ProLUG Automation
Unit 3 Worksheet


Instructions

Fill out this sheet as you progress through the lab and discussions. Hold your worksheets until
the end to turn them in as a final submission packet.


Discussion Questions:

Unit 3 Discussion Post 1: Find a blog post or open source tool that focuses on IT inventory
management

1. What is meant by the term “inventory” in an IT context?
2. What are some of the issues with inventories in a company?
    - How have people attempted to overcome these issues?
3. What different formats of inventories can you find for IT management?
    - Why would formatting matter?


Unit 3 Discussion Post 2: You are a system administrator for a small company with ~100
total Linux systems. The security engineer approaches you and shows you vulnerabilities in
your 110 total Linux systems. He then asserts, “without a good inventory, you cannot have
security in the system.”

1. Do you agree with him, why or why not?
    1. How do you plan to start to “true up” your inventories?

    2. How can you prevent this type of problem (if you think it is one) in the future?

2. We often say in engineering, “Or you can do nothing”. This speaks to the possibility
   of just accepting the situation and allowing a system to keep running.

    1. Can you do that in this situation, or must this be corrected? Why or why not?


Definitions/Terminology

- IT Inventory
- File formats (be able to identify and parse them with your tools)
    - .csv
    - .ini
    - .yaml
- Grouping
- Variables (in relation to inventories)
- Ranges (and their usefulness)
    - [01:50]
    - [01:50:2]


Notes During Lecture/Class:

Links:
• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/inventory_guide/intro_inventory.html

Terms:

Useful tools:


Lab and Assignment
Unit3 Lab from Lab book
https://killercoda.com/het-tanis/course/Automation-Labs/Unit3_Inventories


Digging Deeper

1. Build some inventories like the ones here:
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/inventory_guide/intro_inventory.html
    1. Parse these down using ansible-inventory to see if you understand the syntax
       and formatting.
2. Run through this lab for understanding: https://killercoda.com/hettanis/course/Ansible-Labs/02-Ansible-Host-File


Reflection Questions
1. What questions do you still have about this week?
2. How are you going to use what you’ve learned in your current role?