Learn Ansible Quickly: A Hands-on approach to Automation

Explore what Ansible is, set up your playground environment, and learn how to install Ansible.

Ansible is an open source configuration management and deployment tool that automates software provisioning with agentless operation using yaml playbooks across Linux, Windows, and more.

Create a hands-on Ansible environment by building a Rocky Linux control node and three managed nodes (Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, and Ubuntu) to install Ansible and explore different Linux environments.

Learn to install Ansible on Red Hat, Alma Linux, and Rocky Linux using old and new methods, including system updates, repository setup, and verification of the installation.

Learn to create Azure virtual machines, set up a resource group and region, and choose Rocky Linux, Alma Linux, or Ubuntu images. Configure IP addresses for later Ansible setup.

Learn to install and verify Ansible on the control node by updating Rocky Linux, installing Ansible, and checking its version via SSH from your local machine to the Azure VM.

Learn to create an Ansible user, build your inventory, configure Ansible, and run ad hoc commands in a practical, hands-on module on automation.

Create a new Ansible user on all nodes, grant sudo privileges via /etc/sudoers, then generate an ssh key on the control node and copy it to node1, node2, and node3.

Create a new user on all nodes, grant passwordless sudo, and generate and copy the ssh public key from the control node to managed nodes for Ansible.

Build an ansible inventory by creating a project directory, adding node one, node two, and node three to a file named my hosts, then list all hosts.

Create a new Ansible project directory under /home/elliott/place, keeping /etc/ansible intact and using this directory as the reference for playbooks and inventory, with all work on the control node.

Create host groups and subgroups in your inventory file (test, diff, prod) and assign nodes; then list hosts by group or ungrouped with Ansible commands.

Create and save an Ansible inventory file, add three hosts, and use the -i option to point Ansible to the inventory and list the nodes.

Organize Ansible managed nodes by creating groups and subgroups in an inventory, edit with vim, assign hosts to test, dev, and prod, and list hosts with ansible to verify groupings.

Explore the most important Ansible configuration settings and learn to create a project-specific ansible.cfg. Focus on default and privileges escalation, including inventory, remote_user, host_key_checking, and become settings.

Create a new ansible.cfg in your project, set defaults for inventory and remote_user, disable host key checking, enable become as root, adjust become_user and become_ask_pass, and verify with ansible --version.

Explore Ansible ad hoc commands to run a single task on one or more nodes using host pattern and the command module, including testing connectivity with the pink module.

Run ad hoc commands on one or more nodes with Ansible, using the command module and the inventory file. Verify connections to all nodes and review user and OS details.

Create your first Ansible playbook, then run it and execute multiple plays within a single playbook, and finally verify syntax to catch errors.

explain how ansible playbooks use yaml to automate tasks like patches, deployments, firewall configurations, and user management, with a basic first playbook example.

Run an Ansible playbook to create a text file on managed nodes using the file module, then verify creation with an ad hoc command across all nodes.

Learn to run your first Ansible playbook with the Ansible playbook command, create a text file on managed nodes using the file module, and verify with an ad hoc command.

Learn to organize automation workflows by running multiple plays in an Ansible playbook, with two plays containing tasks for tmux, file creation, and git installation.

Learn to verify Ansible playbooks by performing syntax checks, dry runs, and listing hosts and tasks, ensuring error-free deployment before execution.

Explore variables, gather and display facts, and capture command output with registers in Ansible for practical automation.

Learn to define and print variables in an Ansible playbook using the var keyword, displaying the value of my favorite pet with the debug and message modules and curly brackets.

Learn how to gather and show facts in Ansible using the setup module and ad hoc commands. Display node IPv4 address with a show facts playbook and a register variable.

Capture the uptime command output with registers to store it in a variable, then inspect and display the registered variable’s stdout using the debug module.

Master basic Ansible looping concepts, including simple loops, adding multiple users with loops, iterating over a range of numbers, and looping over inventories.

Apply Ansible loops to repeat tasks, such as managing multiple users or services, using the debug module to print list elements like 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 with a loop.

Add multiple users with loops in an ansible playbook, using a users list and dot notation to access item.username and item.pass, and encrypt passwords with a hash filter.

Learn to loop over a range of numbers in Ansible using the range function and a debug task to print 0-9 in a playbook.

Learn how to loop over inventories in Ansible using the built-in groups variable, looping over all hosts or a subset within a playbook.

Master Ansible quickly with an advanced, hands-on course that centers on automation. Build practical skills through focused activities designed for learners seeking efficient, real-world automation with Ansible.