service-state

name	service_state
description	Maintains the ansible/roles/service_state Ansible role that masks/unmasks, enables/disables, and restarts/reloads systemd units by declarative lists, as part of the Linux SOE. Use when checking or fixing which services should be running, stopped, or masked.

service_state

Maintains ansible/roles/service_state/. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the shared conventions (role layout, audit vs. remediate via --check --diff, safety rules, branch + PR contribution workflow).

ansible/roles/service_state/README.md documents this role's full configuration surface (every defaults/main.yml variable, with its original inline comments, rendered as a single reference). Read it before proposing or explaining how to configure this role — it reflects the role's actual current defaults even if a variable summary elsewhere in this file has drifted out of sync with the role.

What the role actually does

Encoded in ansible/roles/service_state/defaults/main.yml:

• Four independent lists, all defaulting empty: service_state_mask/_unmask/_disable/_enable, plus service_state_restart (restart by default per entry, or state: reloaded with an optional require: precondition on current state).
• sshd/sshd.service are hard-excluded from mask and disable/stop regardless of what's listed — the role won't let you lock out SSH access to itself.
• An item in both service_state_mask and service_state_unmask, or both service_state_disable and service_state_enable, resolves to "unmask"/"enable" winning.
• service_state_skip_missing (default false) — an enable/start entry for a unit that doesn't exist fails the role by default; set true to skip it instead.

This role is sourced from the myllynen/rhel-ansible-roles import (see git log -- ansible/roles/service_state) rather than hand-authored for this repo. Unlike the original reference domains (e.g. timesync, usbguard_setup), it applies state declaratively via standard Ansible modules and does not add its own assert-based drift checks on top — an audit here is exactly what --check --diff reports from the underlying modules, nothing more.

What to do

Audit (read-only, safe to run any time):

ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags service_state --check --diff

Summarize the diff output and any failed tasks in plain language.

Remediate (modifies the system — only after the user explicitly asks): first summarize what will change from the --check --diff output, then run the same command without --check:

ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags service_state

Propose a change to the role itself: never edit and commit directly. On a branch named soe/service_state/<short-desc>, edit ansible/roles/service_state/, validate locally (--syntax-check, ansible-lint roles/service_state/, and --check --diff against a real/test host if available), then push and open a PR titled [service_state] <what changed> with the --check --diff output in the body. Then stop — a human reviews and merges; see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md's "Contribution workflow".

Notes

• Masking a unit prevents even manual systemctl start until unmasked — confirm the mask list doesn't include anything another role in this repo (e.g. usbguard_setup, audit_setup) depends on being startable.

Wiring into the SOE

This role is in configure_rhel_domains's default value in ansible/configure_rhel.yml (see .claude/skills/configure_rhel/SKILL.md) for the general host baseline, and has a row in .claude/skills/soe/SKILL.md's domain table, so it runs as part of both ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags service_state ... and a full, untagged ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml run. This repo no longer uses ansible/site.yml as the baseline entrypoint — see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

The same role is also invoked by ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml and ansible/nfs_client_setup.yml and ansible/nfs_server_setup.yml, each with its own purpose-specific variables set directly in that playbook (not this role's defaults/main.yml) — e.g. a different package list or file/service set for a load balancer or NFS host than the general baseline uses. When asked to audit/remediate service_state on a host, check which of these playbooks actually applies to that host's role before picking one; running the wrong playbook's vars against it reports drift against the wrong intent.