_box_local". But
.140 is fulcrum-box ITSELF; knots-box is .135. The DHCP leases had reshuffled -
the fifth instance of this same disease in this estate. The live config had
been hand-corrected to knots-box; running the playbook would have reverted it
and pointed Fulcrum at itself. Now addressed by Tailscale name.
- The `Restart fulcrum` handler was guarded by uptime_kuma_enabled, so the three
tasks that notify it (SSL cert, fulcrum.conf, systemd unit) could not restart
anything. A config change applied to disk, reported success, and silently never
took effect. That is worse than the other banner casualties: it makes the
deployment itself lie. Ungated.
- db_mem was about to go 2048 -> 4448 (75% of 5931MB RAM), leaving ~1.4GB for the
OS and Fulcrum's non-cache memory. The live value had been hand-tuned down.
fulcrum_db_mem_mb_override pins it. Note set_fact outranks role defaults, so
the calculation itself has to honour the override.
MY OWN ERROR, third instance: retyping `copy:` as `template:` lost `owner:` on
the banner and on fulcrum.conf. Rather than keep catching these by eye, every
managed path's owner/group/mode is now compared against `git show HEAD:`
mechanically - 12/12 match.
The health check timer had not fired since 2026-02-17 while reporting `active`
and `enabled`. It is OnBootSec + OnUnitActiveSec with no OnCalendar: OnBootSec
elapses once, and OnUnitActiveSec needs the SERVICE to have run this boot to have
anything to schedule from. Restarting the timer does not supply that; running the
service does, so the role now runs the check once after enabling. Also dropped
`Requires=fulcrum.service` from the timer - on a timer that means "stop watching
when the watched thing stops".
Diagnostic note: NextElapseUSecRealtime is always empty for a monotonic timer, so
it reads as broken even when healthy. I misread it once and wrongly called the
timer dead. Use NextElapseUSecMonotonic or systemctl list-timers.
fulcrum_ssl_port and fulcrum_tailscale_hostname moved to services_config.yml -
the socket-proxy play on the edge host needs them and a role default cannot reach
a second play.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
All five close-out greps return nothing: no sites-enabled handling outside
roles/, no `systemctl reload caddy`, no caddy_sites_dir self-reference, no
inline proxy unit writes. 37 playbooks syntax clean. The 14 Caddy site files
and 6 proxy units on the hosts are byte-identical to the Stage 0 baseline.
Seven play names still said "on vipy" while the play targeted a group. Renamed
to "on the edge host" - the last place a play claimed a hostname after Plan 2.
Documented the four vhosts in /etc/caddy/sites-enabled that no playbook writes
(uptime-kuma, arbretstaging, bitcoininfra, scriberr) in the caddy_site README.
None deleted.
uptime-kuma.conf was going to be deleted as dead config. It is not dead: the
louislam/uptime-kuma container is STILL RUNNING on watchtower - created
2026-02-07, restart=unless-stopped, healthy - and uptime.contrapeso.xyz returns
302, not the 502 a dead backend would give. The "decommissioning" retired the
Ansible code and the vault credentials, not the service. PLAN_3 claimed "the
tokens died with the server"; that is corrected there.
The Caddyfile.* backups are kept: one per host, Nov-Dec 2025, not churning, and
the only record of each Caddyfile before the import line was added.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three near-identical hosts: edge plays become one role plus three short
calls. 183 lines removed, 34 added, plus a 111-line role.
Verified before touching any playbook: all six live units on vipy reproduced
byte-identically. Then --limit edge --check per playbook - bitcoin-knots and
fulcrum changed=0; datum-gateway changed=2, both attributable to the already
known caddy_site comment line and the Reload caddy handler it triggers.
The 6 units and 14 Caddy files on the hosts are byte-identical afterwards.
PLAN_4 claimed these three plays had "no behavioural drift at all". That was
wrong - it came from a diff truncated by head -60. The live bitcoin-p2p-proxy
units carry four settings this playbook never wrote:
.socket Documentation=, FreeBind=true
.service Documentation=, TimeoutStopSec=5,
StandardOutput=journal, StandardError=journal
FreeBind is the one that matters: it lets the socket bind to an address that
is not up yet, so without it the socket can fail to start on boot. Running
the bitcoin-knots playbook would have stripped it. Same class of hazard as
headscale. The role expresses all four; bitcoin-p2p is the only caller that
passes any.
Also: UFW treats the rule comment as part of the rule. datum-stratum's live
comment is "DATUM Gateway Stratum public access" but the role's derived
default produced "DATUM Stratum public access", which rewrote the rule.
Caught in the dry-run; datum now passes the comment explicitly.
Two deliberate differences from the original, both documented in the README:
ignore_errors: yes on the upstream check became failed_when: false, and the
handler restarts the .socket, which drops connections open through it - it
fires only when a unit file actually changes.
The inert Uptime Kuma TCP monitor blocks stay in the playbooks rather than
being pulled into a new role (12/12/18 guarded tasks).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Removing the credentials would otherwise break these playbooks mid-deploy: they
template uptime_kuma_password with no assert to stop them first. 100 tasks are
now guarded by uptime_kuma_enabled (false), so deployments run normally and the
monitoring sections skip. A further 28 tasks were already self-guarding on
monitor_setup/push_url being defined; verified that a skipped task's registered
variable makes those skip cleanly rather than error.
The blocks are kept on purpose — the health-check logic is the durable part and
should be rewired to whatever replaces Uptime Kuma.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
