Ansible: A Complete Course with Step-by-Step Demo and Labs

Learn how to install Ansible and set up a demonstration lab. Run ad hoc commands and playbooks against a local inventory to simplify configuration management and infrastructure orchestration.

Explore ways to install ansible across Mac, Windows, and Linux using Python, pip, and Vagrant. Learn to set up a local practice lab with virtual machines and platform-specific steps.

Install ansible on fedora-like or debian-based systems and verify the version. Configure the hosts file, generate an ssh key, and copy it to all target servers for passwordless access.

Explore ad hoc commands and inventory files in Ansible to run tasks across local and remote hosts, using modules and grouped host entries for scalable management.

Explore ad hoc Ansible commands on inventory groups using -m to run modules like ping, hostname, and disk checks across servers. Use the apt module with update_cache and state options.

Learn to create and run Ansible playbooks by defining plays and tasks, using a hosts inventory, and executing with ansible-playbook to apply a module across all hosts or specific groups.

Learn how Ansible playbooks orchestrate tasks across multiple servers, detailing structure, variables, tasks, modules, and common examples like creating files and directories with proper permissions using become privileges.

Master Ansible playbooks by deleting files or directories with the file module using state absent, looping to create directories, and managing users with the user module (passwords, groups, shells, force).

Continue working with playbooks, demonstrating loop constructs to create files, copy content, archive and zip files, and manage packages with apt and yum using when conditions.

Build a ready-to-use Ansible lab environment with Vagrant and VirtualBox, install and configure the control node and managed hosts, and practice SSH access, Python prerequisites, and authorized_key playbooks.

Describe Ansible inventory concepts and distinguish static and dynamic inventories, including managing a static inventory file with host groups, child groups, all and ungrouped groups, and host variables.

Create and manage static inventories by adding hosts and groups to the default inventory and a custom inventory file, including web servers and US groups, then verify with list-hosts.

Describe where ansible.cfg files live (project directory, home, global) and how precedence selects the active file, and how to edit for defaults.

Configure an ssh key on the control node, deploy it to managed hosts with an Ansible playbook using the authorized_key module, and manage privilege escalation with become settings.

Customize your Ansible environment by editing the configuration and building a static inventory with groups, then configure privilege escalation to use sudo and root access, and test host lists.

Learn to run a single Ansible task with ad hoc commands without writing a playbook, using host patterns, modules, and inventory options for quick tests and one-off changes.

Practice running ad hoc commands across multiple managed hosts with privilege escalation using become, and verify file changes with the copy module on both the control node and server a.

Set up Ansible control node to manage hosts via ad hoc commands using a DevOps SSH key user and no privilege escalation; use copy and command modules to update files.

learn to implement playbooks in ansible by writing simple yaml-based playbooks, running them across multiple hosts with the ansible-playbook command, and using ad hoc commands for quick tasks.

Write and run Ansible playbooks to install httpd, copy index.html, and start the httpd service. Prepare inventory with web group, validate yaml syntax, run the playbook, and verify with curl.

Build Ansible playbooks with multiple plays for different hosts, manage privilege escalation with remote_user and become, and use idempotent modules like copy over shell.

Perform a syntax check and run the playbook with -v to configure a managed host, enable privilege escalation, update httpd and firewall, deploy intranet content, and verify via uri module.

Configure and execute an Ansible lab playbook to install web and database services, enable firewall rules, deploy web content, and test access on the managed host.

Master Ansible variable handling by defining and referencing host, group, and play variables; learn variable precedence, vault encrypted variables, facts, and how to use registers in playbooks.

Define and use playbook variables to install the Apache web server, open firewall ports, start services, deploy content, and verify the web page responds with status 200.

Learn how to protect sensitive data with Ansible vault, encrypt and decrypt files, manage vault passwords and IDs, and securely handle passwords, keys, and sensitive variables in playbooks and inventory.

Master managing secrets in ansible by encrypting variables in secret.yaml, decrypting them, and running a playbook to create a user on a web server using vault.

Learn to reference data about managed hosts with Ansible facts, understand automatic fact gathering via the setup module, and create custom INI or JSON facts to tailor configurations.

gather ansible facts from a managed host with the setup module, create and apply a custom fact, and validate the PD service using a playbook and ad hoc checks.

Write and run an Ansible playbook that uses variables, secrets, and facts to automate a web server environment on server b.lab.example.com, configuring Apache with httpd.conf, htpasswd, and basic authentication.

Create a YAML playbook to manage variables and facts, install web server packages, configure basic authentication, and verify access with a URI task in this Ansible lab.

Learn to write efficient Ansible tasks with loops and conditionals, iterating over lists or dictionaries using the loop keyword, accessing item variables, registering results, and gating execution with when conditions.

Learn to write an Ansible playbook with conditionals using the one keyword and loop key word for task iteration, deploying MariaDB on the database dev host group.

Learn how ansible handlers trigger after task changes via notify, restarting services and applying configuration updates, demonstrated by a configure_db playbook that sets the database password.

Control how Ansible handles task failure by using ignore_errors and failed_one to determine failure conditions. Configure blocks, rescue, always, and changed_one to ensure recovery and handler execution when tasks fail.

Explore how to handle task failure in an Ansible playbook, including ignore_errors, block rescue, and always. Configure a host and database group, and define web_package and db_package variables.

Implement a guided Ansible lab that installs Apache web server with Mod SSL, using conditionals, loops, and handlers to manage tasks and errors, and verify HTTPS with a self-signed certificate.

Set up an Ansible lab on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 VMs by enabling cockpit, configuring firewall, creating virtual machines, and registering with an activation key to install RHEL 9.3.

Clone and power two virtual machines, rename hosts, take snapshots, then install Ansible core on the control node, verify the version, and prepare the lab for remote management.

Configure prerequisites on managed hosts for Ansible by ensuring Python is installed, optionally handling SELinux, and understanding module requirements, while setting up the control node and validating the Python version.

Set up ssh key-based authentication between the control node and the managed node by generating an rsa key pair with ssh-keygen, copying it with ssh-copy-id, and logging in without password.

Discover how Ansible inventories organize managed hosts as static or dynamic lists, with host and group variables, nested groups, and formats like ini and yaml.

Learn to manage Ansible inventories by editing the default Etsy Ansible hosts with vim, adding a lab group and ungrouped host at 192.168.1.15, and using a static inventory with -i.

Learn to run quick, one-off tasks on multiple servers with Ansible ad hoc commands using modules, host patterns, and optional arguments, without writing a playbook.

Master practical Ansible ad-hoc commands to manage hosts using the pin and user modules. Learn command structure, inventory usage, become privileges, idempotency, and error handling for effective system administration.

Learn the fundamentals of ansible playbooks, their structure, and how to write and run your first playbook with hands-on labs on a control node, rhel 9, and a web server.

Create a revert Ansible playbook to undo the Apache setup by stopping the httpd service, removing the httpd package, and closing the firewall port.