diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index d3e0ab3b9de4af245a42401da89c31021eee9e93..a5d1164e8d784549bb9c930f275c44f5654f6df3 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -52,14 +52,6 @@ repos:
- repo: local
hooks:
- - id: tox-inventory-builder
- name: tox-inventory-builder
- entry: bash -c "cd contrib/inventory_builder && tox"
- language: python
- pass_filenames: false
- additional_dependencies:
- - tox==4.15.0
-
- id: check-readme-versions
name: check-readme-versions
entry: tests/scripts/check_readme_versions.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 40dc74502dfe5f6e2cd63fd2716fb071f7d4112b..a23fc8e39970feaa02669626138f642afe85ba20 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ then run the following steps:
# Copy ``inventory/sample`` as ``inventory/mycluster``
cp -rfp inventory/sample inventory/mycluster
-# Update Ansible inventory file with inventory builder
-declare -a IPS=(10.10.1.3 10.10.1.4 10.10.1.5)
-CONFIG_FILE=inventory/mycluster/hosts.yaml python3 contrib/inventory_builder/inventory.py ${IPS[@]}
+# Update Ansible inventory file with the ip of your nodes
# Review and change parameters under ``inventory/mycluster/group_vars``
cat inventory/mycluster/group_vars/all/all.yml
diff --git a/docs/ansible/ansible.md b/docs/ansible/ansible.md
index 3297e10805a91b068d509c2897a2da033c5f6503..90b3ca0efe902b5cf97da9010caaa51e763b3ecd 100644
--- a/docs/ansible/ansible.md
+++ b/docs/ansible/ansible.md
@@ -34,91 +34,23 @@ Based on the table below and the available python version for your ansible host
|-----------------|----------------|
| >= 2.16.4 | 3.10-3.12 |
-## Inventory
-
-The inventory is composed of 3 groups:
-
-* **kube_node** : list of kubernetes nodes where the pods will run.
-* **kube_control_plane** : list of servers where kubernetes control plane components (apiserver, scheduler, controller) will run.
-* **etcd**: list of servers to compose the etcd server. You should have at least 3 servers for failover purpose.
-
-When _kube_node_ contains _etcd_, you define your etcd cluster to be as well schedulable for Kubernetes workloads.
-If you want it a standalone, make sure those groups do not intersect.
-If you want the server to act both as control-plane and node, the server must be defined
-on both groups _kube_control_plane_ and _kube_node_. If you want a standalone and
-unschedulable control plane, the server must be defined only in the _kube_control_plane_ and
-not _kube_node_.
-
-There are also two special groups:
-
-* **calico_rr** : explained for [advanced Calico networking cases](/docs/CNI/calico.md)
-* **bastion** : configure a bastion host if your nodes are not directly reachable
-
-Lastly, the **k8s_cluster** is dynamically defined as the union of **kube_node**, **kube_control_plane** and **calico_rr**.
-This is used internally and for the purpose of defining whole cluster variables (`<inventory>/group_vars/k8s_cluster/*.yml`)
-
-Below is a complete inventory example:
-
-```ini
-## Configure 'ip' variable to bind kubernetes services on a
-## different ip than the default iface
-node1 ansible_host=95.54.0.12 ip=10.3.0.1
-node2 ansible_host=95.54.0.13 ip=10.3.0.2
-node3 ansible_host=95.54.0.14 ip=10.3.0.3
-node4 ansible_host=95.54.0.15 ip=10.3.0.4
-node5 ansible_host=95.54.0.16 ip=10.3.0.5
-node6 ansible_host=95.54.0.17 ip=10.3.0.6
-
-[kube_control_plane]
-node1
-node2
-
-[etcd]
-node1
-node2
-node3
-
-[kube_node]
-node2
-node3
-node4
-node5
-node6
-```
-
-## Group vars and overriding variables precedence
-The group variables to control main deployment options are located in the directory ``inventory/sample/group_vars``.
-Optional variables are located in the `inventory/sample/group_vars/all.yml`.
-Mandatory variables that are common for at least one role (or a node group) can be found in the
-`inventory/sample/group_vars/k8s_cluster.yml`.
-There are also role vars for docker, kubernetes preinstall and control plane roles.
-According to the [ansible docs](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbooks_variables.html#variable-precedence-where-should-i-put-a-variable),
-those cannot be overridden from the group vars. In order to override, one should use
-the `-e` runtime flags (most simple way) or other layers described in the docs.
+## Customize Ansible vars
-Kubespray uses only a few layers to override things (or expect them to
-be overridden for roles):
+Kubespray expects users to use one of the following variables sources for settings and customization:
| Layer | Comment |
|----------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-| **role defaults** | provides best UX to override things for Kubespray deployments |
-| inventory vars | Unused |
-| **inventory group_vars** | Expects users to use ``all.yml``,``k8s_cluster.yml`` etc. to override things |
-| inventory host_vars | Unused |
-| playbook group_vars | Unused |
-| playbook host_vars | Unused |
-| **host facts** | Kubespray overrides for internal roles' logic, like state flags |
-| play vars | Unused |
-| play vars_prompt | Unused |
-| play vars_files | Unused |
-| registered vars | Unused |
-| set_facts | Kubespray overrides those, for some places |
-| **role and include vars** | Provides bad UX to override things! Use extra vars to enforce |
-| block vars (only for tasks in block) | Kubespray overrides for internal roles' logic |
-| task vars (only for the task) | Unused for roles, but only for helper scripts |
+| inventory vars | |
+| - **inventory group_vars** | most used |
+| - inventory host_vars | host specifc vars overrides, group_vars is usually more practical |
| **extra vars** (always win precedence) | override with ``ansible-playbook -e @foo.yml`` |
+[!IMPORTANT]
+Extra vars are best used to override kubespray internal variables, for instances, roles/vars/.
+Those vars are usually **not expected** (by Kubespray developpers) to be modified by end users, and not part of Kubespray
+interface. Thus they can change, disappear, or break stuff unexpectedly.
+
## Ansible tags
The following tags are defined in playbooks:
diff --git a/docs/getting_started/getting-started.md b/docs/getting_started/getting-started.md
index 1cfb26f1c39918048274fb143bee9a4faef29585..2c44a51d8cca99db9ac0522cdb75efa1cd3b9a52 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started/getting-started.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started/getting-started.md
@@ -6,28 +6,24 @@ Ansible inventory can be stored in 3 formats: YAML, JSON, or INI-like. There is
an example inventory located
[here](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kubespray/blob/master/inventory/sample/inventory.ini).
-You can use an
-[inventory generator](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kubespray/blob/master/contrib/inventory_builder/inventory.py)
-to create or modify an Ansible inventory. Currently, it is limited in
-functionality and is only used for configuring a basic Kubespray cluster inventory, but it does
-support creating inventory file for large clusters as well. It now supports
-separated ETCD and Kubernetes control plane roles from node role if the size exceeds a
-certain threshold. Run `python3 contrib/inventory_builder/inventory.py help` for more information.
+## Building your own inventory
-Example inventory generator usage:
+Ansible inventory can be stored in 3 formats: YAML, JSON, or INI-like. See the
+[example inventory](/inventory/sample/inventory.ini)
+and [Ansible documentation on building your inventory](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/inventory_guide/intro_inventory.html),
+and [details on the inventory structure expected by Kubespray](/docs/ansible/inventory.md).
-```ShellSession
-cp -r inventory/sample inventory/mycluster
-declare -a IPS=(10.10.1.3 10.10.1.4 10.10.1.5)
-CONFIG_FILE=inventory/mycluster/hosts.yml python3 contrib/inventory_builder/inventory.py ${IPS[@]}
-```
-Then use `inventory/mycluster/hosts.yml` as inventory file.
+```ShellSession
-## Starting custom deployment
+<your-favorite-editor> inventory/mycluster/inventory.ini
-Once you have an inventory, you may want to customize deployment data vars
-and start the deployment:
+# Review and change parameters under ``inventory/mycluster/group_vars``
+<your-favorite-editor> inventory/mycluster/group_vars/all.yml # for every node, including etcd
+<your-favorite-editor> inventory/mycluster/group_vars/k8s_cluster.yml # for every node in the cluster (not etcd when it's separate)
+<your-favorite-editor> inventory/mycluster/group_vars/kube_control_plane.yml # for the control plane
+<your-favorite-editor> inventory/myclsuter/group_vars/kube_node.yml # for worker nodes
+```
**IMPORTANT**: Edit my\_inventory/groups\_vars/\*.yaml to override data vars:
diff --git a/docs/getting_started/setting-up-your-first-cluster.md b/docs/getting_started/setting-up-your-first-cluster.md
index a8200a3ca7a5175f5331909e4b558c9dd62883da..94eefcb523f0590eaae07501c2d9bf8c130be945 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started/setting-up-your-first-cluster.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started/setting-up-your-first-cluster.md
@@ -212,17 +212,15 @@ Copy ``inventory/sample`` as ``inventory/mycluster``:
cp -rfp inventory/sample inventory/mycluster
```
-Update Ansible inventory file with inventory builder:
+Update the sample Ansible inventory file with ip given by gcloud:
```ShellSession
-declare -a IPS=($(gcloud compute instances list --filter="tags.items=kubernetes-the-kubespray-way" --format="value(EXTERNAL_IP)" | tr '\n' ' '))
-CONFIG_FILE=inventory/mycluster/hosts.yaml python3 contrib/inventory_builder/inventory.py ${IPS[@]}
+gcloud compute instances list --filter="tags.items=kubernetes-the-kubespray-way"
```
-Open the generated `inventory/mycluster/hosts.yaml` file and adjust it so
-that controller-0, controller-1 and controller-2 are control plane nodes and
-worker-0, worker-1 and worker-2 are worker nodes. Also update the `ip` to the respective local VPC IP and
-remove the `access_ip`.
+Open `inventory/mycluster/inventory.ini` file and add it so
+that controller-0, controller-1 and controller-2 in the `kube_control_plane` group and
+worker-0, worker-1 and worker-2 in the `kube_node` group. Add respective `ip` to the respective local VPC IP for each node.
The main configuration for the cluster is stored in
`inventory/mycluster/group_vars/k8s_cluster/k8s_cluster.yml`. In this file we
@@ -242,7 +240,7 @@ the kubernetes cluster, just change the 'false' to 'true' for
Now we will deploy the configuration:
```ShellSession
-ansible-playbook -i inventory/mycluster/hosts.yaml -u $USERNAME -b -v --private-key=~/.ssh/id_rsa cluster.yml
+ansible-playbook -i inventory/mycluster/ -u $USERNAME -b -v --private-key=~/.ssh/id_rsa cluster.yml
```
Ansible will now execute the playbook, this can take up to 20 minutes.
@@ -596,7 +594,7 @@ If you want to keep the VMs and just remove the cluster state, you can simply
run another Ansible playbook:
```ShellSession
-ansible-playbook -i inventory/mycluster/hosts.yaml -u $USERNAME -b -v --private-key=~/.ssh/id_rsa reset.yml
+ansible-playbook -i inventory/mycluster/ -u $USERNAME -b -v --private-key=~/.ssh/id_rsa reset.yml
```
Resetting the cluster to the VMs original state usually takes about a couple