Linux Automation with Ansible
Course Code: LANS
Duration: 4 days
Linux Automation with Ansible Course Overview
This highly practical instructor led Linux Automation with Ansible training course is designed to give delegates practical experience in the concepts and use of Linux Ansible Automation. With a strong emphasis on practical hands-on training using the command line, this course will teach Ansible automation techniques to perform remote administration of Linux based systems.
This Linux Automation with Ansible course is based on the Red Hat-based distribution, the delegate will be able to apply the concepts covered on this course to other Linux based distributions.
Similarly, the course is targeted to closely follow the official Red Hat Linux curriculum for certification.
Exercises and examples are used throughout the course to give practical hands-on experience with the techniques covered.
Course Objectives
On completion of this Linux Automation with Ansible course the delegate will have gained practical experience of the skills required to install, configure and use Ansible for the purpose of enterprise orchestration, automation, configuration and management.
Who will the Course Benefit?
This Linux Automation with Ansible course is suitable for Linux System Administrators, DevOps teams, Managers and Systems Support personnel who need to understand how to automate, deploy, configure and maintain system configurations from a single point of control.
Skills Gained
The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:
- Installing and configuring Ansible on RHEL and Debian servers
- Configuring clients for use with Ansible
- Configuring the Ansible Inventory file
- Viewing Ansible documentation
- Ansible best practices
- Creating and running Ad-hoc Ansible commands
- Understand the basics of the YAML Language
- Installing and configuring popular code editors
- Creating and running Ansible Playbooks
- Importing Tasks and Playbooks
- Using Ansible Modules
- Creating and running System Administration Playbooks
- Creating internal and external variables
- Creating list and dictionary variables
- Understanding and retrieving Ansible Facts
- Using conditional statements with Facts
- Creating and running Tasks
- Creating and running Roles
- Constructing Ansible Templates
- Searching and downloading items from Ansible Galaxy
- Performing further Ansible configuration
- Encrypting data with Ansible Vault
- Configuring Ansible server and client logging
- Ansible error handling
- Creating Ansible loops
- Number sequencing and random values
- Using Ansible within shell scripts
Linux Automation with Ansible Training Course
Course Introduction
- Administration and Course Materials
- Course Structure and Agenda
- Delegate and Trainer Introductions
Session 1: INTRODUCTION TO ANSIBLE
- Ansible in steps
- Ansible Overview
Session 2: DEPLOYING ANSIBLE
- Installing Ansible on RHEL-based systems
- Installing Ansible on Debian-based systems
- Authenticating Ansible with SSH keys
- Ansible configuration
- Creating the Ansible Inventory
- Ansible client configuration
- Exercise
Session 3: AD-HOC COMMANDS
- Generating an ad-hoc command
- Command line options
- Module documentation
- Using modules with ad-hoc commands
- Verifying Ansible syntax
- stat and shell modules
- Specifying an alternate Inventory
- Exercise
Session 4: YAML
- YAML basics
- Common YAML syntax errors
- Writing YAML with vim
- Installing and configuring code editors
- Exercise
Linux Automation with Ansible Training Course
Session 5: PLAYBOOKS AND TASKS
- What is a playbook
- Playbook header
- Tasks within a playbook
- Importing items and playbooks
- Playbook best practices
- Exercise
Session 6: SIMPLE PLAYBOOKS
- Basic Ansible modules
- file module
- lineinfile module
- copy module
- archive module
- Exercise
Session 7: SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION PLAYBOOKS
- Playbook command line options
- Playbook tags
- System administration modules
- service module
- firewalld module
- user module
- Exercise
Session 8: FURTHER ANSIBLE PLAYBOOKS
- Further Ansible modules
- parted module
- mount module
- cron module
- Security related modules
- seboolean module
- SELinux module
- seport module
- Exercise
Linux Automation with Ansible Training Course
Session 9: VARIABLES AND FACTS
- Simple variables
- List and Dictionary methods
- Defining variable locations
- Variables within external files
- Command line variables
- Ansible prompts
- Registering variables
- Using module return values
- Capturing Ansible failures
- Iteration using lists
- Ansible facts
- Commonly used Ansible facts
- Using facts within a task
- Using conditional statements with Facts
- Exercise
Session 10: ROLES AND TEMPLATES
- Ansible roles
- Ansible Galaxy command
- Role directory structure
- Constructing an Ansible Role
- Constructing a File Template
- Ansible Galaxy repository
- Downloading and executing Roles
- Exercise
Linux Automation with Ansible Training Course
Session 11: FURTHER CONFIGURATION
- Ansible Parallelism and Forks
- Fact Caching
- Ansible Vault
- Creating and accessing the Vault
- Encrypting variables
- Ansible client and server logging
- Omitting and redirecting log output
- Error handling and ignoring failed commands
- Handlers and failures
- Exercise
Session 12: LOOPS AND SCRIPTING
- Ansible loops
- Looping through variables
- Number sequencing
- Random values
- Retries
- Ansible within shell scripts
- Menu driven and copy scripts
- Course technical content is subject to change without notice.
- Course content is structured as sessions, this does not strictly map to course timings. Concepts, content and practicals often span sessions.
Examinations
This Linux Automation with Ansible training course will teach some of the skills required to enable the delegate to work towards achieving the following exam:
- Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE): EX294
Please note, Red Hat certification is only available for RHEL 9 and all exams are performed on RHEL 9.
Attending these courses and studying the associated reference materials can form part of the preparation to achieve certification. Experience, practice, self-study and aptitude are also key requirements for exam success.
Before taking any exam, ensure you have the recommended experience. The Red Hat website lists all exam requirements and these are updated regularly.
Exams are not included as part of the course.
Requirements
Delegates attending this course should have experience of administering Linux in an Enterprise environment to the level covered in the pre-requisite courses.
The requirements for this course can be met by any one of the pre-requisite courses listed.
Where Red Hat 9 courses are listed in the Pre-Requisite Courses section equivalent Red Hat 7 or Red Hat 8 courses would also suffice.
Pre-Requisite Courses
Further Learning
Course Reviews
Course was informative and well paced. Instructor was knowledgeable and explained the concept in a clear and well thought out manner. He really helped clarify some issues I had with ansible and left me with a deeper understanding of how the automation process worked.
Tony - programmer/ analyst - Academic - June 2023
Mark has done a commendable job in delivering our bespoke Ansible course. The relevant course topics were explained and demonstrated in an efficient way, with practical exercises to follow-up.
Shoeb - Academic
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