Unit 14 Worksheet - Ansible Automation

Instructions

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

Resources / Important Links

Downloads

The worksheet has been provided below. The document(s) can be transposed to the desired format so long as the content is preserved. For example, the .txt could be transposed to a .md file.

Unit 14 Recording

Discussion Post 1

Refer to your Unit 5 scan of the systems.

You know that Ansible is a tool that you want to maintain in the environment. Review this online documentation: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/inventory_guide/intro_inventory.html

  1. Make an inventory of the servers, grouped any way you like.
  2. What format did you choose to use for your inventory?
  3. What other things might you include later in your inventory to make it more useful?

Discussion Post 2

You have been noticing drift on your server configurations, so you want a way to generate a report on them every day to validate the configurations are the same.

Use any lab in here to find ideas: https://killercoda.com/het-tanis/course/Ansible-Labs

Discussion Post 3

Using ansible module for git, pull down this repo: https://github.com/het-tanis/HPC_Deploy.git

  1. How is the repo setup?
  2. What is in the roles directory?
  3. How are these playbooks called, and how do roles differ from tasks?
Submit your input by following the link below.

The discussion posts are done in Discord threads. Click the 'Threads' icon on the top right and search for the discussion post.

Definitions

Automation:

Consistency:

Dev/Ops:

Timelines:

Git:

Repository:

Ad-hoc:

Playbook:

Task:

Role:

SSH (Secure Shell):

WinRM (Windows Remote Management):

Digging Deeper (Optional)

  1. I have a large amount of labs to get you started on your Ansible Journey (all free): https://killercoda.com/het-tanis/course/Ansible-Labs

  2. Find projects from our channel Ansible-Code, in Discord and find something that is interesting to you.

  3. Use Ansible to access secrets from Hashicorp Vault: https://killercoda.com/het-tanis/course/Hashicorp-Labs/004-vault-read-secrets-ansible

Reflection Questions

  1. What questions do you still have about this week?

  2. How can you apply this now in your current role in IT?

  3. If you’re not in IT, how can you look to put something like this into your resume or portfolio?