troubleshooting-tools

name	troubleshooting_tools
description	Maintains the ansible/roles/troubleshooting_tools Ansible role that installs a baseline set of diagnostic packages and optionally enables PCP performance-metrics collection on RHEL-family systems as part of the Linux SOE. Use when checking whether standard diagnostic tools (sos, tcpdump, strace, lsof, bind-utils, pcp-system-tools) are present.

troubleshooting_tools

Maintains ansible/roles/troubleshooting_tools/. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the shared conventions.

ansible/roles/troubleshooting_tools/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/troubleshooting_tools/defaults/main.yml (troubleshooting_tools — adjust to the org's actual list before relying on this): bind-utils, curl, ethtool, iotop, iproute, lsof, man-pages, pcp-system-tools, policycoreutils-python-utils, procps-ng, psmisc, sos, strace, sysstat, tcpdump, time — plus several commented-out optional entries (ltrace, numactl, perf, setroubleshoot-server) the org can uncomment.

• Installs the full troubleshooting_tools list via dnf — every run, unconditionally, no missing/present comparison message beforehand (the dnf module's own idempotency and --diff output is the only visibility into what's missing).
• If troubleshooting_tools_enable_perf_metrics: true (default) and pcp-system-tools is both in the list and actually installed, enables and starts pmcd and pmlogger (PCP metrics collection + archiving).

What to do

This role is off by default in ansible/configure_rhel.yml — every role there (active or not) is gated by a single configure_rhel_domains list variable (when: "'<name>' in configure_rhel_domains"), and troubleshooting_tools isn't in the default value of that list. Nothing needs editing in the playbook itself to turn it on: pass the full desired domain list via -e, e.g. -e '{"configure_rhel_domains": [...the default 20..., "troubleshooting_tools"]}' (see .claude/skills/configure_rhel/SKILL.md for the current default list to extend, and why it has to be the full list, not just the addition — -e replaces the variable's value, it doesn't merge into it). --tags troubleshooting_tools alone is not enough — the domains list and --tags/--skip-tags are separate, ANDed gates, both verified independently: a role only runs if it's in configure_rhel_domains and matches the requested tags. Some roles (this one — check its defaults/main.yml and task file) also have their own internal enable flag or required variable on top of that, which still needs setting the same as before. Flag all of this to the user before assuming the commands below will do anything.

Audit: ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags troubleshooting_tools --check --diff. Read the dnf task's own --diff output for which packages are missing — there's no separate "Missing baseline packages: ..." summary message; the module's diff output is the source of truth.

Remediate: same command without --check, after explicit user approval — this only installs missing baseline packages, it never removes anything.

Propose a change to the role itself (e.g. adding/removing a package from the baseline, or toggling the PCP default): never commit directly. On a branch named soe/troubleshooting_tools/<short-desc>, edit the role, validate locally (--syntax-check, ansible-lint roles/troubleshooting_tools/, --check --diff), push, and open a PR titled [troubleshooting_tools] <what changed> with the --check --diff output in the body — then stop for human review. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md's "Contribution workflow".

Notes

• This is a one-directional check: packages missing from the baseline are installed. Packages outside the baseline (installed ad hoc, e.g. wireshark) are not reported or touched by this role.
• troubleshooting_tools_enable_perf_metrics only takes effect if pcp-system-tools is actually in the troubleshooting_tools list — removing that package from the baseline silently disables PCP enablement too, since the pcp fact check gates on it having been installed.